The dog mom of a little terrier named Jacques might want to think about changing his name to Lassie.
When the elderly woman had to be rushed from her Orange, Mass., home to a hospital by ambulance Tuesday, she was concerned that Jacques and his BFF, another terrier named Annabelle, escaped from the yard.
She had nothing to worry about, thanks to Orange Police Officer Chris Biceglia. “I’m committed. I’m staying here,” he said via radio communication, Fire Chief Craig Lundgren told WHDH.
As temperatures dropped below freezing, Biceglia kept his word, waiting in the woods for Jacques and Annabelle.
Hours passed. Finally Biceglia saw something — but it was only Jacques.
“He’d bark. He’d come toward me and then he’d run away,” Bisceglia told CBS Boston. “And he continued to do this.”
Jacques led Bisceglia to an embankment.
“The female terrier was down the embankment, stuck on a downed tree and trapped, surrounded by water,” Bisceglia told CBS Boston. “And it was all ice, a steep embankment, so she couldn’t get back up.”
Biceglia contacted the fire department, and responders pulled Annabelle to safety. She was checked out by a vet and is okay.
Animal Control Officer Jennifer Arsenault told CBS Boston she wasn’t suprised by Jacques’ Lassie-like action to help rescue his buddy.
“Especially dogs that have been together for a long time, they become very bonded with each other and they’re very intelligent,” she said. “People don’t give dogs half the credit they deserve.”
According to WHDH, Jacques and Annabelle’s dog mom has been released from the hospital.
“I mean you hear of things like this, with, of course, Lassie,” her son, Gene Fraser, told WHDH.
Along with Jacques, he gave Biceglia credit for helping to save Annabelle’s life.
“For an officer to come back an hour later, and not giving up, and turning around and coming back again, he’s the key really to having this all come into play,” Fraser said.