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Animals To The Rescue

More info on the elephant in my last post.

Elephant dash saved tsunami girl

An eight-year-old survivor of the Asian disaster has told how her life was saved by a four-year-old elephant.
Amber Mason, of Milton Keynes, Bucks, was riding Ningnong in the Thai resort of Phuket when the devastating waves struck the beach.

As the wave swept in and with water up to his shoulders, Ningnong dashed out of the waves to the top of the beach, carrying Amber to safety.

Back home, Amber said she felt very lucky that Ningnong had saved her.

She said: "I think Ningnong thought something was wrong and was trying to get off the beach.

"Everyone was running out of the sea and my mum began crying because she thought she'd lost me."

Ningnong's owner, realising that seconds were precious, said he had ordered the elephant to run.

Amber's mother, Sam, believes Ningnong had been crucial in saving her daughter.
"If she had been on the beach on her own or with us on the beach, she would never have lived. The elephant took the pounding of the wave," she said.

Ningnong is back on the beach and playing in the waves and as a thank you for saving Amber's life, her family have said they will pay to Ningnong's owner £30 a month.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/e ... 165273.stm
Published: 2005/01/11 14:41:14 GMT

© BBC MMV
 
MAN'S BEST FRIENDS

TWO Jack Russell terriers saved their owner's life by keeping him warm for NINE days after he collapsed alone in his freezing Swinton flat.
Paul Walsh says he owes his life to dogs Bess and Petra, who kept a vigil over him when he lay slowly dying, after staggering home following an alleged assault.

Recovering at Rotherham Hospital from his amazing ordeal this week Paul, 43, said he would be "forever grateful" to his pets.

Said Paul: "I went to the shops on Christmas Eve and as I walked home someone attacked me from behind. I fell to the floor and bit my tongue with the impact. I managed to crawl home, collapsed on the bed and the infection in my tongue developed into septicaemia and set my liver off. I collapsed on the bed and I couldn't move my legs. I was there for nine days.

"The only thing that saved me from dying of hypothermia was my two Jack Russells. They stayed with me day and night. They kept me warm, licking my face, one sitting on my legs, the other on my chest."
Soon his electricity coin meter ran out and he was unable to get to his mobile phone.

"I was there nine days with no food and three days without a drink," said Paul. Luckily I had left a bit of water for the dogs which just lasted them."
He said his flatmate's sister raised the alarm, after she knocked on the door and heard the dogs barking but got no answer. His own sister, Linda Walsh, of Barnburgh, managed to break in and found him in the bedroom.
A spokesman from South Yorkshire Ambulance Service confirmed they had taken a man to hospital confused and suffering from hypothermia, on January 3.

Said Paul: "The dogs saved my life, even the medical staff said so. I was hallucinating, I had an enlarged liver and had gone into renal failure. My heartbeat was irregular - I was in effect, dying. The doctors said I would have only lived another eight hours if I had not been found.

"Those dogs are heroes," he said. "When I get out of hospital I will get them a piece of the most expensive steak each." He praised staff at the hospital for helping him to recover from his experience.

A police spokesman said they were investigating the alleged assault.

--------------------------
27 January 2005

Source
 
I think the loyalty dsiplayed qualifies this as fitting in here - it fits with a number of other stories that come up occasionally:

Loyal pooch follows owner to the grave

Tuesday March 15, 2005 09:12 - (SA)


SYDNEY - An elderly Australian man will be buried with his loyal dog after the animal spent almost a week guarding the deceased's body and appeared too miserable to live after being removed from his master.

The RSPCA in north-eastern Queensland state said that Jess, a cattle dog cross estimated to be about 12 years old, would be put to sleep and later cremated and buried with his owner.

The dog was found lying across the body of his 74-year-old owner who died in his Brisbane home.

The animal protection society was called in when the dog attempted to shield the dead man from ambulance officers who had come to take the body away.

"The dog would just growl and attack them basically," RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty said. "It was just devoted to the owner."

Man and dog had been inseparable and while the RSPCA had originally attempted to care for the pet, they found him to be aggressive and unhappy while in their custody.

"He was a one-person dog," Beatty said, adding that the animal was old and not in perfect health.

The dog would likely have been euthanased within ten days for failing the RSPCA's behaviour test for animals to be given to the public, he said.

