Hero

AP/Fox News:

A bruised and battered south Georgia woman credits a wayward German shepherd with rescuing her after her car careened down an embankment, tossing her through the rear window and leaving her sprawled, cut and bleeding, on the vehicle's trunk.

Thirty-six-year-old Shannon Lorio said the dog, which has since been given the name "Hero," pulled her by her collar off the trunk and dragged her about 50 yards through briars to the edge of a highway and let her lean against him so that she could stand up and flag a passing motorist.

Officials of the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society, which runs the local animal shelter — now Hero's temporary home — were so impressed with the victim's account they have arranged to have Hero evaluated for search and rescue work.

"That dog is always going to have a special place in my heart," Lorio said Friday during a tearful reunion with the dog. "He's my hero."

Lorio, who still has scratches and bruises on her arms and legs, spent most of a night in the hospital, until she insisted on being released. She still walks with a limp. Cuts on her left elbow are held closed by more than 20 metal staples.

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Sometimes animals do things that are truly amazing. The capacity of some dogs for touching and helping humans seems unlimited. Some studies have shown that people with dogs live longer, and that was certainly the case for this woman.