FAMILY DOG SAVES TODDLER FROM POOL : PET KEEPS GIRL AFLOAT TILL HELP COMES.

Byline: Yvette Cabrera Daily News Staff Writer

When Belen Barraza heard the splash in her pool, it was a baby sitter's worst nightmare come true.

Barraza was washing her car and baby-sitting her 21-month-old niece Guadalupe ``Lupita'' Villa on Saturday afternoon at her parent's Canoga Park home when the toddler fell into the swimming pool.

``I heard a splash, but I didn't think anything because my dog is always jumping in the pool,'' Barraza, 20, said. ``But I turned around anyway, and that's when I saw her floating, and the dog was trying to push her up and pull her out.''

The dog, Sam, a cocker spaniel-German shepherd mix the family received as a gift four months ago, had been trained by his former owner to rescue people from pools.

The Barrazas continued training him by staging fake drownings, in which one of the four Barraza girls would float in the pool and Sam would pull them out by the hair.

``It's incredible. I never thought he would do that,'' said the toddler's mother, Guadalupe Villa, 21, who was at work when the near drowning occurred. ``He's trained; I just never thought it would happen.''

The Barraza ordeal comes on the heels of a spate of drownings and near drownings this summer, including a woman and her grandson, who drowned earlier this month in Simi Valley, and two San Fernando Valley toddlers, who nearly drowned last week in unrelated pool accidents.

``It's not a common occurrence for an animal to rescue or retrieve someone that is drowning in the water,'' said Los Angeles city Fire Department spokesman Jim Wells. ``In essence, it's a very fortunate situation, especially for a child of that age.''

Belen Barraza had been washing her car in the backyard driveway adjacent to the pool, while keeping an eye on her 4-year-old son Michael and her niece, an energetic brown-haired toddler with hazel eyes.

At around 4:30 p.m., as her niece stood in the door frame of an open sliding glass door, Barraza turned her back briefly to retrieve her son, who had climbed onto the hood of her car.

In that instant, Lupita scrambled into the pool, only to have the family's pet dog Sam jump in after her and swim underneath to keep her afloat. When Barraza realized what happened, she screamed, and the dog grabbed gently onto the toddler's neck.

Barraza then jumped in, pulled her niece to the side of pool and handed her to her younger sister Jennifer, 17, who had been indoors but in view of the pool.

``He wanted to keep helping me, but I pushed him out of the way and pulled her out,'' said Barraza, explaining that the dog didn't grab onto her niece's hair because it was too short. ``We're very proud of him. I've always loved him, but my sisters they didn't like to play around with him. They would push him away. But now they say never again.''

The toddler was taken to the hospital and examined, but other than a few small teeth marks, she was fine, Guadalupe Villa said.

As Lupita scrambled around the family room chasing Sam on Saturday, Villa expressed appreciation for the family pooch.

``The paramedics said she was very lucky, because she didn't swallow any water,'' Villa said. ``I'm just glad Sam was there.''

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Photo

Photo: Guadalupe Villa holds little Lupita for a kiss fromthe family's dog, Sam, who jumped into a pool to protect her from drowning.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News