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Thanks to a pit bull mix named Clyde, and some bypass surgery, a Texas attorney is on the road to recovery — or at least the driveway to recovery.

Bruce Martin, prone to insomnia, had a heart attack while watching movies in the middle of the night with  his dog Clyde.

It was Clyde who went to the bedroom and woke up Martin’s wife, Mitch, leading her to her unconscious husband,  Scripps-Howard News Service reports.

“Clyde’s my insomnia buddy,” Bruce Martin explained. “He’d stay up with me while I was watching movies at 3 in the morning. … That particular night I got up to cross the room and had the heart attack. I was unconscious, and when he couldn’t get me to respond, he went to get Mitch.”

Reportedly, Clyde nudged the unconscious Martin — though it’s unclear how anyone could know that — then trotted into the bedroom to awaken his wife.

“…He led me to the living room,” Mitch Martin said. “That’s where I found Bruce slumped over the back of the couch.”

When Martin awoke in the hospital after his surgery, Clyde was among his first visitors.

The Martins say Clyde –  a 5-year-old pit bull-golden retriever mix — has always been close to Bruce, especially since the recent death of the family’s boxer and their cat, both from heart failure.

Martin, 60, who’s still recovering from the February heart attack, is now receiving physical, speech and occuaptional therapy, and throwing a tennis ball to Clyde to help strengthen his arms.

“Right now I’m up to walking up and down the driveway eight times, which is kind of a big thing,” he said. “But what I’m really looking forward to is taking Clyde for a walk around the block.”

(Photo: Bruce and Mitch Martin, with Clyde; Scripps-Howard)

A Massachusetts couple drowned Monday after jumping off their pontoon boat to save their dog in Hampton Ponds.

Police said Daniel Cyr, 64, jumped in the pond to retrieve the couple’s West Highland terrier, Sadie, who had leapt off the boat.

Patricia Cyr, 61, went into the water– even though she couldn’t swim — to help her husband as he struggled in the water with the dog.

Daniel Cyr died at the scene while his wife passed away at a nearby hospital later Monday, the Boston Globe reported.

The dog, who survived, had been given to the couple by Daniel Cyr’s sister six weeks ago to replace a dog who had died a year ago. Sadie will be returned to the sister.

An Atlanta area man is facing upgraded charges in connection with a fight he had with his wife two months ago in which he beat her with her dog, then killed the Pomeranian by snapping its neck, police said.

Emmanuel Alfredo Tadeo, 27, of Sandy Springs, was in the Fulton County jail Wednesday facing felony animal cruelty and other charges, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Police said the charges stemmed from a May 19 disturbance at the home of Tadeo and his wife,  Andrea Jill Armintrout, in their condominium on Roswell Road.

“The argument started over him blaming his wife for his misfortunes in life,” said Capt. Steve Rose, spokesman for the Sandy Springs Police Department. The man had been drinking heavily, he said.

“It is probably one of the worst cases of animal cruelty that we’ve ever seen,” Rose added.

Rose said the man had kicked and stomped on the dog and at one point he swung the animal at his wife, striking her.

Tadeo initially was charged with battery and misdemeanor cruelty to animals, according to Fulton County jail records. He was released June 14 after posting $5,000 bond.

This week, prosecutors upgraded the charges to aggravated assault, aggravated battery, battery and two counts of cruelty to animals.

Armintrout was also arrested Friday and charged with one count of  obstruction, a misdemeanor. She was being held on $500 bond Wednesday.

Alan Askwith didn’t mean to shoot his wife. He meant, his own lawyer says, to shoot his dog.

But apparently hitting the right target can be difficult when one is driving, allegedly under the influence, down an interstate highway with three kids in the backseat.

Yesterday, Askwith, 29, of Richfield, Utah, was being held at the Utah County jail in lieu of $10,000 bail on charges that included felony discharge of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a restricted person, driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol and cruelty to animals, according to the Salt Lake City Tribune

Highway Patrol Corporal Todd Johnson said the shooting took place somewhere on southbound Interstate 15 in southern Utah County last Friday.

“For some unknown reason, the driver decided to shoot the dog and also hit the female passenger in the lower leg,” Johnson said.

Askwith’s defense attorney, Clayton Simms of Salt Lake City, said Wednesday that Askwith shot the animal when it began snarling. Askwith then pulled over and dumped the dog on I-15, and tossed his handgun out of his SUV.

The dog – a 115-pound pit bull, named “Arby” — was later picked up by relatives, taken for treatment and, according to Simms, is expected to recover.

Simms said Askwith told him he was concerned the pit bull posed a risk to his wife, and to three children sitting in the back of his vehicle.

Askwith drove his wife to Central Valley Hospital in Nephi — see, everybody has their redeeming qualities –  where she was treated for what authorities described as a non-life threatening wound.

Another trooper, at the hospital for another matter, arrested Askwith after learning what happened and took him into custody after a brief foot chase.

Four dead dogs in “sealed containers” were found in the Tennessee home of former Kiss guitarist Vinnie Vincent over the weekend during an investigation that led to his arrest on charges of assaulting his wife.

While authorities continue to investigate that piece of the mystery, Vincent, a member of Kiss from 1982 to 1984, was released after posting $10,000 bond after his arrest by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Department, according to The Daily News Journal.

