Dog woke up owner with vicious barking at midnight. The woman realized her husband wasn't breathing and needed immediate CPR
The intact bond a pet has with its owners is one of the highest forms of love. And a dog’s selflessness is displayed through this connection. A woman named Hannah Cooke revealed how her husband, Adam, is alive only because of her Golden Retriever, Polly, per CBS News. The couple’s pet was fast asleep with them in the middle of the night in 2024 when she started barking profusely, waking Hannah. It was only then that she found her husband breathing in an unusual way and realized he was in a medical emergency.
The woman noted that it was a normal night for the trio, as reported by the BBC on Tuesday, November 25, 2025. She explained that her 4-year-old canine usually sleeps quietly through the night, but that day, something was off. She started barking frantically, and it startled Hannah, waking her up. That’s when she spotted her 37-year-old husband breathing strangely. "When I heard the noise Adam was making, I sat bolt upright in bed,” she recalled. The sound wasn’t good. Hannah was a former carer and was well acquainted with the noise — it was made by people taking their final breaths. "But he was also really, really fighting to come back. But I did think that was it, that he was never going to come back,” she remarked.
In a matter of seconds, Adam’s breathing stopped. She instantly began CPR while waiting for the ambulance. The medics had to use the defibrillator seven times before they could get a stable heart rate. Adam regained consciousness after six days in the hospital, diagnosed with a heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy. Cleveland Clinic reported that the condition affects the pumping of the blood. Around 36 per 100,000 people have this condition. Adam underwent a procedure to place an implantable cardioverter defibrillator in his chest.
Feeling grateful for his dog, Adam said, "Polly is a part of the family, so I just wasn't shocked when I heard she had such a big role to play." Weeks later, he was well on his way to recovery and could go home. That’s when he finally met his golden girl. "When I got out of the hospital, I'll never forget seeing Polly again and knowing how she had intervened that night. I just cuddled her and cried for 20 minutes," he recalled. Canines are more than protective when it comes to their pet parents. Dog behaviourist and trainer, Louise Glazebrook, noted, "Dogs are constantly picking up signals from us that we as humans either don't understand or we don't see them do it.
She added that with “220 million scent receptors,” compared to the 5 million humans have, dogs can detect changes much more quickly and powerfully. Hannah and Polly received the “CPR Hero” award from the British Heart Foundation for their action that saved Adam’s life. However, the wife credits her canine. "Polly alerted me, possibly within seconds of Adam's cardiac arrest; she was the first responder." She pointed out that the “seconds” she needed to make a life-saving difference for her husband were given by the pup's timely intervention. "After she barked, she was silent. I would say Polly knew before it was even happening," she added, "Adam had just started the arrest as she barked.”