A dog may have saved the lives of a couple, who apparently had overdosed, when it showed up at nearby dog park and convinced — of all people — a recovering drug addict to follow it back to an encampment where its owners lay unconscious.

Gary Thynes said he was exercising his own dog at a park in Pittsburgh’s North Shore neighborhood last week when another dog approached him.

“He would come just close enough for me to be out of arm’s reach, and then he would bark, turn around, run a few steps, turn around, bark again,” Thynes told ABC affiliate WTAE. “And it felt like he was trying to get my attention. And I got this overwhelming feeling that he wanted me to follow him.”

A friend cared for Thynes’s dog as he followed the canine to a wooded area along a railroad track. Thynes, who revealed that he himself is 16-months sober as a recovering heroin addict, immediately knew what he was looking at and knew he had to act quickly.

“He led me to a tent encampment,” Thynes said in the report, also featured on YouTube. “At first, I saw just one gentleman. I tried to get his attention to wake him up, but he wouldn’t. He was completely unresponsive. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing or not.”

He continued, “And then I turned around and noticed a pair of legs sticking out of a tent, and I tried to shake them, and it was a woman who would not respond to me either.”

Thynes called 911. In minutes, police and paramedics arrived and transported the pair to an area hospital.

“We are grateful to our Public Safety partners and the good Samaritan who were in the area and in a position to help,” the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety told People, which also covered the story.

As of Saturday, the heroic dog was in Thynes’s care as the couple from the encampment remained in the hospital. There have been no updates on their condition, according to the most recent reports.

In a Facebook post, Thynes said he offered to take the dog home after animal control reported to the scene. He believed the couple in the hospital might not be able to get their dog back if it was sent to the pound.

He gave his number to a social worker who responded to the incident, asking her to tell the owners he had the dog and would watch it for them if they got into treatment.

“I know how important the unconditional love of your dog can be, and how much love they have for you,” he wrote in his post. “So, it is an honor for me to take care of this guy until his humans are well enough to reunite with a dog that loves them very much.”

Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more. He is also a filmmaker and the c0-founder of Primary Purpose Productions, a Los Angeles non profit that has produced films which prompt addicts and alcoholics to seek recovery.