The Current - How these dogs saved their humans' lives

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

In her new book How My Dog Saved My Life, former CBC producer Cate Cochran tells 30 Canadian stories of dogs who have changed everything for their humans, saving their lives literally and figuratively. We'll meet some of these remarkable canines, including a black lab and golden retriever mix named Foreman who's trained to provide medical assistance for his owner, Sinead Zalitach. Sinead was born with an extremely rare congenital condition called Parkes Weber syndrome and Foreman is so attuned to her that he knows she's in trouble before she does.

You may have heard of the sex cult nexium and the famous actress who went to prison for her involvement, Alison Mack. But she's never told her side of the story, until now. People assume that I'm like this pervert. My name is Natalie Robamed, and in my new podcast, I talked to Alison to try to understand how she went from TV actor to cult member and what she thinks of it all now. How do you feel about having been involved in bringing sexual trauma at other people? I mean, I don't even know how to answer that question. Alison, after Nexium from CBC's On Cover, is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. This is a CBC podcast.

Hello, I'm Matt Galloway, and this is the current podcast. I'm Rebecca Zanbergen, sitting in for Matt Galloway. Most patients who visit Dr. Ginny Idinger are very nervous. Dr. Idinger is an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. When I sat down there, I was really scared, and I was, like, shaking. I just thought, I can't do this. This is too scary. Chloe Beresford was just nine years old when she first met Dr. Idinger. Her previous dental experiences were so negative they'd left her traumatized, and so she was terrified.

Enter Moishi. Can somebody release the hound, please? Moishi jumped up on my lap, and it was really calming, and it made it so much better. Moishi is a light brown, long-haired dash hunt. And in 2019, former CBC producer Kate Cochran made a documentary about how Moishi was helping patients of all ages stay calm. And now that tale is one of 30 Canadian stories featured in Kate's new book, How My Dog Saved, My Dog, Save My Dog, life. And Kate Cochran joins me now in our Toronto studio. Kate, good morning. Good morning. I understand Moishi also jumped up in your lap at a certain point. He did. And it's actually

kind of emotional to hear Chloe speak again because her story was so moving for me when I was making the documentary. But my encounter with Moishi was when I was having a horrible dental procedure and Dr. Idinger said, you'll be fine. But would you like to have our comfort dog on your lap? and I'd never heard of such a thing and so she called him in and up he jumped on my lap and this little dachshund on my lap for the duration of the procedure

and it was amazing the impact it had. Why? What did Moishi do? Well, what I know now is that what he was probably doing was a little bit of something called deep pressure therapy. First of all, holding a dog is a calming thing anyway.

But in this case, I think because he was where he was on my lap what he was doing was a kind of has a calming effect the human nervous system. And so that has for many of the kids like that little Chloe, I think I remember her being sort of tilted back. You know how a dentist tilt the chair back? And she was tiny. And so this dog sitting on her tummy would have been very reassuring for her. And it was. It meant she could go through months of dental therapy that she was terrified of. And it was Moishi and

Chloe's experience and your experience with Moishi that you thought, you know what, I want to look more into how dogs are helping people in these profound ways. Tell me about who you met along the way. And these aren't necessarily who you feature in the book, animals who are trained to support people, but still have this effect. Tell us about some of the people you met. Yeah. I mean, the range of dogs and people, by the way, the people's stories are incredibly moving in cases, some cases, and delightful in others. Like for one young woman, Jenna, who was housebound for three years because she was so agoraphobic. When she got this dog, PJ, which was a rescue dog from Costa Rica, she began to train PJ and she had sort of heard about some of the techniques she could use. And she, by training PJ,

this beautiful little black and white dog, it allowed her not only to use things like deep pressure therapy, and if people have ever heard of a weighted blanket, that's one of the things it's similar to and sometimes. But it also allowed her to leave the house. And so it's opened her world. And when we did a launch for the book, she was there. there, which was really a very moving to me, too, to have her there, because to know how big her world has become, whereas it could have been a very tragic story. You also, of course, there are stories of dogs who actually make physical rescues in some regard, and you have a couple of those in the book. Tell me about that one.

