08/14/2026
GUIDE DOG THROWS HIMSELF IN FRONT OF A BUS TO PROTECT HIS BLIND OWNER, THEN REFUSES TO LEAVE HER SIDE DESPITE HIS OWN INJURIES
Audrey Stone couldn't see the bus coming toward her.
But her guide dog could.
On the morning of June 8, 2015, the 62-year-old legally blind woman was walking with Figo, her 8-year-old Golden Retriever, near her home in Brewster, New York.
The two had been together for about six and a half years.
Figo wasn't simply Audrey's dog.
He was her eyes on the world around her.
That morning, they were crossing a street about a block from home when a small school bus began turning toward them.
The driver later said he hadn't seen Audrey and Figo crossing.
But Figo saw him.
The Golden Retriever had been walking on Audrey's right side.
As the bus approached, witnesses said Figo moved across Audrey and put himself between her and the vehicle.
Then he lunged toward the bus.
Audrey later said people at the scene told her Figo had thrown himself at it in an apparent attempt to stop it.
The impact struck them both.
Police photographs reportedly showed Figo's fur stuck to the bus's front wheel.
Brewster Police Chief John Del Gardo later said the dog had taken a significant part of the blow.
Audrey was left with a broken ankle, a fractured elbow, three broken ribs and a head wound that required stitches.
Figo was badly hurt too.
His right front leg suffered a serious injury, leaving him struggling to move on only three legs.
But as emergency workers arrived, Figo seemed far less concerned about himself.
He wanted Audrey.
A witness who rushed over from a nearby gas station remembered the injured dog repeatedly trying to make his way toward her.
Audrey was calling Figo's name.
Figo kept pulling toward Audrey.
Rescuers wrapped his injured leg.
He didn't bark.
He didn't cry out.
He simply kept trying to get closer to the woman he had been guiding moments earlier.
Even the police chief was struck by Figo's behavior.
An injured dog protecting someone can become defensive when strangers approach.
Figo allowed rescuers to help him.
His attention remained on Audrey.
Eventually, however, the two had to be separated.
Audrey needed an ambulance.
Figo wasn't permitted to ride inside with her, so he was taken separately for veterinary treatment.
Witnesses said both appeared distressed as they were taken away from each other.
Audrey went to the hospital.
Figo underwent surgery.
And for the first time after years spent navigating the world together, they faced their recoveries apart.
Audrey spent months recovering from her injuries, including time in rehabilitation and weeks of outpatient physical therapy.
Figo received veterinary care before returning to the Guide Dog Foundation.
His trainers had another concern.
Even if Figo's body healed, they needed to know whether being struck by a bus had left him too frightened or distracted around traffic to safely guide Audrey again.
So they tested him.
A trainer even brought Figo back to the location where the crash had happened.
He showed no signs that the experience had stopped him from doing his job.
Meanwhile, Audrey had given herself a reason to keep pushing through her own recovery.
She wanted Figo home.
Nearly four months after the accident, on Oct. 26, that finally happened.
Figo came walking up Audrey's driveway.
His tail was wagging.
Audrey reached down to greet the dog who had put himself between her and a moving bus.
"Oh, my good boy," she said as she petted him. "You're home — finally!"
And it didn't take long for their old partnership to begin again.
By noon that day, Figo was once again leading Audrey along the sidewalk near her home.
But he wasn't walking at his old pace.
Audrey was still recovering.
So Figo walked slowly enough to match her.
The same dog who had once guided her around danger was now adjusting every step so they could move forward together.
Figo's actions eventually earned him the ASPCA's Dog of the Year award.
But Audrey didn't need an award to understand what her dog had done for her.
"Basically, he would have died for me," she later said.
Guide dogs are trained to help their handlers navigate traffic and recognize danger.
But on that morning in Brewster, Figo was faced with a bus his owner couldn't see coming.
He had only seconds to react.
He could have moved away from it.
Instead, he moved toward Audrey.
He put his own body between her and the bus.
And even after the collision left him struggling on three legs, he kept trying to get back to her.
Four months later, when both of them had healed enough to be together again, Figo returned to the place he'd always been.
Beside Audrey.
Watching the road.
Matching her steps.
And guiding his best friend forward once again.
