Cutest friends ever?

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Image from Facebook: Duluth Animal Hospital
Image from Facebook: Duluth Animal Hospital

Roo is a two-legged Chihuahua, and Penny is a fluffy chicken. They should reasonably never have met, but they were both rescued by the Duluth Animal Hospital. 

Roo was born without front legs, and was allegedly found freezing in a ditch when he was seven weeks old. Penny was a mere nine weeks when she was rescued from an experiment program. Today, they’re the best friends anyone can imagine.

They spend their days together at Duluth Animal Hospital, snuggle together, take baths together, and dress up for the holidays together. Watch the video for images of ultimate cuteness!

//youtu.be/maQBdmGPlMo

Missing Philadelphia dog found in Oregon

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Gidget is returning home
Photo from Washington County, Oregon, Animal Services in Hillsboro, Oregon

Months ago, Gidget the Jack Russell terrier went missing from her home near Philadelphia.  Luckily, she was microchipped. She was found wandering the streets of a Portland Suburb – 3,000 miles away from her home. Thanks to the microchip, shelter workers could identify the owner, and Gidget will soon be taken back home.

Gidget disappeared right after easter, and she’s the only one who knows how she ended up in Oregon, and what she has been doing since April. It was surely a big adventure.

She has never lived in Oregon and is unlikely to have walked there on her own, but who brought her is still a mystery. Shelter workers say she was thin but in good shape when she came to the shelter.

Gidgets owners didn’t have the money to fly out and get her, but sunshine stories like this bring out the best in many. Several people have offered to pay for transportation, and PetLink – the company that manufactured Gidget’s microchip – will pick up the bill for her flight back home. A man also came to the shelter and paid for all expenses in caring for the dog.

Hero dog saves 8-year old from angry bees

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When Jesse-Cole Shaver and his sister Jasmine went out to play with some neighborhood kids, they had no idea a rotten log nearby hosted a swarm of bees. One of the kids stepped on the log, and the children were immediately surrounded by angry insects.

The children made their way up the hill towards home to get help, but Jesse-Cole couldn’t follow. This is when Hades, the adopted family dog stepped in. Hades ran over to the boy and dragged him up the hill to safety, getting stung several times herself in the process.

Jesse-Cole was stung at least 24 times, and Jasmine five. To make things worse, she is allergic to bees. The children were rushed to the hospital, where doctors had to pick bees out of their hair. Thanks to Hades, the story ends well, and the pit bull is now cheered as the neighborhood hero.

//youtu.be/BXuyb8tvUog

Sunshine story: Joanie and Chachi

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Joanie and Chachi
Image from the Huffington Post

A couple of weeks ago, animal control officers in Savannah, Georgia picked up an unusual pair. Joanie the pit bull carried Chachi the Chihuahua in her mouth. Joanie would put her friend down from time to time to lick the Chihuahua’s infected eye.

Animals can be be devoted, and Joanie carried her injured friend to safety. The dogs are so close the shelter staff call them soul mates.

Despite Joanie’s best efforts, veterinarians had to remove Chachi’s eye and the two had to live separated while he healed, but shelter staff made sure to give them together-time every day.  Neither of them care about other dogs; only each other.

Savannah police hoped the owners would come forward as the dogs got publicity. No one claimed them and the shelter put out pleas for an adopter, hoping the dogs could find a new home together.

The dream is coming true: the couple move to Florida some time this month. We love a story with a happy ending!

Sunshine story: Lost dog becomes life saver

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Stacey Savige found a lost terrier roaming around the local elementary school, picked it up, and took it home. Her neighbor Yolanda agreed to watch over it for a while. The two did everything to reunite the dog with its owner. They printed up 4,000 fliers that they stuffed in mailboxes, and they put in a Craigslist ad.

Yolanda’s sons – Azaiah and Christian – loved the dog at once, but she told them it belonged to someone else and would have to go home in not too long.

Four days later, RaeLee was still in Yolanda’s home, and when she came home from work the little dog flung himself at the screen door and barked like crazy. When she opened the door, he led the way to Christian’s room where the boy was in the middle of a violent seizure.

Without the dog she would most likely have headed in the other direction. The neurologist said her son would have choked on his own blood and died, but thanks to RaeLee help arrived in time.

The next day, the dog’s original owner called and came by to pick up his dog, but he was so moved by the story and the boys’ attachment to the dog that he let the family keep him.

