A golden retriever-husky mix named Bear lives in Bonfield, Ontario with his family including dad Darren Cropper.
Darren was asleep in his bed when he awoke around 1 AM feeling dizzy. He tells CTV "I wasn’t in any pain, but everything felt fuzzy. I was coming downstairs to get some water … When I hit the bottom step, that’s all I could remember."
Darren experienced what is often referred to as a “widowmaker” heart attack. Bear kept jumping on Darren's chest till about till 4AM when Darren came to. That's when Bear ran upstairs to wake up Janice. He then ran back downstairs where Darren had gone unconscious again and Bear resumed jumping on his chest. Janice described the scene she came down to. "I saw Darren lying there with Bear jumping on his chest and thought 'holy crap'! She called paramedics who arrived 5 minutes later and rushed Darren to the hospital. He underwent emergency triple bypass surgery.
For 3 hours Bear had been keeping him alive by jumping on his chest. Doctors say Darren wouldn't have made it more than 10 minutes without CPR. Bear had in essence performed CPR for 3 hours!
Now Bear is being recognized for his heroic actions and being inducted into the Purina HOF!