News / Animals
Watch Whizz the rescue wonder dog in action
A Newfoundland dog, who saved nine people and a dog from drowning during a ten-year water rescue career, has been awarded the PDSA Order of Merit – the animals’ OBE – for outstanding devotion to duty.
Whizz, who died earlier this month aged 12, spent most of his life dedicated to patrolling the Bristol Channel and the River Severn with the Royal Navy Rescue, the Severn Area Rescue Association and Marine Volunteer Service.
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The gentle giant who stood at over six feet tall on his hind legs and weighed 12 stone, was trained to rescue people in peril from the water by owner David Pugh when he was just a year old: “I am bursting with pride for Whizz. He was a dog in a million and I am truly heartbroken that he isn’t here to receive his medal.
“Whizz loved working and had an extraordinary talent. Not only was he strong and gentle – he was also so emotionally intuitive. This made him the perfect rescue and therapy dog.”
Toni Curtis from Bristol was just one of the people he rescued in his long career.
In 2011 she was swimming in the sea when she began having an asthma attack: “The attack took me by complete surprise and as I was treading water; my airway closing and struggling to breathe, I realised just how isolated I was,” she said.
“I was sure that nobody would see me and panic really set in.
“The next thing I knew I heard a muffled voice, telling me to ‘grab the dog’ and before I knew it, I was being pulled to the safety of the lifeboat. Whizz had saved me and I will be forever in his debt.”
Whizz is only the third dog to be awarded the PDSA Order of Merit, which recognises animals that display outstanding devotion to their owner or wider society.
As well as his lifesaving work and fund raising appearances he also took part in therapy work with hundreds of children.