Dog chews off Michigan man's toe, saves his life

DETROIT (Reuters) – A Michigan man credited his dog with saving his life by chewing off his diseased big toe as he lay passed out in a drunken stupor.

Jerry Douthett, 48, woke up on a Saturday night in late July in his Rockford, Michigan home to find his Jack Russell Terrier, Kiko, had gnawed off his right big toe.

"The dog always lays with me on the bed," said Douthett. "That night, I woke up and looked down at my foot, and it was wet. When I looked it was blood, and there was the dog looking at me with a blood mustache."

Douthett's wife, Rosee, rushed him to a hospital where doctors found he was suffering from Type 2 diabetes. His toe was badly infected and surgeons amputated the remainder of the digit.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100804/us_nm/us_dog;_ylt=AmcRU.5DFl2gnvgxBfS_sNus0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTIzajZwbm9wBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwODA0L3VzX2RvZwRwb3MDNgRzZWMDeW5fbW9zdF9wb3B1bGFyBHNsawNkb2djaGV3c29mZm0-

Most dogs are going to have to overcome a substantial level of bite inhibition in order to chew on their owner... I wonder if something instinctive kicked in. Cut off the dead part before it kills the whole body.