Well, one of them was a fellow named Alan who went out for a walk in a prairie town on a cold night, and he took his two Akitas out with him. They normally did walks. He does lots of stuff on his own, but he forgot his backpack that night, and he got his leg caught on a root. He fell in, and his leg went into the mud, and it was like quicksand. It sort of sucked around one leg. He could not get out. And one of his Akitas ran home, but the other Akita, whose name, believe it or not, is Hero, stayed with him, lay on him to keep him warm at night, the first night. And then as Alan struggled the next day to try and get free, the the dog came and lay on him again the second night it was very cold it was below zero and he

started to hear coyotes nearby and at one point the dog jumped up ran off he heard this scuffle in the bush and um hero came back somewhat wounded and had scared off the coyotes and the next morning he knew that he was in deep trouble and he said listen i i you got to go get me some help and he ran, hero ran into town was about two and a half kilometers or something and you just said that matter of factly. He just talked to the dog and the dog reacted and did what he asked. I guess I'm used to it now but isn't that remarkable?

And not only that but he then came back but at that point had caught the attention of some animal welfare people in town and also because people knew this dog and that he walked all the time with Alan and a an RCMP officer, I guess, and he ran back to this berm and sat sentry on this berm beside where Alan was because it was an old, a deserted old road, and no one could see him. And because it was cold, people had their windows up, so they didn't hear him yelling.

Anyway, the dog sat there and the officer eventually opened his window and heard Alan calling. And if not for that, he would have died. is there is there a science to all of this you know we hear these incredible stories and certainly we there are people who have written about their own animals and you know this is something we've long known but but what why does this happen how are dogs able to do this and is there something to back it up here well in the case of hero the akita it's hard to explain how a dog knows to do that kind of rescue in my view but there's lots of science that shows why it is that animals dogs particularly because they have these noses that are tens of thousands of times more sensitive than our human noses and the dog's brain processes sense differently. I had two dogs at the time I was writing the book and I'd go for a walk with them and be like, okay guys, come on. They'd be dilly-dallying.

But what I didn't know at the time and I now realize is that what they were discerning about the world and this is why dogs can be used to find people or why they, inexplicably find people or can be trained to do so, or they can anticipate seizures many minutes before the person themselves is even aware of it. Or sometimes the person is not aware of what's going on with their body, but the dog can smell it and understand it in a way that we humans can't. And because dogs are so compatible with humans, that makes them very well suited to become service animals. And they're being trained in absolutely extraordinary ways to help people with PTSD to help first responders who otherwise were in isolation because their PTSD

was so extreme. We've certain expanded what we believe a service dog can do, right? It used to be that we thought they were seeing eye dogs, but as you've just told us, there are so many other things dogs can do. I want to bring two other guests into the conversation with us now. Shnade Zalatak is here in our Toronto studio with her service dog Foreman, and we'll talk a little bit more about how she found this dog. But Shanade, first of all, thank you for joining us and Foreman as well. Thank you so much for having us. Shanaid, can you describe Foreman to us? What is he doing right now, for instance? He is under the desk at my feet, possibly snoring. And what kind of dog is he? Foreman is half chocolate lab and half golden

retriever. Okay. But he's black. Is he a pretty calm dog? When his vest is on? Yes. Yeah. Now, you were born, Shanade, with an extremely rare. congenital disorder called Parks Weber Syndrome. How does Foreman then help you manage your complex health needs? What does he do for you? Foreman does everything from alert me if I have an infection, which he's done before. He alerted me when my home care nurse was actually at my house and he kept nudging my foot, nudging my foot. And we went to the hospital, turned out I had sepsis. So he can detect things like that. He can detect migraines. He can also detect heart rate and blood pressure fluctuations. But in addition to that, he's also trained as a mobility dog. So he can pick things up

for me, carry things, open and close doors. He knows how to do laundry. Really? What do you mean? In regard to the laundry? Yeah. So he can either take it from me and put it in the washer or he'll take it out of a laundry basket, put it in the washer. He enjoys turning the washer on even. I have to put the soap in. Obviously, he doesn't have thumbs. He can't turn the knob. But he'll do that. And then he takes the laundry out and he'll put it in the dryer. Wow. And you said he can help you detect certain things that are happening in your body. How does he show you that this is happening? Well, a perfect example would be a couple weeks ago. We volunteer at our zoo. And I was talking to a bunch of guests by a window by the guerrillas. And he was asleep behind the table. I was