Sunshine story: Lady gets a new life

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Lady is an elderly black lab who suffers arthritis. She ended up in a shelter in 2012 when her owner died, but she was adopted and everything seemed to work out okay. That is, until her new owners got another dog. Lady was promptly back at the shelter.

She wouldn’t have any of that. She walked 30 miles home to her family. Not a small feat since her arthritis make walking difficult. Unfortunately, they rejected her once more.

This could have been the end for Lady, but one of the volunteers posted about her on Facebook, and the heartbreaking story spread over the Internet all the way to Helen Rich, heiress to the Wrigley chewing-gum fortune. Ms Rich has had some hard turns in life herself and could sympathize with Lady. She promptly sent a private jet to pick up the dog!

Now Lady lives with Helen on a farm with seven other rescue dogs. Helen is also involved in the On the Wings of Angels initiative, helping innumerable dogs find homes.

Helen Rich and Lady
Helen Rich and Lady, image from the “On the Wings of Angels” Facebook page.

Sunshine story: Hero cats protect their owners

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There are many amazing stories about dogs saving people from everything from house fires to traffic accidents. Cats are more rarely featured in such news. Smudge is a hero cat who shows that cats do care about us, probably more than we know.

Smudge’s owner is Ethan; a five year old boy. Ethan played in the yard with his little brother when three other kids started picking on him, taunting him. His mother saw them from the house, and saw Ethan trying to ignore them.  One of the bullies pushed him to the ground and Ethan’s mom ran for the outside, but Smudge beat her to it.

The cat flew out from under the car and jumped on the bully’s chest. The boy stumbled backwards, burst into tears, and fled. Ever since then, Smudge sleeps by Ethan’s bedroom door, keeping guard.

Slinky Malinki is another hero cat who recently saved his owner. Slinky’s mom has a back problem and was prescribed morphine. No one knew that she had a strong reaction to the drug, and drifted in and out of consciousness for days.

Slinky did his best to get the neighbors’ attention. He tormented their dog and tapped on their windows until they realized something was wrong. Ever since, Slinky keeps a close eye on his human. If he doesn’t see her for a couple of hours he’ll go find her, and tap on her arm until she responds.

Rescue dog tracks exotic species

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Ten years ago black lab Tucker wandered the streets alone, afraid, and hungry. His prospects for the future were not bright; he was close to becoming one of the millions of homeless pets that die in shelters every year. Luckily for Tucker, he ended up with Conservation Canines, a unit of the University of Washington that employs dogs.

Tucker has an extraordinary sense of smell, and exemplary work ethic, and turned out to be very good at tracking scents so vague a human would never detect them. He has followed his handler all over the world, tracking Iguanas in the tropics, bats in old forests, and caribou in the arctic where he had to wear special boots and neoprene cape to withstand the cold. He can also track whales on light scents carried over water.

Tucker’s kennel mate Sadie went on a four month safari to Cambodia and helped determine how many tigers are left in two national forests.

Read more about Tucker in the Wall Street Journal

Sunshine story: Rescued bulldog saves her new human dad

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Bunny is a friendly bulldog who was found wandering along the highway. Skinny as a stick and riddled with ear and eye infections she certainly needed help, and Will and Cindy Sherman rose to the occasion. Bunny got good food, vaccines, toys, and checkups.

When Bunny developed a cough related to her heart worm treatment, Will took her back to the vet. She got a steroid shot and they returned to the car – where the world went black.

Bunny bolted to the vet’s office and barked and scratched at the door until the receptionist opened – and saw Will convulsing with half his body in the car.

Luckily, help was close. People streamed out of the office – including an EMT who knew what to do.

Thanks to Bunny’s swift intervention, Will could be rushed to the hospital, and the attack was diagnosed as a grand mal seizure. These are caused by an abnormal electrical activity in the brain, most often triggered by epilepsy, but also by low blood sugar, high fever, or a stroke. Many people who have a grand mal seizure will never have another one. Nothing like that ever happened to Will before, and he hasn’t had another seizure since.

Doctors say that if help hadn’t arrived so quickly, the outcome come have been very bad. Luckily, Bunny was there, and repaid her rescuer in a way no one could have anticipated.

Sunshine story; dog changes homeless man’s life

Pet information

John Dolan’s drawings sell for around $7,000 in a London art gallery. Most of them are pictures of his dog, George. The two are inseparable, and currently prepare for an art show in Los Angeles.

