Five-pound dogs don’t usually go for three mile runs, but for Otis today was no different than any other day. Amanda hooked his royal blue leash to his collar after putting on her matching gloves and headband that her mom got her for her sixteenth birthday. She wrapped his leash around her hand and they set off to the trail.

Although the trail was covered in snow with sparse patches of ice, the shimmering snow and divine trees proved to be no sign of danger. They had jogged a half a mile on the side of a hill when something happened in the blink of an eye. Amanda slipped on ice that sent her tumbling down the steep hill, hitting everything in her path. She had no time to think or react to the situation until she stopped falling and laid still.
She felt a warm prickly feeling as she looked down to see a metal pole, five inches in diameter, through her left thigh. Her leg was numb and she wasn’t even concerned about the blood pouring out of her leg. Otis’s royal blue leash was still wrapped around her hand. She didn’t even have time to process what might have happened to Otis before she fainted.

By some miracle, Otis sat on top of the hill, unharmed. He sprinted down the trail until he could find someone that could help. A mille-aged couple taking a walk noticed his eagerness for them to follow, and did so. When they saw Amanda’s condition, they immediately called 911. Help soon arrived. Amanda was awakened to the sound of yelling but couldn’t seem to keep her eyes opened. Otis was the last thing she saw before the ambulance doors closed.
Today, Amanda is unable to walk. She will never know what caused Otis’s leash to break at the last minute or how fortunate she was that the couple was walking along the trail. However, she will know her dog’s loyalty and how her five-pound dog saved her life. Sometimes heroes come in small packages.