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ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. - Shelby and Lora Ennis did not expect to add another dog to their family, as one large collie named Beau was enough. That is until a young dog showed up on their doorstep one day.

“We found her outside one day and thought someone would surely claim her because she had a collar and looked to be in good shape,” Shelby said. “But after a week of waiting with no one showing up to claim her, we decided to keep her and name her Daisy. We took her to the veterinarian to start her immunizations and a year and a half later, here we are.”

The Ennises also decided to do a DNA test to see just what breeds made up Daisy's genetic background. It turned out that she has a long lineage list, eight different breeds to be exact.

“She's a very sweet dog, just a little hyperactive, but very sweet,” Shelby said.

But it was an accident at their home that proved Daisy is more than just a nice puppy. Lora fell in the kitchen one night after Shelby had gone to bed. The mishap left her bleeding and somewhat unconscious.

“I went to bed early one night, and about an hour and a half later, Daisy came upstairs to the bedroom wanting to go outside,” he said. “She'd been outside earlier and I knew she didn’t need it,, but she jumped up on the bed, which she'd never done before. So, I came downstairs to let her out and found Lora lying at the foot of the steps in a pool of blood.”

Daisy knew something was wrong and alerted Shelby of the accident. Luckily, Lora was okay after a trip to the hospital, but the couple knew there was something special about their newest addition to the family.

“When Lora came home from the hospital, she was so weak and stayed sitting in her chair for the next two days, but Daisy was extremely quiet around her,” Shelby said. “She apparently understood what was going on and that Lora needed to rest.”

While being docile is not often what a two-and-a-half-year-old “pup” may be, Daisy seems to be anything but typical, and her rescuing Lora wasn’t her only experience in helping someone. Most recently, while on a walk at a nearby nature trail, Shelby said she discovered someone in distress under some brush just off the walking path.  

“There was a good-size Japanese honeysuckle limb broken down and lying in the trail, and when I stopped to move it, I thought I heard somebody screech, and I looked around and couldn't tell where it had come from,” Shelby said. “I started on down the trail and off to the side in a depression was a fellow lying there and every time Daisy would nuzzle him, trying to see what was wrong, he'd let out a screech.”

Shelby added that the person was in the shadows of the bushes, and it looked like he had been there for a while.

“If Daisy hadn't started nuzzling him and making him holler, I probably would've walked past him,” he said. “It’s hard to tell how long he would have been there had Daisy not found him.”

Shelby alerted local responders who attended to the person, and once again, Daisy the Rescuer came through to help save someone. 

These instances prompted the Ennises to enter Daisy in the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) People’s Choice Pup competition after reading a notice about it in the Kentucky Farm Bureau News.

It should come as no surprise that Daisy was chosen as one of the top five finalists among entrants from across the country.

This loveable dog was fortunate enough to find the Ennis family to call her own, but if you ask Shelby and Lora, they think they are the lucky ones.

Editor’s note: The AFBF People’s Choice Pup award is a part of the Farm Dog of the Year Competition. A panel of judges selected by AFBF will select the Farm Dog of the Year. Members of the public were invited to vote online for their favorite dog in the People’s Choice Pup contest as part of the overall competition. As of press time, the voting will have ended with the winner being announced in January at the AFBF National Convention.