At least one dog in Malakoff, Texas, seemed pretty unfazed after a tornado swept through the town Tuesday.
As a KYTX news crew was surveying the damage during a live broadcast, they came across a Labrador Retriever sitting in the driver’s seat of a lawn mower, appearing ready to take care of the lawn.
“Look at that dog!” said reporter Andrea Martinez, giggling as the camera zoomed in on the pooch.
“While reporting on storms in Malakoff, I spotted a pup ready to start the clean-up!” she wrote on Twitter.
Apparently taking the driver’s seat is becoming trendy for Labs. Last weekend, as his dog dad shopped at a mini-market, a Lab was behind the wheel of their semi-trailer as it careened across a street and into a tree and parked car. Fortunately no one was hurt.
As for the mower-driving Lab, KYTX had an update on its Facebook page Tuesday: “He charges $30/hour for his lawn service.”
“Yesterday, two frightened dogs were surrendered to us. Upon examining the female, we learned she recently had puppies,” wrote the Marin Humane Society (MHS) on its Facebook page Monday.
“After some detective work and a lot of convincing, our team was able to get the person who surrendered the dogs to also surrender the puppies, as they still needed their momma and were not in a safe situation.”
Cora, the mama dog, had been shy and withdrawn ever since she was dumped at the shelter in Northern California. But as soon as she was reunited with her four puppies, Cora’s disposition completely changed. “Tears of joy all around at this happy reunion,” wrote MHS.
A video taken by shelter staff and posted on Facebook shows Cora anxiously sitting in a corner as an employee brings in a carrier filled with her puppies. After the employee lifts up one of the puppies for its mom to see, Cora runs toward it, her tail wagging hard. She literally jumps with joy as she is reunited with each of her pups (and even checks inside the carrier to make sure they’re all accounted for). Cora then hops into the employee’s lap, as if to say, “Thank you.”
The video has gone viral, with more than 3.4 million views on Facebook as of Thursday morning.
“Eat your heart out Kim Kardashian – there’s nothing like the power of heartwarming stories about animals!” MHS wrote in a Facebook post Tuesday.
Cora’s puppies have been named after “Downton Abbey” characters: the males are Carson, Moseley and Branson, and the female is Edith.
“They’ve re-bonded very quickly,” Lisa Bloch, director of marketing and communications for MHS, told SFGate.”Mom and babies are doing great.”
The family is now in a foster home. As soon as they’re old enough, the puppies and their mother will be available for adoption. Wouldn’t it be great if the whole family could be adopted together?
Loki, a 14-month-old Pit Bull/American Bulldog mix, escaped from his yard in Kuna, Idaho, the morning of Feb. 17, and wandered to the train tracks about 100 yards away.
Around 10:30 a.m., he was struck by a train. And then another. And then 11 more throughout the day.
“They hate hitting animals, but they can’t stop that train,” Loki’s dog dad, Ryan Rossi, told ABC News today. “They just considered [Loki] was dead after they hit him.”
Finally, around 4:30 p.m., the conductor of the 13th train that hit Loki saw the dog lift his head. The conductor called animal control.
Rossi and his wife, who had spent the day looking for Loki and posting Lost Dog messages on social media, got a phone call that evening that Loki had been hit by a train.
Fearing the worst, Rossi, his wife and their two kids drove to the WestVet Animal Emergency Center.
“When we went back to say our final goodbye, he lifted his head and smiled,” Rossi told ABC News. “If he’s fighting, we’re fighting.”
Loki was laying in the middle of the train track when he was run over multiple times. “He’s not a huge dog, and so thank god he was low enough,” Rossi told KTVB.
Although he lost his rear left leg, left eye and tail, Loki is making a remarkable recovery. The Rossi family brought him home from the hospital Saturday, and by the next day, Loki was having no problem getting around on three legs.
“Every day I look at him and he’s moving more and more,” Rossi told ABC News. “He’s adapting so quickly. It’s just a miracle.”
