Saved by the dog
Published: December 13, 2006
The day started routinely for Barb Garrison, a spirited 71-year old who loves animals, music, and living life to the fullest.
Five months earlier, she and her husband, painter Don Garrison, adopted a six-year old Red Merle Australian Shepherd named Clancy, who happens to be deaf. Barb had been working with training Clancy, using hand signals and taking him for special walks using a choke chain and leash.
The date was October 24 and it was time for Clancy’s special walk between noon and 1 p.m. Barb and Clancy proceeded in a different direction than the norm, as she was looking for another of her adopted pets, a long-haired white cat with black eyebrows. They traveled across the street from her home on 5th Street and were in between two neighbors’ homes.
“All I remember seeing after that point were the planters,” she said about a tumble on the pavement that caused her to lose consciousness and a lot of blood.
Clancy went for help after Barb hit the sidewalk. “He saved my life,” she said, noting that Clancy went to a nearby home where handyman Julian Zornes was working. “The man was painting outside and Clancy touched his pant leg,” said Barb. Zornes called 911 and a neighbor went to notify Don that his wife had fallen. “I found her unconscious, lying in a pool of blood,” he said, reporting shock at his discovery.
Once Clancy performed his good deed, he returned to Barb’s side, nervously awaiting her awakening. He stood by her protectively when paramedics arrived and did not want them to touch her, Don said. “He was so upset and it took him a long time to settle down,” said Don about the canine with electric blue eyes whose adoration of his mistress is characteristic of animals that have been rescued.
After the paramedics secured her neck with braces and placed her on a backboard before her ride on a gurney, Barb remembers regaining consciousness and being asked whether she had a dog. “I said no,” she laughed and said she has no recall of the experience. “I just fell, she said, “I don’t know why. I don’t know if I blacked out or what.”
Barb sustained a golf ball sized swelling on the side of her head near her right eye and bleeding in the two frontal lobes of her brain. “I never had any pain, she said, “Not even a headache.” After two and a half days at Rapid City Regional Hospital, Barb was ready to return home to her routine. “I feel better actually than before it happened, though I do take a nap if I need it or have the time”, she said, laughing about time being an issue.
Barb is very active in the Hot Springs community. She plays piano at Sturdley’s Tuesday and Thursday evenings, takes guitar lessons, volunteers at Castle Manor, and takes care of other people’s animals as well. She is a dedicated animal lover with a variety of family pets, including dogs, cats, birds and ferrets.
An investigation of the fall site revealed a slight dip in the recently replaced sidewalk. Whether that was the cause of the fall, or just her distraction over looking for the cat, she’ll never know. “It was just an odd thing that happened, she said, giving Clancy a big hug, “And Clancy is a remarkable dog.”
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