Source
 
Aww that's reminiscent of Greyfriars Bobby. Except Greyfriars Bobby wasn't put down after his owner died...
----------------------


Cliff Plunge Labrador Saved by Canine Friend

By Emma Gunby, PA

A dog survived a 100ft fall down a cliff after it was saved by a canine friend, coastguards said today.

Lacey, a Golden Labrador, was trapped after slipping down a rocky slope near South Stack, in Holyhead, north Wales.

But in a scene reminiscent of a Lassie movie, Sheena a 12-year-old black Labrador – came to the rescue.

The dog spotted Lacey lying at the bottom of a gully in a pool of water.

She immediately ran for help and found Lacey’s owner and alerted her to the danger by repeatedly barking and directing her to the stricken animal.

A spokesman for Holyhead Coastguard said Lacey would not have been able to climb out of trouble herself after falling down the cliff on Monday afternoon.

He said: “The whole rescue operation took around 40 minutes.

“The dog had fallen about 100ft down a narrow gully and landed in a pool of water.

“The dog was probably running about and didn’t see it.

“One of our rescue team climbed down to the dog and set up a harness and rope system to winch her back to the top.

“The dog was shivering from the cold and a bit shocked and nervous but she did not seemed to be hurt and was wagging her tail.

“She would not have been able to get out herself so she is very lucky that the other dog found her.”

Scotsman.com
 
Mesa police want to add monkey to SWAT team


MESA, Ariz. The Mesa Police Department is looking to add some primal instinct to its SWAT team. And to do that, it's looking to a monkey.
The department has submitted a request to purchase and train a capuchin monkey, which is considered the second smartest primate to the chimpanzee.

The department is seeking about 100-thousnd dollars in federal grant money to put the idea to use in Mesa SWAT operations.

The monkey weighs only three to eight pounds, has tiny humanlike hands and puzzle-solving skills. Police say it would be able to get into places no officer or robot could go and could unlock doors, search buildings and find suicide victims on command.

-----------------------
Copyright 2005 Associated Press.

Source
 
:shock:

I'm certainly not suggesting it's impossible by any means, but does the story seem to have one or two holes in it as well?

Witnesses: Dog cared for abandoned baby

Monday, May 9, 2005 Posted: 9:02 AM EDT (1302 GMT)

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A nursing dog foraging for food retrieved an abandoned baby girl in a forest in Kenya and carried the infant to its litter of puppies, witnesses said Monday.

The stray dog carried the infant across a busy road and a barbed wire fence in a poor neighborhood near the Ngong Forests in the capital, Nairobi, Stephen Thoya told the independent Daily Nation newspaper.

The dog apparently found the baby Friday in the plastic bag in which the infant had been abandoned, said Aggrey Mwalimu, owner of the compound where the animal is now living. It was unclear how the baby survived in the bag without suffocating.


Doctors said the baby had been abandoned about two days before the dog discovered her. Medical workers later found maggots in the infant's umbilical cord, a product of days of neglect, Hannah Gakuo, the spokeswoman of the Kenyatta National Hospital, where the girl was taken for treatment, said Monday. No one has yet claimed the baby, she said.

But the 3.3 kilogram (7.28 pounds) infant "is doing well, responding to treatment, she is stable ... she is on antibiotics," Gakuo told The Associated Press. Workers at the hospital are calling the child Angel, she said.

Unwanted infants are often abandoned in Kenya -- sometimes they are even dumped into pit latrines. Poverty and mothers' failed relationships with fathers are often blamed for the problem, and Kenya's weak law enforcement and social security systems means that most people who abandon babies are never caught.

"Abandoned babies are normally taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital because it is a public hospital," Gakuo said. "People are now donating diapers and baby clothes for this one."

Not all abandoned infants are as lucky -- another stray dog ate the cheek of an abandoned infant some three years ago.


Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/05 ... index.html
 
Edited to add "I see someone beat me to this one" Sorry for the duplicate post. kudos to Lopaka for being on the ball.

I saw a story on the news just today where a dog in kenya , I believe, had found an abandond baby,carried it across a busy highway and through a barbed wire fence and placed the child in with it's own pups that it was nursing. The baby had been abandond 2 days prior apparently newborn.
It was eventually heard crying by some youths and they found it being protected by the mother dog.
The baby had an infected umbilical cord, but was otherwise doing fine.
 
Another report with photos:

Kenyan baby girl 'rescued by dog'

An abandoned baby girl found among a dog's litter of puppies is now doing well in hospital in Kenya's capital.

