TULSA -- Tulsa firefighter Robert Page is thanking his fire family and friends for raising money to get a companion dog for his son, that will be trained to potentially save his life.
"We could not take care of Brian if it wasn’t for our family, our friends, and the fire department," said Page.
Page landed Tuesday night from Ohio at the Tulsa airport with something extra by his side.
"Brian can’t really talk but he makes noises and he was just hollering and all excited, he got some fresh puppy kisses in the middle of the night," said Page.
Page's six-year-old Brian has Arthrogryposis which affects his joints. Page got the idea after seeing service dogs help children with disabilities at a recent conference.
"They could push the buttons on the elevators that the other kids couldn’t get to, they picked up everything that the kids dropped," said Page.
He's hoping with training, the eight-week-old Golden Doodle named Thor will lift Brian's head up when it falls, and alert them when he's having breathing problems.
"Twice Brian stopped breathing, once I got him back at home and once we got him back at the hospital, so that’s been one of our biggest fears," said Page.
Brian also gets to enjoy the cute and cuddly part about having a dog.
"He’s super chill and calm which was one of our goals, that he can just snuggle with Brian and keep him calm and be his snuggle bug," said Page.
Thor will be by Brian's side constantly whether at home or school, and Robert has his fire family to thank.
"Without them I don’t know, I don’t know what we’d do, from wheelchairs, to the Make-A-Wish trip, to the dog, they’re always bending over backwards for us," said Page.
The full training for Thor to become a service dog takes about two years.
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