Magician Jonathan Pendragon has relied on his 10-year-old Samoyed dog named Kashmere for years. The old reliable companion had been a part of Pendragon's show for years and the dog had been a faithful friend to the magician. But the illusionist got a new-found respect for his hairy friend recently when the dog helped to save his life. Pendragon was practicing some new material for his upcoming tour one day when things went terribly wrong. He had been experimenting with a new illusion where he used a compound bow and arrow. Somehow the trick went awry and the arrow pierced Pendragon's heart.

As he lie bleeding profusely on the floor, he tried to get a signal on his cell phone to call 911, but he lost consciousness before he was able to dial out.

Kashmere came to his owner's rescue when he found him passed out on the floor. The dog licked its owner until he came to. When he regained his wits, Pendragon dialed 911 and was able to get to the hospital to receive medical care.

Pendragon was back on the road performing again in three weeks.

The magician said he'd performed the trick successfully many times before.

"As a former stuntman and as a competitive archer, this is something that I done countless times and always successfully.

Unfortunately, this one time, something went terribly wrong. The next thing I remember was being in an ambulance."

Pendragon said he had no intention of missing any of his dates on the tour, as he was back at it again very shortly after his near-death experience. As soon as he took the stage again, his trusty side-kick, Kashmere was right there by his side. The magician produces Kashmere from a box in each of his shows.

This wasn't Pendragon's first bout with death. He was mauled on stage in September of 1992 when he tried to produce a tiger. He was back out on the road performing again in four weeks that time.

Pendragon says that he knows how fortunate he is to be here today.

"When I think of what happened to Roy (Siegfried and Roy) and Steve Irwin, I feel I have been truly blessed. I might be the luckiest person alive."