By Duarte Dias
November 25, 2025 / 10:41 AM EST / CBS News
A golden retriever is being lauded as “the first responder” after helping save her owner’s life when he suffered a cardiac arrest during the night.
Hannah Cooke, from County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland, was woken one night last year by a bark from Polly, the couple’s four-year-old dog who usually sleeps through the night. When she looked at her husband Adam, she found him breathing irregularly and then not breathing at all, according to the British Heart Foundation (BHF).
“I sat bolt upright in bed, as I previously worked as a carer and it hit me that it was the same noise I’ve heard when people are taking their final breaths,” said Hannah, 33. She immediately called an ambulance and began performing CPR until paramedics arrived. On the way to the hospital, paramedics delivered seven shocks with a defibrillator before Adam’s heart rate normalized.
Adam woke in hospital six days later and was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that reduces the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. After weeks of recovery and the insertion of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), he was able to return home and be reunited with Polly.
“When I got out of 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,” Adam said.
The couple credit Polly with saving Adam’s life, saying she was “in tune” with him and may have known something was wrong. “Polly alerted me, possibly within seconds of Adam’s cardiac arrest, she was the first responder,” Hannah told the BHF. “Because of her, I was able to start CPR almost immediately.”
Hannah and Polly were due to receive honors as “CPR Heroes” at the British Heart Foundation’s Heart Hero Awards ceremony in London. The BHF raises awareness of cardiovascular disease and funds research into treatments and cures.
