They say dogs are man’s best friend. But one young mother from South Yorkshire, England asserts that saying must extend to women as well. By all accounts, Alhanna Butler and her sweet Akita, Keola, were inseparable. Wherever Alhanna went, Keola was sure to follow!
So when Keola started acting strange around Alhanna, she was confused and concerned. However, the problem wasn’t with Keola – there was something wrong with Alhanna instead…
It all started when Alhanna and her childhood sweetheart, Ricky, were trying to have a child of their own. After months of attempting to conceive with no results, Alhanna and Ricky were about to give up. They had gotten their hopes up so many times just to have them dashed.
So when yet another pregnancy test came up negative, Alhanna hurled it into the garbage can and went about her day, frustrated and heartbroken.
When Alhanna and Ricky returned home from running errands, they noticed something odd. The young woman spoke to The Mirror UK about what they found:
“We did test after test but with no luck. They just kept coming up negative. One day I had binned a negative test and gone out shopping.
When we returned, Keola had gone through the bin and had got the pregnancy test out of the bin. She had never touched the bins before so it was very odd. She was sat with it in front of her like she was trying to tell us something.
I grabbed it and saw a faint second line – I couldn’t believe it. I showed Ricky straight away and said Keola was saying I was pregnant but he said the line was too faint and it was just coincidence so we binned it again.
The next day I went to buy a more expensive test and it said I was two weeks pregnant.”
It was clear to both Alhanna and Ricky that Keolah had a stronger bond to his human Mom than anyone could’ve ever guessed. But Keola’s unique sense was about to pop up again – and this time, it was a life or death situation…
After realizing she was pregnant, Alhanna started to take better care of herself. She ate healthily, did her best to exercise and stayed away from the sick as best as she could. However, she began to feel ill several weeks into her pregnancy.
Unfortunately, Alhanna’s condition worsened as each day passed. Sensing something was seriously wrong, Alhanna went to the doctor and asked for their assessment. The doctors observed her symptoms and ran a few tests, but nothing alarming popped up!
Alhanna was then sent back home and instructed to relax. Obviously, pregnancy can be a stressful time in a woman’s life and the doctors attributed her illness to nerves.
As soon as Alhanna returned home, Keola perked up and ran straight to her side. She sat there for nearly one hour, just staring at Alhanna and whining loudly.
Alhanna told The Mirror UK that Keola’s insistence really worried her. Perhaps things were really wrong with her body and the doctors missed it!
“When the doctors sent me home and said there was nothing seriously wrong, [Keola] just sat staring at me so intently that it really scared me.
Then my mum phoned and said ‘listen to your dog, she is trying to tell you something’. It turns out she was absolutely right – and she saved our lives. She is the most amazing dog and I owe her my life…
No one really understood how ill I was – but Keola did.”
Alhanna took herself to the hospital and barely made it through the door before she collapsed. The following two weeks were a blur of medical tests and treatments. She was diagnosed with a rare antibiotic-resistant bug and a double kidney infection. When Alhanna regained consciousnesses, doctors informed her that she would’ve passed away if she waited even a few hours longer to go the hospital.
Thankfully, Alhanna made a complete recovery and gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Lincoln. She knows that without Keola’s keen sense, there’s a very high likelihood she and her baby wouldn’t have made it.
She spoke to The Mirror UK about Keola’s relationship with her son now:
“I completely trust her around Lincoln. She loved him before any of us did – it was her who knew about him first. She loved him before he even knew she existed and she would rest her head on my tummy.
Now she spends all of her time by his side. She sleeps by his cot and she stands guard of him all the time. In Japan, Akitas have been known as ‘babysitting’ dogs and she definitely lives up to this. She is inseparable from him.”
It’s clear Lincoln and Keola will be friends forever. If Keola looks after Alhanna like she has in the past, it only makes sense that she’ll do her best to keep her human brother safe!