Service Dog and Waitress Save Choking Diner in Layton

By Christine McCarthy(KUTV) Two-year-old Maggie is always at her owner€™s side, even at Chris Carlson€™s favorite restaurant, Applebee€™s in Layton.€œShe's my best friend. We go everywhere together. I€™m divorced,€ Carlson said. €œShe gives me purpose, and I get a lot of love from her, and she does the same to me. She just makes me feel good.€Servers and managers have come to know the Boston Terrier service dog.€œThey come in a couple times a week and they usually always sit at the same table,€ said general manager Pam Johnston.Maggie sits on her stool at their table for two. Trained last summer as a service dog, she helps Carlson, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, suffering from diabetes and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.€œShe€™s trained to detect low blood sugar, so she€™ll bark at me when I get low,€ said Carlson. €œAnd then the PTSD, I think just as a companion. I€™m not alone. I talk to her a lot.€But, generally, Maggie doesn€™t make a sound.€œShe just always sits there,€ waitress Kel Esplin said. €œQuiet, never barks. Nice dog.€ Maggie sits still beside Carlson while he eats his burger and fries, only occasionally offering her paw for a milk bone.€œShe started getting sick and the vet said it was from the oil and the salt of the French fries. So I always carry a pocket full of milk bones,€ Carlson said, breaking a milk bone and handing her half.But Thursday€™s lunch was different. As Esplin walked through the door for her shift around noon, she heard commotion coming from Maggie.€œI knew something was wrong instantly,€ Esplin said.€œShe started barking, and she jumped down, and I was horrified, because I thought she was misbehaving,€ Carlson said.But Maggie had noticed a diner in distress. She stood barking in front of a man who Esplin said was choking on a potato chip.€œHe got up and he was choking and [his wife] was trying to give him the Heimlich,€ Esplin said, adding that the wife said she wasn€™t strong enough to help him. €œSo she moved and I started giving him the Heimlich€ I put my hands together and hit his chest. I did it, like, four times.€€œHe coughed his food up and Maggie stopped barking, came back, sat down, and we finished up our meal,€ Carlson said.The man€™s wife thanked Maggie, Carlson said, and diners and staff congratulated her.€œThere were people coming by and patting her,€ Carlson said.The incident was a first for Maggie, but not for Esplin, who helped a choking boy last week.€œI hit his back like three times and a mozzarella stick, the cheese, came up,€ Esplin said.Like almost everyone who saves a life, Esplin insisted she is not a hero.€œI'm just a waitress and a hairdresser, just a regular person,€ Esplin said.But Carlson was a little less modest about his buddy€™s actions.€œI€™m proud of my friend,€ Carlson said, petting her head.(Copyright 2013 Sinclair Broadcasting Group)