A faithful Labrador is being praised for saving the life of a teenage boy who was stuck in the wilderness for nearly two days.
Juan Heriberto Trevino, 14, from Galeana, Mexico, was at a summer camp in the Sierra Madre Oriental mountain range last Sunday when wandered out and lost his group. But what began as a trivial search for firewood turned into a 44-hour ordeal after he slipped on moving tree trunks and fell down a ravine. Luckily for Juan, Max the dog was following him, and though they only met a few hours before, the dog refused to leave his side.
Juan described how the pair slept under a tree and cuddled to stay warm and said that the dog even led him to water so they both could hydrate. “He stayed by my side the whole time, making me feel safe,” Juan said. “I grabbed [Max] and put him on my legs to not be so cold and hugged the dog.” Almost 44 hours later, rescuers were able to find the pair who were then both airlifted out of the mountain range and reunited safely with Juan’s family.
In some rare cases, man’s best friend gets promoted to guardian angel.