Two boys heard the two-week old baby girl, named Angel by nurses, crying near their house in a Nairobi suburb.

The dog's owner then found the baby covered by an old cloth in a plastic bag. She gave her some milk and cleaned her before she was taken to hospital.

Doctors think the baby was left for two days before being discovered. The case is receiving huge media coverage.

Local residents say the baby was probably abandoned in a nearby forest and the dog then carried her in the plastic bag from the forest over the main Ngong Road back to the house.

Search

The dog's owner told The Daily Nation newspaper that two of her children came to her saying they could hear a baby crying but couldn't find it.

"I followed them outside and looked around our compound and a nearby plot," said Mary Adhiambo.

"I saw my dog, which I have had for five years, lying protectively with her puppy besides the soiled baby lying in a torn black cloth. I held the baby in my arms and carried it into the house."

A neighbour then took Angel to a nearby police station and on to Kenyatta National Hospital.

Doctors found maggots in her umbilical cord, but a hospital spokeswoman said the baby was responding well to treatment considering she had been left outside in the cold.

Hospital staff say members of the public have begun donating baby clothes and nappies.

Unwanted babies are quite frequently abandoned in Kenya - because of failed relationships or extreme poverty.


-------------------
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/w ... 530423.stm

Published: 2005/05/09 15:09:39 GMT

© BBC MMV
 
Parrot risks life, feathers for owner during roommate fight

By Tinuola Awopetu, Court TV Thu May 12, 4:41 PM ET

(Court TV) — Why get a guard dog when you have Mango the parrot?


When Mango's owner, Joe Quirarpe, became involved in a dispute with a housemate on May 2, the pigeon-sized Brazilian parrot risked life and feathers to defend its owner.

San Mateo County Lieutenant Lisa Williams said Grady Powless, a roommate of Quirarpe's, had been drinking and got into an argument with the other man around 5:50 p.m. Powless, 47, allegedly kicked Quirarpe in the legs and then hit him with the lid of a barbecue grill.

Michael Monaghan, a third roommate who tried to intervene in the dispute, told the San Mateo Daily Journal that Mango swooped down into the fracas when it saw its owner being attacked.

Powless allegedly grabbed the bird and began ripping out its tail feathers. He then threw the bird to the ground and attempted to stomp on it.

According to Lt. Williams, Monaghan grabbed Mango and ran back into the house. When deputies arrived, they placed Powless under arrest. Mango was not seriously hurt.

"The bird was startled," Williams said. "But it looked like it was going to be okay."

Powless was charged with vandalism, assault with a deadly weapon, cruelty to animals, and attempt to commit a felony. He's being held on $100,000 bond at the Redwood City County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for May 16th.

Source
 
Mo. Dog Wins Hero Award for Saving Farmer


May 13, 5:30 PM (ET)


WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. (AP) - A border collie and golden retriever mix from Missouri has won the National Hero Dog award for alerting her owner that her husband was pinned underneath a tractor.

Eight-year-old Shannon, who lives on an 80-acre farm in Washington, Mo., accepted the 23rd annual National Hero Dog award Friday with her owners Ted and Peggy Mandry.

The award does not honor trained rescue dogs but "a companion animal that's well-treated and has bonded with the family, so they somehow know what to do and step up to the plate when there's trouble," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles.

Shannon caught media attention last June when firefighters credited her for saving Ted Mandry's life.

Mandry was unloading debris about a quarter-mile from his house when a parked tractor popped out of gear, rolled down a ravine and toppled into a 10-foot deep gully. The tractor's front end loader trapped Mandry's right leg.

"I was calling for help and whistling for two hours, but no one knew where I was," he said. Peggy Mandry, who thought her husband was out mowing hay, stepped out for a while and Shannon was locked inside the house.

When she returned, Shannon was howling and scratching at the door.

"The dog became more persistent, as if she was having an attack of diarrhea," Peggy Mandry, 65, recalled.

When she was let out, Shannon bolted from the door, dragging Peggy Mandry through the pasture and into the wood.

"I was bleeding, I began to get weaker. I reached a point where there was either going to be a minor miracle or this was it for me," said Ted Mandry, 65. "At that point, my wife and my dog came to the edge of the gully."

