What a great dog.
BREWSTER, N.Y. (AP) — Lying in a hospital after being hit by a school minibus, Audrey Stone set herself a goal: to get well so she could bring back home the guide dog that had jumped in front of a bus to save her.
Stone, who is legally blind, spent months in a rehabilitation hospital. The golden retriever, Figo, had surgery himself and went back to his trainers to make sure he would be able to work again.
And at last, there was Figo striding up the driveway to greet her Monday at her suburban New York house.
“Oh, my good boy,” she exclaimed as she petted him, his tail wagging full-force. “You’re home — finally!”
Stone and Figo (pronounced FEE-goh) had been together for about 6 ½ years before the June 8 crash as they crossed a street a block from her home in Brewster, a town about 60 miles north of Manhattan.
The dog’s leap to put himself between her and the oncoming, turning bus — and his efforts to stick by her side afterward when both were injured — brought cards, calls and dog toys from as far away as England. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is giving Figo its Dog of the Year award.