Yappy Jack Russell saves woman's life

SAGINAW, Mich., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A 91-year-old Saginaw, Mich., woman owes her life to the incessant barking of a 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier mix recently rescued from a pound.

Mary Hartman set out to deliver Christmas cookies to neighbors, but slipped on ice and fell behind a piles of plowed snow that made it difficult to be seen by passing cars, WNEM-TV, Saginaw, Mich., reported Wednesday.

For nearly an hour, the injured woman's faint calls for help were unheard except by Taz, the dog adopted three months ago by Judy Sawatzki.

She told reporters Taz was behaving unusually in the house with repetitive and insistent barking.

"He would run to the window and come back to me," Sawatzki said. "He would whine and bark, and then go back to the window again."

She said she decided to open the door and the dog raced back and forth, leading her to where Hartman was lying.

Hartman broke her wrist and shoulder, injured her hip, and was recovering in a local hospital Wednesday, the report said.

"He's one heck of a dog, that's all I have to say," Sawatzki said.