Peggy Mandry rushed to call 911, and a rescue team arrived and spent another hour to free her husband's leg. When he was taken to a hospital, Mandry said he "ended up having an above-the-knee amputation," adding that he now wears a prosthetic leg and is still able to drive a tractor but no longer performs heavy-duty work.

For her heroic act, Shannon was treated to an airplane flight to Los Angeles (she got to sit in the cabin instead of being stowed in cargo) and a stay at a beachside hotel.

She also received a plaque from the SPCA, a year's supply of dog food and a "goodie bag" filled with treats.

"She's loving the attention," Mandry said. "How do you get a dog back in a farm after getting the star treatment in Los Angeles?"

The winners were selected from dozens of essays from pet owners nationwide describing their pets' heroic acts. SPCA Los Angeles also constantly searches for news reports of heroic pet acts, Bernstein said.

Source
 
:yeay:

(I have to admit, what can I say, I find this story stretching even my well-established credulity just a little bit. I'm not saying it didn't happen, either, but...)

Police: Lions free kidnapped girl

Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Posted: 9:39 a.m. EDT (13:39 GMT)


ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) -- Police say three lions rescued a 12-year-old girl kidnapped by men who wanted to force her into marriage, chasing off her abductors and guarding her until police and relatives tracked her down in a remote corner of Ethiopia.

The men had held the girl for seven days, repeatedly beating her, before the lions chased them away and guarded her for half a day before her family and police found her, Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo said Tuesday by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, some 560 kilometers (348 miles) west of the capital, Addis Ababa.

"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said, adding he did not know whether the lions were male or female.


News of the June 9 rescue was slow to filter out from Kefa Zone in southwestern Ethiopia.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage," he said.

"Everyone in thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Wondimu said.

Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said that it was likely that the young girl was saved because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they (the lions) didn't eat her," Williams said. "Otherwise they probably would have done."


The girl, the youngest of four brothers and sisters, was "shocked and terrified" and had to be treated for the cuts from her beatings, Wondimu said.

He said that police had caught four of the men, but were still looking for three others.

In Ethiopia, kidnapping has long been part of the marriage custom, a tradition of sorrow and violence whose origins are murky.

The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where the majority of the country's 71 million people live.

Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Former emperor Haile Selassie kept a pride in the royal palace in Addis Ababa.

Despite their integral place in Ethiopia culture, their numbers have been falling, according to experts, as farmers encroach on bush land.

Hunters also kill the animals for their skins, which can fetch $1,000, despite a recent crackdown against illegal animal trading across the country. Williams said that at most only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/06 ... index.html
 
Another take on this great story.

Lions Rescue, Guard Beaten Ethiopian Girl
By ANTHONY MITCHELL,

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.

She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said. "They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said.

"If the lions had not come to her rescue, then it could have been much worse. Often these young girls are raped and severely beaten to force them to accept the marriage," he said. Tilahun Kassa, a local government official who corroborated Wondimu's version of the events, said one of the men had wanted to marry the girl against her wishes.

"Everyone thinks this is some kind of miracle, because normally the lions would attack people," Wondimu said. Stuart Williams, a wildlife expert with the rural development ministry, said the girl may have survived because she was crying from the trauma of her attack.

"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her," Williams said.

Ethiopia's lions, famous for their large black manes, are the country's national symbol and adorn statues and the local currency. Despite a recent crackdown, Hunters also kill the animals for their skins, which can fetch $1,000. Williams estimates that only 1,000 Ethiopian lions remain in the wild. The girl, the youngest of four siblings, was "shocked and terrified" after her abduction and had to be treated for the cuts from her beatings, Wondimu said.

He said police had caught four of the abductors and three were still at large. Kidnapping young girls has long been part of the marriage custom in Ethiopia. The United Nations estimates that more than 70 percent of marriages in Ethiopia are by abduction, practiced in rural areas where most of the country's 71 million people live.

Source

[Emp edit: Fixing big link.]
 
See also: Endurance in Extremity

B.C. woman credits seal with saving her life
CTV.ca News Staff

A woman who floated 24 kilometres after falling off her sailboat near the B.C. mainland Wednesday has been released from hospital, and says she survived thanks to some help from a friend.

The 40-year-old woman says a seal, most likely a harbour seal, kept her company throughout her traumatic experience, until she was finally rescued.

Prof. Lance Barrett-Lennard from the Vancouver Aquarium believes the seal was likely just curious, but undoubtedly helped the woman survive.


"I don't think it matters what the seal's motivation was," he told CTV News.