just talking. Everything was fine. And he got up, weaved through people to get to me and then jumped up at me. And I felt fine, but he was very persistent. I went and sat down and my heart rate had gone from 60 beats to 147, basically doing nothing. Wow. Kate, do we know why, like how would he be able to know that part of it? I think, well, the Shanade will be, we'll know also, but I think it's that he is sense because let's say Shanade was in a stressful situation and she released cortisol. He can smell that through her skin and breath. And in this case, how he can tell that her heart rate has gone up is, again, her body is sending off scents that he can detect and he's trained to know this is trouble. And the reason he jumps up and it's so insistent,

he'll come and nudge her. Yeah, he'll lick my hand even. Yeah. Or if, if Cheney's getting a migraine, if there's an oncoming migraine, he'll actually tap the side. Is this right? He'll lick, like I wear glasses. But if I take them off, he'll, he'll, lick whatever side the migraines on over my eye. And what if you ignore him? What happens? How persistent is he? He's pretty persistent. He'll do everything. So like for him to jump up at me like that that quickly, he knew you need to sit now. There's not really much lead up. But normally it's more he'll lick my wrist. He'll lick my hand. And that's more subtle. But then if I ignore him, he'll be more persistent. Shanaid, I know you found Foreman through a gentleman named George

Leonard. Can you tell me a little bit about him? Oh, how would you describe George? Well, first of all, may he rest in peace. He passed away this past spring. But I found George after, unfortunately, being taken advantage of by a fraudulent cert of this dog organization, and that was a whole ordeal. And a friend of mine directed me. She said, you need to talk to George. He can help you. He takes on people who no one else will even consider for a service dog. And so I contacted him. him. I was crying my eyes out because it was such a stressful situation and we had lost a lot of money. And he said, what can I do to help? So basically from there, we tried two other dogs. And unfortunately, they just weren't cut out to meet my needs. And he said, we got these dogs

coming in from these other trainers. Just keep it in your wheelhouse. And I'm like, but my mom's allergic to dogs. I need a dog that doesn't shed. And my mom being the gracious person, she is said, this dog's probably going to outlive me. You need to do what you need to do. So that's how we ended up with Foreman. Kate, tell me a little, because you talk about George in the book a fair bit. Who is he and why does he come up again and again? Because he was probably the most remarkable service dog and animal trainer in the country at the time. I mean, I can't say that absolutely, but he was remarkable. And it was very sad that he died. He was only 59. And he was was, his father was Cree. He worked for years in search and rescue, indigenous search and

rescue, very traumatic work in and of itself. And he had a form of PTSD, although he didn't really know it. And he began to see the need of first responders who had not been given, you know, military people or firefighters, RCMP officers, I'm sure police officers, that they need, what a dog could do for them was help them to calm their nurse but also in his case he would have like burst of anger and he'd be in a he described being in one of a local department store and something would go the wrong way and he'd be just like out of control and so when he got his dog was a rottweiler named stinky who got the name i think because he got sprayed by skunk didn't he say and he trained this dog that it would he used also for to help other people to see that because

what George said was these dogs will pick you. And other people have told me the same thing. There's a deaf man in the book who was incredibly isolated. And when he was presented with a dog, he was to sit still. And the dog that became his dog sat down beside him and chose him. So George saw all of that, but he also knew how to train dogs with very sophisticated abilities. And there are several people in the book that were people whose lives were saved. There's one young woman whose tics were so extreme that she would have seizures. George was an extraordinary guy, and he died just before the book came out,

and I think he kind of thought this book was his and my book together because he helped me. But he was a really remarkable guy. Hello, it's Ray Winston. I'm here to tell you about my podcast on BBC Radio 4, history's toughest heroes. I've got stories about the pioneers, the rebels, the outcasts who define tough.

And that was the first time anybody ever ran a car up that fast with no tires on. It almost feels like your eyeballs are going to come out of your head. Tough enough for you? Subscribe to history's toughest heroes wherever you get your podcast. You know, another story featured in the book is Alex Bulmers. Alex is a theater artist, traveled all over the world with her seeing eye dog Zeus. Here she is describing the moment she and Zeus first met. He came running through the front door. He ran over to me. He stood on his head and fell over. And I just thought, yes, this is the dog for me. Zeus had the most remarkable balance and combination of sensitivity and mischievousness. And his sensitivity really showed in his first year working as a guide because when he was guiding me, he couldn't go out unless he had a squeaky cat.

in his mouth, that mooed. So we were often found in shops and restaurants mooing. What I realize people don't really don't recognize is that they're dogs. You know, yes, they're guide dogs, but they're dogs. So they're not robots. Sheneid, when you hear that, what does that bring up for you? I completely agree with Alex on that.