The newspaper quotes authorities as saying Vincent’s wife, Diane, arrived to the Sheriff’s Office “covered in blood,” claiming that Vincent, 58, had ”smacked her in the face,” dragged her through a pile of glass on the floor and threw her on the ground four times.

After that, deputies went to the couple’s home, where they reportedly found “four sealed containers containing deceased dogs.” His wife said that the dogs had been killed by one of their “aggressive dogs.”

As to why the dogs bodies were being kept, authorities had no comment, but one has wonder if Vincent, who wore the Egyptian symbol for life painted on his face during performances, was into pet mummification and/or cloning.

Vincent, whose real name is Vincent John Cusano, was located later and charged with one count of aggravated assault in connection with the alleged beating of his wife.

Vincent replaced original band member Ace Frehley and played on two albums — “Creatures of the Night” and “Lick It Up.”

Vincent left KISS in 1984 after disputes with the band. He lives in Smyrna, Tenn

Cesar and Ilusion Millan have announced they are filing for divorce.

“We are sad to announce that after 16 years of marriage we have decided to file for divorce. The decision was made after much consideration and time. We remain caring friends, and are fully committed to the co-parenting of our two boys,” said a statement posted on Millan’s website Friday.

People magazine reports that Ilusion Millan filed for divorce at Los Angeles court Friday, citing irreconcilable differences. She is seeking primary physical custody of the kids with visitation for Cesar, 40, as well as spousal support from the longtime host of the National Geographic Channel’s “Dog Whisperer.”

Millan came to the U.S. from Mexico with $100 in his pocket and a dream of becoming a famous dog trainer. He succeeded – with the help of some famous Hollywood clients — establishing an empire that includes dog products, a television show, a new magazine and several best-selling books.

His show begins its sixth season Oct. 9 and his fourth book, “How to Raise the Perfect Dog,” is in stores now.

Millan and his wife also founded the nonprofit Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, which promotes animal welfare by supporting the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of abused and abandoned dogs.

Gabriella, the English mastiff scheduled to be executed for biting the wife of Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield and another woman, has won a reprieve.

A decision issued Friday by Hingham District Court would allow the dog to be sent instead to a New York shelter, where she would serve life, without parole, the Boston Globe reported.

Gabriella was ordered euthanized by Hingham selectmen after a lengthy hearing in late October because of two biting incidents, both of which took place at her owners’ art gallery in Hingham Square.

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A California man is blaming his dog for the fatal shooting of his wife.

John Aaron Norris, 25, of San Miguel said his dog ran underneath his feet, tripping him and causing the semi-automatic rifle he was holding to fire.

Norris is accused of involuntary manslaughter in the July 9 shooting death of  24-year-old Tasha Dawn Norris. His preliminary hearing  is scheduled to resume today.

Norris pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charge and to a charge of  possessing an illegal weapon at his home — a semiautomatic rifle found by investigators, according to The Tribune in San Luis Obispo.

Sheriff’s deputies testified Wednesday that Norris stated he was standing on the stairs when the dog ran under his feet and tripped him. He told authorities he was holding the gun because he was planning to remove the ammunition before fire inspectors came to his home to examine new sprinklers in the condominium.

Tasha Norris was seated on a couch in the home when she was shot, according to investigators. Medics attempted to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

For five straight days, Greg Wong returned to the lonely stretch of highway on Wyoming’s prairie where his wife was killed, searching not for closure but for Sammie and Maddie, the two small dogs traveling with her.

Hours after state police on May 30 called his home in Laramie, notifying him that his wife, Susan, had been killed  on Highway 487, Wong made the first two-hour trip, arriving at 2 a.m., just as a tow truck pulled the SUV his wife had been driving from a deep ravine.

Police told Wong that his wife apparently lost control of the vehicle. It rolled over three times and landed in the ravine. Police told him no dogs were found inside the vehicle, or in the area.

Wong told the Casper Star-Tribune that as soon as he got the news, it was as if he heard his wife’s voice in his head, saying “find the dogs.”

“I guess a lot of it didn’t soak in,” he said. “…You get to that point where you almost turn into a zombie. You are afraid to start thinking about it too much because emotionally you can’t handle it. I kept focusing on ‘you have to find those dogs.’ In a way, I was thinking my last connection to my wife was those dogs.”

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Florida DJ Shannon Burke was arrested Thursday and charged with shooting his wife and dog, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office said.

Burke, whose full name is Edward Shannon Burke, got angry at his dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, got a handgun and threatened to shoot it, according to WESH, the NBC affiliate in Orlando.

When the gun discharged, the bullet went through the dog’s leg and struck his wife, Catherine, on the side of her head, according to a police report.

Burke, 43, was charged with aggravated battery with a weapon and animal cruelty. Bond was set at $10,000 at a court appearance on Friday. He was also ordered to wear a monitoring bracelet on his ankle. The incident took place Wednesday at the couple’s home in Altamonte Springs.

In a recording of Burke’s 911 call, he tells the dispatcher he was playing with a gun that he didn’t know was loaded, and it went off. He says the bullet struck the side of his wife’s head.

Catherine Burke was treated for non-life threatening injuries. The dog was treated at an emergency animal clinic and survived.

Burke is on RealRadio 104.1 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wikipedia describes his show as “mixture of outrageous daily, biker attitude and personality, and right-wing style rants.”

(Photo: Seminole County Sheriff’s Office)