Dog saves baby from freezing

CANONSBURG, PA (USA)
Mar 28, 2007

Here's a pooch who took the phrase "baby sitter" literally. When "RC", a German Shepherd/Husky mix, discovered 2-year-old Vincent Rhodey wandering around in the freezing cold wearing only a t-shirt, he sat on him.

Baby Vincent had strayed from his home in the early morning hours of Mar. 21 in Canonsburg, PA where temperatures dipped as low as 32°F (0°C). Not only was the child in danger of hypothermia, he was also ambling dangerously close to a 30' precipice overhanging a busy street.

RC curled up with the boy in his outdoor bed of straw until around 9am when Terry Bard, the dog's guardian, found them.

"He was laying on top of the baby," Mr. Bard describes. "The dog's definitely a hero." ¹

Canonsburg police arrived at around 8:30 and located Vincent's mother Angela Harps next door where she was sleeping. They found a door of her house open.

"I feel really guilty, and I regret all of it," she told reporters. I didn't mean for it to happen." ¹

Ms. Harps is now facing child endangerment charges. Her son, whom doctors determined to be ok, has been placed in the custody of his maternal grandparents.

RC was reportedly agitated to see Vincent go. Says Mr. Bard, "He was jumping around, wagging his tail. He kind of lost his little friend. He wanted to stick with him." ²