And, you know, at the end of the day, like Alex said, they are dogs, you know, as much as he helps me, I'm his guardian. And in all honesty, he comes first. You know, I don't go to the bathroom in the morning before letting him out first. You know, he gives so much to me, it's the least I can do is put him first for everything. And, you know, there are moments where temptation sets in. And at the end of the day, they're dogs, no matter how well they are trained. I mean, he got into a bag of dog treats, didn't he once? And when you were at the hospital and he ate his treats. They are dogs. They do. They are. But they also are. I mean, as

She just grumbled under the table. He's like, don't call me out like this. You know, when Zeus retired in 2018, Alex told us she was not emotionally prepared, as you can imagine. Have a listen. I felt like I lost. Well, I did. I lost a part of myself. You can hear in my voice, I'm still emotional about it. I missed him. It took me a long time to kind of gather a sense of self because I had gone, you know, for 10 years everywhere with him. And then Zeus passed away. And in some ways, I think it helped me enter a relationship with this new beautiful animal I have. It's a particularly profound kind of pain to lose your guide dog. Sheney, do you worry about that when the time comes? I do.

Foreman's now seven. And especially now with George not being here, I often think, what do I do? What do I do? Foreman has saved my life so many times now. I know for a fact, I would not be alive if I didn't have them. And even if I am to get a new dog, is it going to be able to do everything he can do? Because while a lot of it's training, a lot of it is bond. And that terrifies me. Kate, how is Alex doing now? Oh, you know, her new dog Brody, whom I adore, is a wonderful dog. But, you know, when he first arrived, she lives in a very busy part of the West End of Toronto. And they had to learn together, and it was a long process to manage the city. And they've done it, like watching them go through that learning process. And of course, now Alex is working in the UK because she's a theater artist who travels every,

all over the place. And he manages, like he, you know, he manages being on the airplane cramped up underneath her legs on the aircraft. But it, again, it is like Alex tells this story about how she lives near a high park, which is about a 400-acre park in West End Toronto. And when she moved there, everybody said, oh, it's so great. You're living near the park. You're so lucky. But for Alex, because she didn't have a dog at that moment, she couldn't actually go in unless one of us walked in with her. She was not able to use the park. And when she got Brody, she describes the first time, she and Brody took a walk into High Park on their own. And suddenly the park was hers and his, but hers. And again, it's a thing where you realize, like, she's using the subway on her own.

She now has an app where she can get off the subway and the app will direct them to where they need to get to. So, and, you know, there are people also who, whose dogs have rescued them from having a stroke, dogs that weren't even trained to do so. So there are, Alex is one of a collection of people who have these remarkable animals. Sheneid, how, how has your world opened up because of foreman, you know, saving your life, yes, but also sort of opening up a part of your world that wasn't accessible before? It's opened it up in so many ways. I can drive now. We never thought I'd be able to drive. I have a job. I volunteer. I can go out in public and non- be afraid, oh, I'm going to bleed to death and not know about it or I'm going to pass out and fall

into the road. And that's because of Foreman. And I have a lot of anxiety and stuff. And he is kind of that bridge to being able to interact with other people. You know, you also in the book, Kate, you talked to people who have saved people's lives in a multitude of different ways. So we contacted, as you can tell, a number of people you spoke to in the book. Lucas Silvera is one them. And his chihuahua, Marcy, came into his life unexpectedly. Have a listen. There are dogs in this world that you meet and there's a connection between you and that dog. And we formed this bond that just felt like she needed me, I needed her. And we just found each other in a moment in my life where I was really struggling with my mental health. I'm a recovering

addict and alcoholic. And she saved my life every single day. In what ways did Marcy help Lucas Heel? Well, she came into his life in a really interesting moment where he thought he wanted a chihuahua. I don't know how it came into his head, that a chihuahua was the dog he wanted. And she kind of dropped into his lap because a woman he knew couldn't handle the dog herself.

