How one dog claimed his way to the Purina Animal Hall of Fame™

Out of a litter of eight Akita pups, Samuri was the runt that Jo-Ann and Don Drozdowski chose to welcome into their Winnipeg home, and lucky for Kathy Arnold that they did.

Samuri was blind. In compensation for his lack of sight, he had a heightened sense of hearing and attentiveness – so heightened that when Kathy, a young student who lived across the street with her mother – had a stroke and collapsed against the curb outside their home one evening, Samuri began to bark insistently and out of character.

Because of Samuri’s insistence, Don finally stepped outside where he found Kathy and called 911. Kathy, who is still recovering from the effects of her stroke, owes her life to Samuri. "He was her guardian angel that night," says Kathy’s mother, Eileen.

Samuri is one of four pet heroes honoured in 2006 by the Purina Animal Hall of Fame for showing outstanding courage, loyalty and bravery in helping a human life. And he’s one of more than a hundred pet heroes that have been recognized since the program’s inception in 1968.