Sunday, May 15, 2005

Hero dogs

I love heroic dog stories.
Meet Shannon

She is the Missouri dog who won a Hero Award for 2005. Shannon's owner Ted 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, a border collie/golden mix, was locked inside the house. When she returned, Shannon was howling and scratching at the door. 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."
And some previous Hero Dog winners:
Here's Rocky's story - During a late Sunday night while the Staples slept in their Hatboro, PA home, they were startled by the screams of their 8-year-old daughter, Laura. An intruder and known sex offender had snatched her from her bedroom and was carrying her down the stairs as he covered her mouth trying to prevent her from screaming. All Laura could do in the midst of her restrained horror was to kick her bedroom door as the intruder carried her out. It was this hard sound that woke Rocky, a Rhodesian Ridgeback, from a deep sleep on the third floor and alerted him that something was wrong. Rocky flew down two flights of stairs and threw his massive body against the man. The would-be kidnapper then dropped Laura and ran with Rocky in close pursuit. Rocky managed to bite the intruder numerous times before racing back to check on Laura, who frantically screamed in the comfort of her parent's arms. The intruder had managed to escape, but was soon found by police in a nearby park, bleeding from multiple wounds. "Rocky has spared our family an unspeakable horror," says Joan Staples, Laura's mother. "There's no way we can overstate our gratitude for his bravery and quick response."
And Shadow This story reports that Alaskan wilderness guide Don Mobley was gathering firewood on a sandbar of the Nakochna River when he found himself between a grizzly sow and her cub. The sow growled and charged. Mobley, convinced he was about to be mauled, ran. The bear was within 10 feet of him when Shadow, his 3-year-old German shepherd mix, zipped out of the woods and lunged at the advancing bruin. Barking madly, Shadow chased the bear and cub into the woods. "The only thing that saved me was my dog," Mobley said.
And Brutis a seven-year old golden whose owner Fram Oreto said she was picnicking with her grandchildren in September when Brutis snatched a 6-inch-long snake that was just five feet from them. Brutis suffered a bite and was taken to an animal emergency hospital, where he received antivenin more than three hours after the attack. "It's quite an amazing feat that he survived at all," Oreto said. "He was a strong enough dog to pull through."
And Shilo also received a Courage award because she followed her companion, 11-year-old Sarah Irmen of Littlerock, Calif., when a kidnapper forced her into a car in June. When the kidnapper tried to get Sarah out of the car, Shilo bit him and the girl escaped.
Heros all.

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