And so this little tiny bundle came into his life. And over time, he realized that he needed to turn his life around. And it was, as he said, it was having her, knowing she was there, but also that she relied on him to get her out of the house, and that got him out of the house, that he, caring for her, that's a very reciprocal relationship. And that's one of the really interesting things about the reciprocity of the relationship between the dog and the human, Cheney alluded to, is that somehow the bond that forms, it's a person realizing there's a need, but the dog also realizing the person's need. and so Marcy and she's a very sweet little dog that bond and it's a really interesting one to me because it's kind of magical and it's like the kind of magical relationship

I have with my own dog now I lost one dog when I was writing the book but this by dog Bowie this funny thing where he gives me as much as I give him and I can't say he saved my life but I certainly understand better what people are describing in the ongoing relationship

that they have with their animals Sheneid, before we go, how, what have you learned through your relationship with Foreman about that uniqueness of an animal and, in this case, a dog in a human relationship? Like, what have you learned about what that brings? I've definitely learned that specifically with Foreman, there's no sleeping in past 7 a.m. or that, yeah, he's also trained to turn on the lights. It's really annoying. but useful. I've also learned that, especially as somebody who spends a lot of time in hospital,

sometimes you just need somebody who listens, not says anything, just listens. He listens to me, complain about things all the time. Sometimes he'll grunt about it, and I like to think he agrees with me that these people are annoying, but he teaches me that the bond's invaluable. Will I ever have a dog like him again?

Probably not. He's pretty unique. But if you can find a dog, even if it's a pet, that's like this, people say, oh, it's a sole dog. And I'm like, maybe, maybe. But they are everything to people. You mean, some people have said in the book that one of the things about their dogs trained and untrained is that there's no judgment from the dog. Dogs just love us no matter what. And I think that no judgment part also is very helpful for people.

that might face like, you know, Jenna, for instance, we talk about Jenna, but that they, they're not going, the dog's not going to look at them and go, oh, I don't like the way you do that or, oh, how weird you are. And, you know, there are people in the book who are bullied as kids. And suddenly they're with an animal that doesn't do that, won't do that ever. Exactly. Ever. So. I was going to say, Kate, you said your dogs, Bowie and Calvin didn't, haven't saved your life. But, but maybe in some way, I mean, they, they, they bring a new perspective to your life or something? Like, what would you say? How have they changed your life? Well, okay, so we have these two dogs that are called Gannaraskin. The breed is called Gannaraskins, and they're about 25 pounds.

Calvin was my guy. He was my best guy. And Bowie came along as a little brother and an annoying little brother for Calvin. Anyway, you know, we lost Calvin. Just as I was writing the conclusion to this book, Calvin became. very, very sick, very suddenly, and we knew we were losing him. And we had a family conference when we knew that we, he was not, he had brain tumors. He wasn't going to survive. And we were, I remember being in my living room and we, I live in a kind of family compound. And so we had

gathered in my living room and my daughter and my son and my mom and I were sitting, and my son-in-law were sitting there trying to figure out, are we going to, what are we going to do now? And everybody was in tears and Calvin was sitting very silently and quietly on my daughter's lap and Bowie who's a completely untrained dog was so upset he kept going up to Maddie and he would lean into her and then he would lick away her tears and I thought oh my god this is kind of the kind of canine empathy that I've been writing about for two years that this dog knows there's something wrong and that he wants to try and help. And so in that moment, in that hard, difficult hard moment,

I felt like I was living out something I'd been writing about, which was interesting for sure. And, you know, it's been months working on a writing project and there the dogs were, you know, draped over the couch in my studio. And I understand totally the kind of company when you're in a solitary situation. the company that they give you unspoken just they you know I just know they're there and so maybe that's part of and and you know doing the book also has taught me to slow down a bit like we're in difficult times in this world and now I wonder if I go for a walk with Bowie I'm not you know

impatiently pulling on the leash well not always anyway but they're moments but he that he they taught me to kind of take in the world in a different way other than this frenetic way we have of being bombarded with information and difficult everything. And so I'm very grateful to them for that. Okay. Kate and Chenade, I appreciate your time this morning. Thank you for sharing these stories. Thanks for having us. It was a pleasure to be here. Thank you. Kate Cochran is a former CBC producer and the author of the new book, How My Dog, Saved My Life. She was in our Toronto studio with Chenade Zalatak and her service dog Foreman. Has a dog transformed your life or even saved it? Send us your dog stories. Email us

the current at cbc.ca. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca slash podcasts.