Most children consider their pets to be their best companions and heroes. But for this young youngster, his dog has proven to be a true hero and one of his best friends.
Riley Gedge-Duffy, a five-year-old boy, received numerous burns to his arms, back, and head after the tumble dryer machine started automatically while he was locked within.
Riley would have been caught in the dryer if it hadn’t been for the family’s cockapoo, Teddy, who was the one who alerted the family to the situation.
When Teddy kept barking, he genuinely rescued the day. ‘My wife was upstairs hoovering at the time, and the dog ran upstairs and went nuts, so she knew something wasn’t right,’ said Riley’s father, Aaron Duffy, 42.
“Where’s Riley?” she inquired as she walked downstairs, seeing our oldest son watching TV. The dog was barking hysterically and sprinting back and forth to the tumble dryer, but she couldn’t see Riley since it was so dark inside.’
Something pounding and smashing could be heard inside the tumble dryer, which sounded like someone had ‘left an iPad inside.’ Riley, on the other hand, was quickly discovered inside by the family. ‘She yanked Riley out of the pool and began squirting cold water on him.’
Aaron tries not to think about what may have occurred if Teddy hadn’t barked so loudly.
The event occurred in Northern Ireland on Sunday night. Riley is still recovering from his burns in the hospital.
Aaron is attempting to educate parents about the dangers of leaving a tumble dryer unattended or easily accessible. ‘You hear about these things happening, but this happened in our family, and I just wanted to make other parents aware.’ Because there are six of us in the house and a lot of laundries, we have a larger than an average tumble dryer.’