Barking dog helps save toddler

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A barking family dog helped parents save the life of a 2-year-old boy who fell into a pond at a golf course near their home.

Young Sammy Lobey disappeared from the front yard of his parents' home on Tuesday night. The parents began a frantic search, and when Ronald Lobey called for his 2-year-old black Lab, Maddie, the dog barked from behind a neighbor's house across the street.

"I yelled for my dog and she barked" but refused to leave the pond, where Ronald Lobey found his son, submerged and unconscious.

The father began performing CPR and got the boy breathing.

By the time medics arrived, Sammy was awake and crying. The boy was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center, later transferred to Legacy Emanuel Hospital in Portland, Ore., and came home Wednesday night.

Lobey said doctors told them the boy was not deprived of oxygen long enough to suffer any long-term damage.

"If Maddie has not barked, we probably would not have found that baby in time to save his life," Lobey said. "Everything came out good."