Service dog jumps in front of bus to save blind owner, refuses to leave her side

BREWSTER, N.Y. -- Bigo the service dog went far and above what is expected of guide dogs when he jumped in front of a bus to save his blind owner recently, WLTX 19 reports. 

Bigo was trained to guide Audrey Stone, who is blind. Stone was walking down a New York street when a school bus carrying two kindergartners came upon her. The dog -- sensing danger -- threw himself at the closest part of the vehicle he could.

The bus came to a stop after hitting Bigo and Stone. The bus driver told WTLX 19 that he didn't see the pair.

Stone suffered a fractured right elbow, three broken ribs, a fractured ankle and a cut to her head in the accident. Bigo's leg was cut down to the bone. Both are expected to live.

As EMT workers arrived at the scene, WLTX reports, an injured Bigo refused to leave Stone's side.

"There were 15 EMTs and people all around her and the dog didn't want to leave her side," Witness Paul Schwartz said. "He was flopping over to her and she didn't want him to get way from, either. She kept screaming, 'Where's Bigo? Where's Bigo? Where's Bigo?' We kept telling her he was fine."

Bigo couldn't ride with Stone in the ambulance, as he needed medical care. Despite being hurt, he seemed most upset when Stone left.

"He seemed a little lost after she left," Schwartz said.

The driver of the bus was given a summons for failing to yield to a pedestrian.

"The dog took a lot of the blow," Brewster Policve Chief Del Gardo said. "And he did not want to leave her side. He stood right with her. He was there to save her."