loyal to the end and beyond
Petty Officer Jon Tumilson, one of the Navy Seals killed when their helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan on August 6th, was laid to rest over the weekend, and his dog, Hawkeye, wouldn’t leave his casket during the funeral
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(VIDEO) You don’t have to speak Japanese to understand the sympathetic tones of the two reporters observing these dogs – and the loyal dog who led them to an injured friend, then refused to leave his friend’s side. There is so much we don’t understand about the emotional lives of animals. But we know they can suffer tremendously, and we know they care for each other.
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Herald - A Bay State farmer’s two loyal dogs saved him from a raging bull’s attack Saturday morning in a daring canine counterattack on the rampaging bovine as it tossed their master around. “The bull just got angry and started throwing him around the field,” said Ellen McKeon, 50, who witnessed the attack on her farmer boyfriend, Richard Gerulaitis. “When he landed a couple times, I thought the bull had him. I didn’t think he was with us anymore. My heart stopped.” The couple’s two dogs — 3-year-old border collie Jack and 13-year-old mixed breed Katie — heard McKeon’s screams and came running from the barnyard. As the hero canines kept the bull at bay, McKeon pulled Gerulaitis 300 feet to safety.“The border collie was bitten right on to the bull and the bull was fighting with the dogs,” McKeon said. Hardwick police Cpl. Kevin Landine said Jack, who latched onto the bull’s snout, probably saved the farmer’s life. He called Jack a real-life Lassie. Yesterday, Gerulaitis underwent surgery at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester to remove his lacerated spleen. He also suffered broken bones and a collapsed lung but is expected to recover. “I just thank God for the dogs and I’m doing nothing but praying,” McKeon said.
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The Star –
Sure, your dog keeps the letter wielding postman from attacking, but would he take a bullet on your behalf? Dog owner Osmar Persisco of Garibaldi, Brazil, knows the answer is “yes” after his pet Max leapt to defend him from armed robbers, taking three bullets along the way. Persisco was parking his truck near Max’s favourite field when two armed robbers approached him and demanded the keys to his vehicle. Persisco resisted and the thieves opened fire, drawing blood after grazing the 47-year-old’s forehead with a bullet. That’s when Max lost his cool. “He saw the blood and was furious,” Persisco told Brazilian newspaper Globo. “He left like a rocket to attack the thieves. One of them ran away, but Max dominated the other one. To defend himself, the thief ended up shooting the dog. Max thwarted the assault and saved my life.” Max was hit twice in his chest and once in his leg, but by then he had scared off the potential thieves. Persisco rushed the heroic pet he had adopted three years earlier to his local vet. Max is expected to make a full recovery. “If I didn’t have my dog around, they would have killed me,” Persisco told the paper. “He’s my hero.”