"From her point of view, it was great for her morale. There's nothing like being in a terrifying situation like that and having an animal along side with you."

The woman, who swam for eight hours across Georgia Strait, near Vancouver, told rescuers she was minutes away from giving up.

"She told the hovercraft she was going to give herself another 15 minutes and then that was it," Coast Guard spokesman Mark Simpson said.

The 40-year-old woman was wearing only shorts and a sweatshirt when her sailboat ran aground near the mouth of the Fraser River and she tumbled off.

Vancouver Coast Guard Brian Wotten told CTV News the woman was lucky to have survived as she wasn't wearing a life jacket. "It's a miracle ending," he said.

She was pulled from the waters near Valdes Island, one of the Gulf Islands between the B.C. mainland and Vancouver Island, after being spotted by a passing sailboat.

Coast Guard Susan Pickrell told CTV News the woman was "shivering uncontrollably and severely hypothermic," but otherwise unharmed.

Hypothermia is a condition in which the body's core temperature falls as a result of exposure to cold. If not treated, it can be fatal.

Two other crew members who were sleeping in the boat's cabin were unhurt. They had been travelling from downtown Vancouver to Galiano Island. Just before dawn, one of them notified the Rescue Co-ordination Centre that the woman wasn't aboard their sailboat.

Gerry Pash, centre public affairs officer, said the woman was extremely lucky.

"The fact that it's summertime and also that it's the mouth of the Fraser River there, certainly helped things along in terms of her ability to survive,'' Pash said. "In the wintertime, it would have been very, very difficult.''

The water temperature in the strait at this time of year averages 17 to 18 degrees.

The woman isn't the first lucky survivor of an unexpected dip.

In 1993, building contractor Bob Lord fell over the side of a B.C. ferry. The Victoria resident floated and swam about 30 kilometres before he was spotted in American waters by an off-duty policeman out for a morning's fishing.

Rescue officials said Lord was lucky to survive in the 15.5 C water and may have been saved by floating through a warm current from the Fraser River, which empties into the strait south of Vancouver.

CTV.ca
 
Cat Calls 911 To Help Ill Owner

POSTED: 7:16 am PST December 31, 2005
UPDATED: 7:19 am PST December 31, 2005

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Apparently, a cat was paying attention when his owner, Gary Rosheisen, tried to show him how to dial 911.

Rosheisen, of Columbus, Ohio, was unable to call for help when he fell out of his wheelchair Thursday. But he said his cat did it for him.

Columbus police said the cat, named Tommy, was lying by a telephone on the living room floor when they arrived at the man's home Thursday.

They had received a 911 call from the apartment, but no one was on the phone.

Rosheisen said Tommy must have hit the right buttons to alert authorities.

He said he had tried to teach Tommy to dial 911, using a speed-dial button. But he wasn't sure if the cat ever picked up the training.

---
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press.

http://www.nbc4.tv/news/5753673/detail.html
 
Dog Rescues Boy, 9, From Colorado River

Wed May 17, 4:13 PM ET

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. - A Labrador retriever rescued a 9-year-old survivor of Hurricane Katrina from a river after the boy's raft hit a log and he fell overboard, authorities said.
ADVERTISEMENT

Ryan Rambo, 9, whose family moved to this western Colorado town last year after the hurricane struck their Marrero, La., home, fell into the Roaring Fork River on Sunday, Garfield County Sheriff Lou Vallario said.

The 2-year-old Lab, named Zion, jumped in the river and swam to Ryan after he began screaming for help, said Chelsea Bennett, 13, the dog's owner.

Ryan held on to Zion as the dog swam back to the bank. The boy suffered only a scratch, said his mother, Deana Rambo.

"How ironic, isn't it?" Deana Rambo said. "We come here to get away from flood waters, and he nearly drowns in the river."


http://tinyurl.com/qj3d9
 
This is a good un! Hurrah! for Belle! :)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5099190.stm

Dog praised for life-saving call
20 June 2006

A US dog has won an award for saving her owner's life by dialling a phone number that alerted emergency services to her owner's diabetic seizure.

Belle the beagle triggered a call to an ambulance crew by biting on her owner, Kevin Weaver's, mobile phone.

The dog was trained to detect potential diabetic attacks by licking and sniffing Mr Weaver's nose to check his blood sugar levels and pawing him.

