He rescued Sadie from a shelter, then she rescued him right back

German shepherd aids owner after stroke, doc says she saved his life.

Brian Myers knew he was in trouble when he fell to the floor. He had no feeling on his left side and couldn’t stand up in the space between his bed and the wall.

“It was really frightening – I couldn’t get up and I didn’t realize at that moment that I’d had a stroke,” he said. “My cellphone was on the dresser about 15 feet away, but there was no way I could get to it.”

Seconds later, Myers, 59, felt something wet and rough on his face. His dog’s tongue.

Sadie, the 100-pound German shepherd he had rescued in September from an animal shelter near his home in Teaneck, New Jersey, was standing above him with a look of concern on her face, he said.

“She kept licking me and crying, so I reached my right hand up to pet her, then I grabbed her collar,” recalled Myers, who had gone to bed just two hours before he fell on the evening of Jan. 16.

He was stunned by what happened next, he said.

Sadie backed up and began pulling Myers inch by inch out

of the small space, and then wiggled toward his dresser. Five minutes later, he was in front of his dresser and was able to reach up about 3 feet

with his right arm and retrieve his cellphone to call for help, Myers said.

At Englewood Health hospital that night, Myers was given an MRI that revealed he’d suffered a stroke. Doctors told him it was likely that his four-legged companion had saved his life.

“It was the best decision I’d ever made, to adopt her,” said Myers, who came home last month and has much of his mobility back, thanks to physical therapy. “I really feel it was meant to be.”

Myers is retired and lives alone. He felt lonesome and scared after he came down with COVID-19 early on during the pandemic last March, he said. About six months after he’d recovered, a friend who is familiar with the Ramapo-bergen Animal Refuge emailed him a photo of Sadie and he was immediately intrigued, Myers said. The shelter had identified Sadie as “hard to place” because of her aggressive behavior.

The refuge often accepts dogs like Sadie that are rejected by other shelters because they can’t get adopted due to behavior issues, said Megan Brinster, Ramapo-bergen’s executive director.

But within minutes of meeting, Sadie and Myers were playing fetch with a ball and he was able to take her out for a walk, Brinster said.

“It was an inspiring thing to watch — they were this amazing match,” she said. “It was clear they were ready to go.”

RAMAPO-BERGEN ANIMAL REFUGE Brian Myers is reunited with his dog Sadie in February following his discharge from a New Jersey rehab center. Myers, who lives alone, had a stroke in January, and Sadie was able to pull him across the room to his phone so he could call for help.