Parker County Texas Animal Control Supervisor Karen Kessler and animal control officer Terry Peña are being commended for assisting in a woman’s need for medical attention.

Kessler will tell you she is not the hero, but rather the hero is a 5-year-old German Shepherd named Bear. The dog was found wandering the neighborhood of Parker County, Texas on May 28 while Kessler and Peña were responding to an unrelated call.

Kessler said when she found Bear, she observed his tags identifying him as a medical service animal and immediately knew she had to find his owner.

Since the tags and microchip contained outdated contact information, Kessler and Peña resorted to knocking on doors. Moments later, they found Bear’s owner, Deborah Zeisler who had just suffered a seizure. When the ambulance arrived to take Zeisler to the hospital, Bear would not let his owner out of his sight and climbed into the ambulance with her.

Zeisler, who said she only remembers walking outside and hitting the bottom step, believes she probably laid in her front yard for more than 30 minutes before Kessler and Peña arrived thanks to Bear‘s diligence.

“Bear went door-to-door looking for help until we found him,” Kessler said. “Service dogs just don’t wander away from their owners unless there is something seriously wrong. He is one incredible dog.”

Peña said he and Kessler were pretty worried when they didn’t find Bear’s owner immediately.

“We weren’t giving up,” he said. “We knew there was someone out there who needed help. Bear wasn’t giving up either.”

Zeisler said Bear, who was just made an honorary junior sheriff’s deputy, was adopted at the Weatherford-Parker County Texas Animal Shelter about a year ago. When she noticed that Bear alerted certain signals when she was having a seizure, Zeisler took him to get certified as a medical service dog.

This is not the first time Bear has rescued Zeisler during a seizure. She said in November, Bear ran from the house in the middle of the night and scratched on the door of a neighbor who assisted her in getting medical attention when she was suffering a seizure.

Now Bear won’t let Zeisler out of the house until she takes her medication.

“He blocks the door until he sees that I take it,” Zeisler said. “He’s my savior.”

Story by Elaine Furst for Dog Files