Dog Saves Severely Injured Snowmobiler’s Life in Alaska

Last Sunday, 52-year-old snowmobiler Otis Orth crashed his snowmobile and severely injured himself.  He was on a remote road near Talkeetna, Alaska when the crash occurred.  Luckily, he’d brought along his 15-month old Golden Retriever, Amber who most likely saved his life.

“I tried to take a shortcut and ran into a hollow snow drift and that kind of kicked the back end of the snowmachine forward, and I went over the handlebars and slid for about 30 or 40 feet on my face and back.  It was kind of happening in slow motion, and I was thinking, ‘This has got to stop pretty soon.’ And when it did stop, Amber came running over to me. I couldn’t move but I could talk to her, and she was licking my face.” – Otis Orth told the Alaska Dispatch

Orth’s injures included a broken back, separated shoulder, arm and leg injuries, and cuts to his face.  He spent a day and a half lying on ice in temperatures as low as 5F.  The reason he survived?  His dog, Amber, kept him warm through the night and contacted rescuers.

“She never left me for more than 20 yards that whole time, she just kept coming back.”

“About two hours later it was dark, and so my dog laid down by my right side with her head across my stomach.  And that’s the way we were all night.”

“I could feel a little heat coming from her body on my right arm and across my body.” – Orth told the Alaska Dispatch

After spending a bitter night keeping her owner warm, Amber heard two snowmobilers approaching and ran up to them and told them that her owner was injured, Lassie style.

“Then, this dog came after us and I thought, ‘Oh, I don’t want the dog trailing us,’ so I sped up.  But the dog stayed with us and kept barking.” – Tom Taylor, snowmobiler who discovered Orth, told the Alaska Dispatch

Amber then lead Taylor to her owner and showed him their predicament.  Taylor was able to call in a helicopter to take Orth to a hospital where he is awaiting surgery to fuse 3 of his vertabrae.

“She didn’t want to leave his side,” – Tom Taylor told the Alaska Dispatch

Just more proof that dogs are incredible.  Thanks Amber.