It hasn’t always been like that. Not long ago, John Dolan lived on the streets of London, homeless and wondering where to get his next meal. A homeless woman traded a beer can for a puppy, and gave the dog to John who started to draw his new best friend.

After that, everything changed. People passing on the street bought the sketches, and John and George soon caught the eye of a gallery owner. Now, John is writing a book about his dog, and he’s working on a set of drawings of rock stars with their dogs.

To read more about John and George, visit today.com.

 

Rescue dogs saves baby

Pet information

There are many stories of rescue dogs repaying their families in unexpected ways. Duke was adopted six years ago, and his family says he is a perfect dog, meant to be theirs. They didn’t anticipate him becoming their hero in more ways than providing love and company.

Duke is normally calm and obedient, and looks like a cautious boy on the news video. No wonder his family was alarmed when he rushed into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed, shaking.

His behavior was so uncharacteristic that the family went to investigate, and found their baby not breathing. Thanks to Duke the child was discovered in time and could be saved.

The family hopes many will see the video and decide to adopt. You never know when the life you save may return the favor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQvzKk9Tn0s

Hero dog rescues deaf 13-year old from fire

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Ace is a 2.5 year old Indianapolis Pit Bull who recently saved his best friend – 13-year-old Nick Lamb – from a house fire. Nick is deaf since birth and was sound asleep when Ace woke him up. Naturally, Nick didn’t want to get up, but Ace persisted. As soon as Nick was properly awake, he realized the house was filled with smoke.

Both the boy and the dog made it out without injury, and firefighters were able to rescue the family’s cat as well. Kitty had to visit the vet to treat her smoke inhalation but she is expected to recover.

Without Ace, it is likely that Nick would never have woken up, and he would have perished in the blaze.

The house turned to rubble, but thanks to Ace, the family is still complete.

Adventurous dog rescued from roof

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Bucky is an adventurous poodle mix who recently spent an afternoon on the roof. He climbed out through an upstairs window with town screen, and walked back and forth on the edge of the roof for at least half an hour, dangerously far above the ground.

Getting back into the house wasn’t as easy as getting out; every time he went back to the window his friend Bear – a mastiff – stuck his head out to see what was going on.

Bucky’s family was away, and the neighbors ended up calling 911. Firefighters brought a ladder-truck to rescue the daring poodle, but he didn’t want to go with them. Eventually, the treats became too tempting, and he got close enough for one of the firefighters to grab him.

Store employees make home make wheelchair for paralyzed dog

Pet information

Wally is a Tampa Bay rat terrier who recently suffered a stint of bad luck. His human, Rebecca Pierce, dropped him off at their vet’s kennel service for a quick trip out of town, and came back to find Wally’s back legs paralyzed.

The vet believes Wally has a herniated disc in his spine, and poor Wally uses his front paws to get around, dragging his legs behind him.

Clearly, Wally needed help while the vet worked on figuring out both what happened and whether the condition can be reversed. Pierce saw videos of people making their own pet wheelchairs, and brought Wally to Home Depot, hoping to find material to build something for her pup.

Little did she expect to meet guardian angels dressed in orange aprons: two of the store employees spent hours building a perfect wheelchair. To make things even better, the store management decided to cover the cost.

Wally is seeing a doggie chiropractor and he is regaining strength in his legs, but it will take a while for him to walk again.

Read more of the story here.

Arlington police officer saves pit bull – twice

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About a month ago, Arlington Sergeant Gary Carter responded to a call of a vicious dog trotting down the road. He found a pit bull wandering along the road, but the dog was anything but vicious; he was lost and trying to make friends.

Carter picked up the dog and brought it to animal services, who reunited him with his owner. A photo of Carter with the dog was posted on the police department’s Facebook page and went viral – it has been seen over 12 million times. After that, Carter didn’t think he’d ever see Jeffrey the dog again.

A few days ago, Jeffrey snuck out of his yard again, and ended up with Arlington Animal Services, again. This time the owner didn’t bail him out, and Jeffrey was stuck at a shelter overflowing with animals. That meant he had days to find a new home, or he would be euthanized.

When Carter heard that Jeffrey was back, and what a pickle he was in, he went to the shelter to take some photos, thinking he could help Jeffrey find a home. It didn’t turn out like that: he adopted the dog instead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fwRAW7tCKY