Belle resorted to dialling for help when Mr Weaver fell unconscious.

The dog used her teeth to press the number nine key, which the phone was programmed to interpret as a "911" call to emergency services.

Ambulance workers answered the phone and, hearing nothing but barking at the end of the line, rushed to the caller's house in the city of Ocoee in Florida state.

The dog is the first animal to receive the Vita Wireless Samaritan Award.

"I am convinced that if Belle wasn't with me that morning, I wouldn't be alive today," Mr Weaver said.

"Belle is more than just a life-saver. She's my best friend."
 
This is sweet :D

http://cbs4denver.com/watercooler/life. ... 60499.html




A babysitter's parrot is being credited with helping save the life of a 2-year-old girl who was choking Friday at a Denver area home while the sitter was in the bathroom.

"While I was in the bathroom, Willie (the parrot) started screaming like I'd never heard him scream before and he started flapping his wings," said Meagan, the babysitter. "Then he started saying 'mama baby' over and over and over again until I came out and looked at Hannah and Hannah's face was turning blue because she was choking on her pop tart."

Meagan performed the Heimlich maneuver on Hannah, which stopped the choking.

"If (Willie) wouldn't have warned me, I probably wouldn't have come out of the bathroom in time because she was already turning blue, her lips were blue and everything," Meagan said.

"If anything happened to her, I don't know what I would do," said Samantha Kuusk, Hannah's mother. "I'm very grateful for the both of them because they both saved her."

Willie didn't say much when CBS4 visited on Sunday. Meagan said he is usually pretty talkative.

"He says 'I love you' and he says 'mama' and he says 'step up' and some other words that aren't so nice," she said.
 
Our superpup! Bravery award for a labrador that defied knife wounds to chase thief
By Jaya Narain
Last updated at 1:49 AM on 18th April 2009

When Toby the young black labrador heard a burglar breaking into his home, he did not hesitate.
With his family upstairs, he leapt into action.
Barking, growling and snarling, he went for the knife-wielding intruder who lashed out and stabbed him several times.
Despite his serious injuries, eight-month- old Toby held his ground and the petrified burglar was forced to flee.

When owner Jonathan Morton arrived downstairs, a bloodied Toby had his paws on the back fence, barking as the would-be thief fled into the night.
Minutes later he collapsed with severe stab wounds to his chest and a punctured lung.
Thankfully he made a full recovery and has just received the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals’ gold award for bravery.

Mr Morton, 23, from Barnoldswick, Lancashire, said: ‘ Normally Toby would not hurt a fly and is great with children.
‘But that night he was protecting his territory. He has fully recovered now, but still wakes up at the least little thing.’

The engineer with Silver Cross Prams added: ‘The lad who broke in told police he didn’t know what was coming at him and he just lashed out.Toby was certainly looking after us.’

The botched burglary happened in June 2007, when Mr Morton and his wife Samantha were staying in Leconfield Barracks, near Beverley, North Yorkshire.

The couple, who now have a five-month-old daughter, Megan, heard a noise which they thought was two dogs fighting.
Mr Morton said: ‘I looked out of the bedroom window and I could see a lad climbing over the fence, so I ran downstairs.
‘I saw blood on the walls, and all the way down the carpet, then went outside to find Toby with his paws on the back fence, still trying to get him. He could have saved our lives. We think he is a proper hero and worthy of all the fuss.’

Toby spent a week being treated at the vet’s, but the £3,000 bill was covered by pet insurance.
The offender was jailed for three-and-a-half years for aggravated burglary.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... thief.html
 
Pictured: The golden retriever called 'Angel' that took on a mountain lion and saved his 11-year-old owner
By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 11:33 AM on 04th January 2010

A golden retriever called Angel is being hailed a hero after it stopped a mountain lion from attacking an 11-year-old boy.
The 18-month-old dog stepped between the big cat and the youngster during a dramatic encounter in western Canada.
Police, who later shot the cougar dead, credited Angel for saving the Austin Foreman's life.

He had gone to retrieve some firewood outside his family's home in Boston Bar, about 150 miles north-east of Vancouver.
That's when the mountain lion charged across the yard at the boy.
'I was really scared. At first, I didn't know it was a cougar. I thought it was another dog,' Austin told CTV News on Sunday.
'As soon as it went underneath the light, I saw that it was a cougar. I knew at that moment, I had to go inside.'
Angel, who had been at Austin's side, attacked the big cat.

