By Teresa Novellino

I think a certain dog in Maryland is entitled to a trip to the pet spa and a whole lot of dog biscuits.



Jewelry artist Debbie Parkhurst says she was eating an apple last Friday when she began choking on a piece of fruit. The 45-year-old Calvert, Md., woman tried to perform the Heimlich maneuver on herself, but when beating on her own chest failed to dislodge the apple chunk, her golden retriever, Toby, got into the act.

''The next thing I know, Toby's up on his hind feet and he's got his front paws on my shoulders,'' Parkhurst said, according to the Associated Press. ''He pushed me to the ground, and once I was on my back, he began jumping up and down on my chest.''

Toby, who licked Parkhurst's face after the apple piece was dislodged, saved her life, the jewelry artist claims. Now the story is making headlines everywhere from The New York Times to a publication called Happy News. It was first published in the local newspaper, Cecil Whig. Check it out.

http://www.cecilwhig.com/articles/2007/03/28/news/01.txt