A heroic pit bull helps rescue his owners with the aid of a Pittsburgh man willing to follow

CNN

a day ago

Gary Thynes was taking his dog out to play in the park last week in Pittsburgh when he noticed a 'beautiful pit bull' walking alone with his leash dragging behind him.
Concerned the dog might get hit by a passing car, Thynes tried to get close enough to catch him in hopes that he had a microchip, Thynes posted on Facebook.
But the pit bull — a breed sometimes cast as made to fight and regulated as dangerous — stayed just out of arm's reach. He would bark and run a few steps ahead before turning back, the post said.
That's when Thynes realized:
'This dog wanted me to follow him.'
So, Thynes did just that.
A young woman driving by stopped and tried to help Thynes catch the dog, the post said.
'I could get almost close enough to grab the leash and he would run a little farther,' Thynes said, describing how the dog began to lead him down a secluded path behind train tracks to a tent encampment.
There he found an unresponsive man lying on a red couch, Thynes said in his Facebook post.
'I couldn't even tell if he was breathing or not. And then I turned around and noticed a pair of legs sticking out of a tent, and I tried to shake them, and it was a woman who would not respond to me,' Thynes told CNN Affiliate WTAE.
He immediately called 911.
Emergency personnel soon took both to the hospital, Thynes said in his post.
An unresponsive man and woman were taken to the hospital on July 29, Pittsburgh Public Safety confirmed to CNN, praising the 'Good Samaritan' and its partners who helped at the scene.
The woman as it turns out knew the two people and recognized the dog. She told Thynes she would check on the pair at the hospital the next day.
When the ambulance was gone, Thynes turned his attention back to the dog.
Soon, animal control arrived and said they would have to take the pit bull to a shelter far outside the city.
But Thynes worried the owners wouldn't be able to get him back, he wrote on Facebook.
So, he offered to take care of the dog while the owners received care.
Thynes – who is '16 months sober from heroin addiction,' he told WTAE — understands how deep the bond can be between a person and their dog, especially during difficult times, he wrote in his post.
'It is an honor for me to take care of this guy until his humans are well enough to reunite with a dog that loves them very much.'