Rescue dog saves child’s life after child has respiratory emergency during the night

IOTA, La (EVEN) - Acadiana, meet Charlie. Charlie is a Hound mix that the Gatte family of Iota, Louisiana adopted through Haseya's New Beginning Animal Rescue in Rayne earlier this year in July.

March 2023, when Charlie was found by Annette Lavergne.

Charlie was just a puppy when he was found stranded on the side of a busy highway in rural South Louisiana. "For such a young pup, he was so friendly," says Kelli Briscoe, the President of Haseya's NBAR. "Just a completely gentle-spirited and compassionate puppy."

Charlie, known to be loyal, sweet, and gentle-spirited, would go on to also be known as a hero for the Gatte family.

Kimberly Gatte, Charlie's mom, tells us exactly how Charlie is now proclaimed to be a hero. "Charlie saved Jude's life last night," Gatte stated.

Jude is Kim's son, and as Kim told us, he struggles from asthma. Most recently, he was diagnosed with influenza. "Jude has asthma and was diagnosed with the flu yesterday," Gatte stated.

During the night on Sunday, Gatte was awoken by barks coming from Charlie, an extremely rare occurrence. "Charlie never barks," Gatte noted. "I think that was the third time I’ve ever heard him bark." She knew something had to have been wrong.

Gatte, awoken by the rare barks of Charlie, went to check what was happening. "It woke me up and I went to check..." As she went, she found Charlie frantically barking by Jude's door. She went into Jude's room to see if something was wrong.

"Jude was pale, lips were blue, and he was having trouble breathing," Kim described the condition she found Jude in as she opened the door to his room.

"The flu can severely affect your lungs when you have asthma. It can cause swelling of your airways. This can most definitely trigger asthma symptoms, such as an asthma episode or an asthma attack," quoted from WedMD. "Most deaths related to asthma symptoms such as wheezing happen at night."

Charlie had saved Jude from a potential crisis.

"We would have never woken up," Gatte said. "We rushed him to the hospital but hadn't it been for Charlie, we would have [not] woken up."

Charlie, indeed, saved a life. We will never know how the dog could have known, but the fact in the matter is, Charlie knew and did what a human would do: alerted the proper persons to get his human brother the help he needed.

"We are so thankful this morning," Gatte said as she proclaimed their extreme gratitude.

Jude is now back home and doing good. "Jude is doing great! We are still medicating him for his asthma, but he is doing very well," Gatte said. And to top it all off, Jude gave Charlie a much-deserved name change. "Jude now calls him St. Charlie!"

This story is a testament to the goodness of God. It's also a testament to the old saying that a dog is a 'man's best friend.' "St. Charlie hasn't left his side."

I asked Gatte what would she tell anyone considering adopting, and she stated that "so many look for pure bred dogs to have certain qualities or looks. A shelter dog comes with so much love. They are so grateful and loving and full of loyalty for their forever family. I would ask anyone to give a shelter dog a home instead and donate the rest of the money they would have spent on a pure bred dog to the shelter to assist with care!"

If you're interested in adopting, contact Haseya's New Beginning Animal Rescue on Facebook.