Culture

People Are Praising This Man Who Saved A Dog That Was Almost Killed By An Elevator

"That’s your dog now."

by Michelle Rennex  13 December 2019
Dog Saved From Elevator

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For Johnny Mathis, Monday was just a normal day until he ran into his neighbour and her Pomeranian.

The 27-year-old welder from Texas was coming home late from work when he ran into his new neighbour and her dog. Exiting the lift onto his floor, Johnny’s female neighbour entered with her dog behind her as the lift headed for the sixth level.

Unaware of just how far the canine was from her, the elevator doors shut with the Pomeranian still in the lobby.

As the lift began to head up, Johnny turned around and saw the pup and his leash starting to move. According to CNN, Johnny yelled to the owner as the doors shut: “Hey your dog!”

His callout was met with frantic screaming and crying as the helpless owner realised what was happening. Thankfully for the dog’s owner, instinct kicked in and after struggling through the dogs hair, Johnny was able to unhook the Pomeranian from the leash.

After the incident, Johnny shared the security footage of the event to Twitter — where it has been now viewed over 18 million times.

Johnny’s story was met with praise for his quick thinking under extreme pressure. People began to hail Johnny a “hero” with a “naturally good heart”.

But the video also resulted in people bashing the dog’s owner for her carelessness. One tweet captioned: “nah this chick don’t deserve no damn dog” received over 150,000 likes on Twitter with many others echoing the sentiment.

People even suggested that the dog should be taken from the original owner and given to Johnny.

Johnny says he hasn’t spoken to the dog’s owner since the event, but doesn’t believe she deserves all the hate she’s getting. “I really feel bad for the girl, she’s gotten a lot of hate,” Johnny told NBC. “We’re all human, things happen like that. It just takes a second for your attention to not be there.”

Taking to Twitter one more time, Johnny addressed all the backlash the woman was receiving. In a series of tweets, he explained that nothing the owner did was intentional and that things could’ve been worse. He ended the thread by thanking everyone for their kind words and imploring pet owners to take extra care of their animals.