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Rescued pit bull TaterTot returns favour, saves owner’s four-year-old son

Dog rescues boy from life-threatening situation

Minnesota mother Christi Smith took in a pit bull named TaterTot just hours before he was scheduled to be euthanized by Minneapolis Animal Care and Control.

She decided to foster the 10-month-old pup until she could find him a long-term home.

Just days later, TaterTot returned the favour by saving Peyton, Smith's four-year-old son.

Last week, TaterTot woke up Smith in the middle of the night. He was barking and whining, running back and forth between Smith's room and her young son's.

When Peyton wouldn't wake up, TaterTot jumped on the boy and licked his face. Peyton was barely breathing.

Smith rushed her son to the hospital where doctors determined that Peyton's blood sugar was dangerously low.

"If his blood sugar was that low, he may have been producing ketones," Isis Sanchez, of Blue Pearl Veterinary Clinic, told Fox 9 News. "That may have been what the dog picked up on."

TaterTot's keen sense of smell likely helped him recognize the change in Peyton's body.

"What, for us, is barely a whiff of something gives them a huge picture of what's going on," Sanchez said.

Smith is no longer looking for a permanent home for TaterTot. The dog is already considered an integral part of her family.