text: ChiChi weighs only 13 pounds. "He's so tiny,I can carry him with one hand," says Mary Lane."Most people see him and think he's useless." 
  
  But last October,ChiChi proved to be more than just a pretty face. Mary and her husband,Rick,were relaxing on the beach one afternoon while on vacation in North Carolina's Outer Banks.As usual,ChiChi was lying on his blanket in his own little beach chair. 
  
  "We had our noses buried in books,"recalls Rick,"when suddenly the dog became extremely uneasy. His bark was different from anything we had heard before.And he would not let us ignore him." 
  
  ChiChi ran back and forth in front of his chair as if to run down the beach.The Lanes sat up to see two elderly women in the ocean,about 100 yards down the beach and 10 feet off shore.One was on her back,her head under the waves.The other was struggling hard to keep her friend's head above the surface. 
  
  The Lanes rushed across the sand and into the surf. Rick went to the woman in danger of drowning,while Mary held fast on to the other one and pulled her up on the beach."Then I went back to help Rick," Mary says."The sand dropped off steeply,and a riptide was beating the woman under. She was completely helpless." 
  
  Not getting well from recent knee surgery,the woman had been unable to turn over or push herself up."Her friend had been in danger too," Mary says."The waves were pushing her around. There's no way she could have held on much longer." 
  
  The women hadn't called out for help. "They were struggling so hard that there was no time for screaming," Mary recalls."But ChiChi had sensed their danger." 
  
  Duty done,ChiChi was back in his chair,asleep,by the time the two women were on dry ground and the Lanes had returned to their blankets.Luckily,the women were fine,though shaken.They thanked the Lanes for saving their lives. 
  
  Back home in Greensboro,North Carolina,the Lanes ordered a special collar with the words "Hero Dog" on it.