‘They’d prop themselves up onto the back of the couch and lick the side of my dads head, but only one side very intensely.’: Clever, caring doggo saves their dad’s life by alerting him to his life-threatening condition before it was too late

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Sep 7, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

It might be rather fair to say that we hoomans simply do not deserve dogs. They care for us, probably more than we could ever care for ourselves. They are by our sides through thick, thin and hours of completely ignoring them while scrolling on our phones, and as was in the case of today's story, they sure do know how to save a life or two. That is right, thanks to the caring communication of two darling doggos, the life of one very lucky hooman was saved.

The peculiar thing if anything is that while these doggos used similar senses and training as is used by airport security canines all the time, the puppers in question had no background of training or field experience. They simply loved their pawrent so much that they did what little they could to help, and help they most certainly did.
 

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  • 01
    I want to start off by saying at the time we had two dogs, now only have one. So one day my dogs started licking the side of
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    my dads head, any chance they could get they'd prop themselves up onto the back of the couch and lick the side of my dads head, but only one side very intensely.
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  • 03
    We never really looked too deep into it, just thought it was very cute and a little odd. This continued for about two years, we had forgotten
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  • Well, that sure is a peculiar way to show your love for your pawrent, even though it does give those sort of “You are so intelligent” vibes. But as we will shortly come to find out those licks meant a whole lot more than they seemed to.

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    Cheezburger Image 10551022080
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    they even did it at this stage as we were so used to it. My dad ran marathons, loved running and had pain in his leg that he chalked down to muscle pain, until he went
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  • 06
    on holidays with my mom, and fell. So when he came home his doctor evaluated him and said there's nothing physically wrong with his leg, and referred him onto a neurologist. The
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    neurologist found a cancerous tumor, and where was it? The exact spot in his brain that my dogs were licking over.
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  • 08
    After getting lots of it removed, the dogs never licked his head again. It's been almost 5 years since my dads terminal brain cancer diagnosis, he has
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    since been diagnosed with motor neurons disease on top of it all, but my dog has remained my dads most loyal, supportive best friend.
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  • And if you had even a shred of doubt about whether the old adage “Man’s best friend” still holds up in the modern day, then let this story stand as proof for all the ages that are to come that doggos are and will always be our bestest of friends.

  • 11
    Edit: Wow thank you so much for all the awards and upvotes you are all so incredibly heartwarming!! What a wonderful thing to wake up to, I'll tell Sox how much you all like her she'll be thrilled!
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  • 12
    Edit 2: All of your stories have me in tears your doggies are so incredible. I feel so much better being able to tell the story. Thank you. All of
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    you. My dad is still dying and my dog is still attached at his hip. It's been hard and I needed this, so thank you
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  • 14
    akd7791 My dad's dog has woken him up in the middle of the night when his blood sugar is low. He
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    woke up and checked it and it was dangerously low. Dogs are literally life savers.
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  • 17
    Boomeran... Dogs are so intuitive. My dog knew I was pregnant before I did. I'd wake up in
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    the morning and my dog's head would be resting on my belly which he'd never done before in the 6 years that I had him. He did that every morning until my son was born. Dogs are the best.
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  • 19
    ChuChuBit... Our dog knew my mother had colon cancer before anyone else. He
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    started lying down next to her everyday and putting his head on her stomach.
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  • 21
    My mother went through chemo, radiation, and a surgery and our dog was with her everyday to keep her warm in bed
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life head lick clever couch reddit story save caring doggo threatening dad too late dog story condition intense dog dad alert
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