Austin ran into the house and screamed: 'A cougar is eating Angel!'
Mrs Forman said she had to get Austin to repeat himself a few times because he was so shaken.
When she looked out the window, Mrs Foreman couldn't see anything but she could hear Angel wimpering.
'To feel so helpless, I knew I couldn't do anything,' she said.
She called her father-in-law, who told her to call the police.

Royal Canadian Mountain Police Constable Chad Gravelle was nearby and was on scene within a minute.
The officer found the cougar under the back porch and heard the dog cry out as the cougar chewed its neck, police said.
He fired two rounds into the cougar's rear end, but the cat continued its attack.
The officer closed to within five feet and shot the mountain again, killing it.
Even after it was dead, the cat's jaws were clenched on Angel's face.
Angel was silent for a few moments but then took in a big gasp of air and got up.

Forman said Angel was recovering with a local vet. The dog has numerous puncture wounds around her head and neck, as well as a swollen eye.
Mrs Forman said before the attack, Austin had come into the house to tell the family how cute it was that Angel had been following him around.
'She must've known something was up,' Forman said.
Last week, when Angel was frolicking in the snow, family members called her a 'snow angel,' the mother said.
'Now, she's our guardian angel.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... z0be27I2O9
 
Dog 'saved life' of missing Polish girl

Firefighters in Poland say a small dog likely saved the life of a three-year-old girl who went missing from her home overnight in freezing temperatures.
The child, Julia, vanished on Friday and was found lying in marshes several kilometres from her house on Saturday morning, with the dog by her side.
She is now in hospital in western Poland, suffering from frostbite after temperatures fell to -5C (23F).

Firefighter Grzegorz Szymanski said the dog kept the child warm enough to live.
"For the whole night the animal was with the girl, it never left her. Remember, it was 5 degrees below zero and the child was wet," he said, adding that the animal was the most important factor in the girl's survival.

More than 200 people had searched for the child overnight. It is thought she spent hours wandering through the forest near her home in the village of Pierzwin.
Her parents had last seen the three-year-old playing in the backyard with the small black mongrel.
She was eventually discovered by firefighters after she was heard crying for her mother.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21643100
 
Pet dog saves owner's life with her slippers
Mark Humphreys tells how three-year-old Labrador Mazie rushed upstairs with a slipper to wake him when his wife Linda fell ill
By Agency
2:39PM GMT 25 Feb 2015

A pet dog saved the life of its owner after she became seriously ill by alerting her husband with her slippers.
Mazie, a three-year-old Labrador, dashed upstairs to wake up Mark Humphreys when his wife Linda had collapsed with serious blood poisoning.
Mazie not only nudged him but dashed back to get her slippers to make sure he came to her aid.

Mrs Humphreys was rushed to Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, Devon, and has since made a good recovery - but without Mazie's quick-thinking her condition could have proved fatal.
Mr Humphreys, 50, Linda, 53, and daughter Caitlin, of Whitstone, Cornwall, have praised the actions of Mazie and their other red fox Labrador Cookie who stayed downstairs protecting Linda.

etc...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...-dog-saves-owners-life-with-her-slippers.html
 
PHOTOS: Cornwall's Flying Dogs
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7:44am 14th May 2015

They say pigs might fly - and it turns out some dogs really can.
A team of police dogs and handlers from Devon and Cornwall Police have been working with helicopters from Royal Navy Air Station Culdrose that could prove valuable on operations across the South West.

Using the distinctive Red and Grey Sea Kings of 771 Naval Air Squadron, which provide the Royal Navy's Search and Rescue capability, three dogs were put through their paces during a series of training exercises.

"Today forms part of a regular training day - a familiarisation for dogs and handlers", said Sergeant Colin Harper, Dog Sergeant for Cornwall. "Working with the helicopter is important should we have to deploy at short notice to anywhere in our region where vehicular access is limited. We are often asked to search for people across the moors of Devon and Cornwall and there is not always a road nearby."

The noise of the aircraft and its downdraught are something they have to get used to. In the course of their normal work they come across many varied and different situations, but the helicopters are new and unusual to the pure bred German Shepherds.

Getting the canines used to the sights and sounds is only one side to their training day, getting them to work effectively after being flown around is another purpose of the exercise.

