They say dogs are man’s best friend, but if you ask me pizza comes in at a close second!
Fortunately for Lethbridge, AB’s Brian Chambers, who experienced a life-threatening stroke, he got the best of both worlds! Upon seeing Chambers collapse to the floor, his canine companion Martin sprang into action, calling Domino’s and presumably trying to order him a pizza! And while it probably would’ve been much more helpful for the Jack Russell Terrier to have called 911, we think a dog figuring out how to use a phone at all is still pretty good!
Not all heroes wear capes, but some of them do wear collars and manage to call a mid-range pizza delivery franchise when their owners actually need life-saving medical intervention. Martin normally lives a quiet buttoned-down life, but when lack of blood flow left Chambers experiencing an ischemic stroke, Martin wasted no time.
According to Chambers – who was eventually discovered and driven to the ER by his wife – Martin the pooch nudged the landline phone off its cradle (retro alert!) and began to dial numbers with his adorable snout. It wasn’t even the main Domino’s number from the commercial – it was the specific number for that town’s Domino’s! Incredible!
As incredible as this is, it just raises more questions. Where did the 4 year-old-dog learn to dial a phone? How did he memorize the number for the local Domino’s? Why didn’t he bother to learn any emergency service telephone numbers?
One question that has been answered is who took the miraculous canine call. That honour fell to Raphael Diaz, an assistant manager at the Lethbridge Domino’s.
“I mean, sometimes kids will call the delivery number and just giggle into the phone,” explained Diaz. “But this was the first time a dog ever called. I could hear him barking on the other line, and what kind of sounded like a man grunting.”
It was at this crucial point that Diaz did what any other person would do:
“I hung up the call. I mean, most people order online these days, but we still need to keep the delivery line clear.”
If you pitched this story as a movie, all the Hollywood executives would say it was too unbelievable! They also might suggest having the dog call a hospital instead of Domino’s, or have the employee sense danger and have EMS sent to Chambers’s house. But unfortunately, that’s not how it actually happened!
Across town in the ER, doctors concluded that Chambers stroke was, coincidentally, caused by a poor diet of mainly Domino’s! Isn’t that ironic! When we reached him for comment, Brian remarked, “If we can’t teach Martin to call emergency services, we’ll at least have to teach him the number of a better pizza place.” Or at least that’s what he probably would’ve said if he’d been able to speak.
Meanwhile, In recognition of the heroic acts of Martin the hero dog, Domino’s has agreed to cater Chambers’ funeral. Hopefully now Martin can get that extra sausage thin crust he wanted!
