Angels with Furry Faces, Rescue Pup Sounds Medic Alert, Politics Go to the Dogs, and More!
Thea Chase, 2, (seen here hanging with her homie, Buddy) after being found safe by two search and rescue dogs after wandering off from home. photo: Brooke Chase
Angels With Furry Faces:
Four-Legged Friends Guard Lost Toddler
When a barefoot toddler wandered away from her yard in Michigan’s rural Upper Peninsula recently, the family’s two dogs had the good sense to stay with her. After a frantic nighttime search involving drones, community volunteers, and a local K-9 unit, two-year-old Thea Chase was found safely asleep in the dark woods three miles from her home, her head on Hartley, the family’s English Springer Spaniel, with Buddy the Rottweiler close by.
“She laid down and used one of the dogs as a pillow, and the other dog laid right next to her and kept her safe,” said Lieutenant Mark Giannunzio. “It’s really a remarkable story.”
Police were notified about 8 p.m. that the girl was missing, but it wasn’t until midnight that a family friend found her, alerted by Buddy’s barking - providing a happy ending to what was undoubtedly the longest four hours in her parents’ entire lives.
“She’s got those dogs wrapped around her little finger,” said her grateful mom, Brooke Chase.
Just another day in the life of a couple of four-legged guardian angels.
Source: cnn.com
Axel, recently adopted by the Tanner family, is the hero who saved the day. photo: Amanda Tanner
Medic Alert!
Rescue Pup Axel Sounds the Alarm
In other hero dog news, Axel, a one-year-old Border Collie mix, recently roused sleeping parents when their teenage son Gabriel suffered a sudden stroke at 5 a.m. After jumping on the parents’ bed and pawing them repeatedly, Axel stood in front of the teenager’s closed bedroom door and refused to budge until the parents checked on him.
Finding Gabriel slurring his words and unable to move his right side, they rushed him to the emergency room where the neurosurgeon who treated the teen said the dog’s quick action had made a “massive” difference in Gabriel’s outcome. “It’s very amazing that their dog alerted and started this whole process of getting everyone awake and going downstairs,” said Dr. Sabih Effendi. “When somebody’s acutely having a stroke, the neurons are dying . . . If he was not found and another three or four hours went by, there would have been more and more and more brain injury.” Like most teens, Gabriel is a late sleeper on weekends and his mom said it was doubtful they would have checked on him before noon had it not been for Axel’s timely intervention.
In fact, Axel’s own life started out as something of a close call. The black-and-white Heinz 57 was part of a litter of unwanted puppies found by a Houston rescue group. No one wanted him until Gabriel’s family took a chance on the young dog and brought him home – and you can bet they’re now eternally grateful they did.
Just goes to show you never know where your next hero’s coming from.
Source: today.com
Robert "Ziggy" Zeigler and his dog Meiko are all hands — and paws — on deck for a write-in election campaign in Anchorage, Alaska.
Politics Go to the Dogs – Literally:
Anchorage Pup Mounts Write-in Mayoral Campaign
Has politics finally gone to the dogs? Yes, but in a good way. Meet Meiko, the Alaskan Malamute who’s running for mayor of Anchorage as a write-in candidate.
Meiko himself may be blissfully unaware of his new political career. He’s actually running at the behest of his human, Ziggy Zeigler, an area muralist who serves as Meiko’s campaign manager (after all, it’s hard to fill out all those forms without opposable thumbs).
Does Meiko have what it takes to go the distance in a dog-eat-dog political world? Zeigler thinks so.
“When he goes up and down the street, everybody wants to take pictures of him,” Zeigler says. “He’s very hairy and has a great disposition.” In other words, he’s already better qualified than many elected officials we could name.
Anchorage voters head to the polls to choose their new mayor on April 2, 2024. Meanwhile, stay tuned for updates from the canine campaign trail.
Source: kcra.com
Chicken went from abandoned dog to National Champion. photo: ABIMAX photography.
Who You Calling Chicken?
Abandoned Dog Becomes National Champ
Chicken was an abandoned pup, tied to a tree outside an Alabama shelter, before a local family stepped up to foster her. Now she’s known as the Flying Chicken and a national champion in the Ultimate Air Games, a renowned dock diving competition.
After being found at the shelter, Chicken quickly endeared herself to her adopted McDaniel family and soon became a “failed foster” and a permanent part of their pack. The McDaniels took her to a local obedience training facility, where she got her first taste of dock diving and she was hooked. With training help from the family’s young daughter Lucy May, Chicken was soon on her way to high flying fame in dock diving circles. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Chicken’s family hopes her success will open others’ eyes to the joy of adopting a shelter dog. “Maybe one or two other people might think, ‘hey, we don’t have to have a specific breed of dog,’” says Lucy May’s mother Dorothy. “’Maybe we can just go see what they have over there at [the shelter].’”
We couldn’t agree more.
Source: wkrg.com
We were already pretty clear on the concept. photo: AdobeStock
Tell Us Something We Don’t Know: New Study Finds Treats Top Toys
From the Duh Department, a new study by the University of Florida finds that, when it comes to rewards, 9 out of 10 dogs prefer a treat to a toy.
“I was surprised, but nobody’s looked at how dogs will work for toys versus food before,” said senior study author Dr. Nicole Dorey.
Not to dis the scientific method, but maybe that’s because we all thought the answer was obvious.
Source: sci.news
Bobi lived to be the distinguished old age equivalent to 217 human years. photo: Getty Images
Bobi R.I.P.: World’s Oldest Living Dog Dies at Age 31
On October 21, Bobi, the oldest known dog on the planet, crossed the rainbow bridge at the astonishing age of 31 years and 165 days - or approximately 217 in human years.
A Portuguese Mastiff, or Rafeiro do Alentejo, Bobi was registered with his local veterinary service in 1992. He lived his entire life with Leonel Costa, who was just eight years old when he rescued Bobi from an unwanted litter slated to be killed.
Bobi roamed freely on the Costas’ rural property in Conqueiros, a small Portuguese village, enjoying fresh air in a peaceful environment and eating only human food soaked in water to remove any seasonings. A lover, not a fighter, he often liked to wander around with cats.
Bobi’s death at a local animal hospital was announced by veterinarian Dr. Karen Becker who noted that “despite outliving every dog in history, his 11,478 days on earth would never be enough for those who loved him.”
Such true words for anyone who has ever lost a dog, no matter what age.
Source: cnn.com