"The dogs get really quite excited and are constantly looking to their handlers; sometimes the handlers are just as excited", continued Colin. "Rather than just get airborne and fly around, we conducted a little exercise to make the dogs and handlers think about what they would do in a real live situation, which involved me being the target."

http://www.piratefm.co.uk/news/latest-news/1613762/photos-cornwalls-flying-dogs/
 
Evading a speeding citation may not be as dramatic a 'save' as some other animals perform, but this dove did well.

Check the photo at the link to see what the police camera captured.

Swooping dove blocks speeder's identity from police camera

A German police department said a driver was spared from a speeding fine when a dove swooped between the vehicle and a traffic camera.

The Viersen Police said the vehicle was clocked doing 34 mph in an 18 mph zone, but investigators were unable to issue a $117 fine because a dove flew between the car and the camera, concealing the driver's identity from the image.

The department joked the "Holy Ghost" must have intervened and sent the dove, a symbol of the Holy Ghost in Christianity, to protect the driver.

"We have understood the sign and leave the speeder in peace this time," police said.

SOURCE (WITH PHOTO): https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2019/0...rs-identity-from-police-camera/8201559149654/
 
This retiree credits his chihuahua with saving his life when he suffered a stroke ...
Chihuahua saves owner's life during stroke on houseboat

A North Carolina man was reunited with his beloved dog five days after the chihuahua was credited with saving his life during a stroke.

Rudy Armstrong, 86, a Navy veteran who lives alone on a houseboat in Oriental with his dog, Boo-Boo, said he realized he was having a stroke on the boat and he couldn't reach his phone because he was unable to move one of his arms and one of his legs. ...

"I didn't want to be there for a couple of days before somebody would come by," Armstrong recalled to WCTI-TV, "so I said, 'OK, Boo-Boo, go get me some help.'"

Boo-Boo ran off at her owner's urging and returned a short time later with the dockmaster, who summoned paramedics to the scene.

Armstrong said he believes Boo-Boo saved his life by following his instructions. He was hospitalized and was reunited with his dog five days later. ...

SOURCE: https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/0...ife-during-stroke-on-houseboat/1701597080107/
 
Yet another proof of animal sentience.
 

Dog lay on owner for 13 hours after he broke his leg climbing mountain

North the eight-month-old Alaskan Malamute sprung into action when Grga Brkic fell while climbing down a slope in the Velebit mountain range.

Two other hikers couldn’t reach Mr Brkic, who fractured his leg and ankle, and doubled back down the mountain to find a search party.

Some 13 hours later, a team of 30 rescuers found the dog curled up on top of his owner, nearly 1,800 metres above sea level.
North managed to keep him warm in the freezing conditions, stopping him from succumbing to hypothermia.

Croatia’s mountain rescue service shared a picture of North laying on the injured hiker in a stretcher.

‘Friendship and love between man and dog have no boundaries,’ the rescuers wrote.

‘He warmed his owner with his body, preventing the mountaineer’s significant hypothermia who suffered a severe fracture of the lower leg and ankle when he fell.’
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'Real-life Lassie': Dog leads New Hampshire police to her injured owner following crash

Tinsley caught the attention of New Hampshire State Police when they responded to a call about a loose dog on the Veteran's Memorial Bridge, which spans the New Hampshire-Vermont border on I-89.

Trooper Tom Sandberg and officers from the Lebanon Police Department located a large dog looking skittish and scared, said NHSP Lt. Dan Baldassarre. "They were trying to get the dog off of the highway to keep it safe," he said.

Sandberg and the officers tried to get close to the dog but she would run and then stop and look at them, trying to get their attention.

"The dog stood at the top of the embankment and looked down," Baldassarre said.

The officers noticed a damaged section of guardrail and when they looked down saw a badly damaged pickup truck that had rolled over
Two men inside the truck had been thrown from the vehicle and were injured and hypothermic, Lagace said.

Sandberg and the officers called for medical assistance and while at the scene, they learned Tinsley belonged to one of the injured men.

"This was almost like a real-life Lassie situation," Baldassarre said. "It's really quite remarkable. This dog definitely saved their lives. I don't think they would have survived the night given the temperatures.”

"She's my guardian angel," Tinsley's owner, Cam Laundry, told CNN affiliate WPTZ. "It's a miracle that she had that kind of intelligence to do what she did."

Laundry described Tinsley as his co-pilot and said they regularly travel together in the truck that crashed.
Her heroism would be rewarded, he said.
The dog

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The wreck

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