A “Lucky Loki” GoFundMe page has been created by a family friend to help cover the cost of Loki’s surgeries. As of this morning, about $7,100 of the $10,000 goal has been raised.
Brody, a tiny, 6-week-old Lab mix who somehow managed to survive being shot with a BB gun 18 times by two loser teenagers, will soon be in a very loving forever home.
After Brody’s story gained international attention earlier this week, hundreds of adoption offers poured in to Project Safe Pet.
The “winners” of this sweet and very resilient puppy are Carla and her 10-year-old daughter, Kailey, of Rock Hill, S.C. Just last month, the family had to euthanize Kailey’s 15-year-old therapy dog, a Lab named Woodrow who Kailey had grown up with.
“She was with him when he was put to sleep. “Right there, laying beside him on the bed, holding him the whole time,” Carla, who asked that their last name not be used, told The Herald.
“He was her best friend. She looked forward to coming home every day. Every day, he was at the school bus stop.”
Alicia Schwartz, vice president of Project Safe Pet, told The Herald the selection process was difficult. The connection between Kailey and Brody was “really cool,” she said.
Brody was found by a maintenance worker who saw a group of about 20 teenagers playing with the puppy outside the Wildwood Springs Apartments complex in Rock Hill. When he saw the puppy was bleeding heavily, he notified the police, who were told that someone who lived in the complex had shot Brody and had also thrown a knife at the puppy.
The police took Brody to Ebenezer Animal Hospital, where he was treated for his wounds. Fortunately the thugs who shot Brody had really bad aim, and missed his major organs.
“There is no doubt here, this is one of the worst acts I’ve ever seen and it’s hard to think that someone could be capable of doing something to an animal this young and defenseless,” Dr. Jay Hreiz told WSOC.
Brody is too young to have the 18 BBs surgically removed. Since they’re not lodged near any vital organs, they may stay in Brody’s body for the rest of his life.
“He’s really young, so he has a remarkable ability to heal at his age,” Hreiz told WSOC. “Brody may be able to live a healthy, normal life with all those BBs in him.”
Brody and his littermates had been given away by someone in a Wal-mart parking lot, The Herald reports.
Two arrests were made Tuesday in connection with the shooting. De’Monte Ty’Juan Douglas, 17, and an unidentified 14-year-old are facing animal cruelty charges. As of Tuesday afternoon, Douglas remained without bond in the Rock City jail, the News & Observer reported, while the other loser was released to one of his parents pending a court appearance.
Animal cruelty is a felony in South Carolina. If found guilty, Brody’s two torturers face up to five years in prison.
Despite everything his poor young pup went through, Brody is “so trusting of people, which amazes me,” Carla told The Herald. “You would think he would be fearful of people or younger kids. It was amazing how he took to the kids.”
Kailey told her mom that when she looks in Brody’s eyes, she sees her beloved Woodrow.
“I see the same eyes,” she said. “I feel like he sent him to me.”
Just as CJ the German Shorthaired Pointer won Best in Show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last night, Dr. Andy Mathis, of Granite Hills Animal Care in Elberton, Ga., should win a Best in Veterinarians award.
When Mathis saw Graycie, an abandoned Pit Bull mix, cowering in the corner of her cage, refusing to eat, the vet joined her.
In a touching video he made Feb. 13 that’s gone viral — and that’s led to many adoption offers — Mathis climbs inside Graycie’s cage and sits beside her, eating and offering the dog her own dish. Eventually Graycie starts eating, too.
“We’ve had dogs in the past that took up to six weeks to feel comfortable getting outside, and then they love to play, they love other dogs and they love me,” Mathis told ABC News. “It doesn’t make me sad to see [dogs] broken and withdrawn because with time, I know what’s possible.”
Graycie, who’s about 2 years old, was brought to the animal hospital on Jan. 29 by someone who found her dumped on a little-traveled dirt road.
“Emaciated, starved (20 lbs.), dehydrated, hypothermic (temp of 95), anemic and with a vaginal prolapse,” Mathis wrote on the hospital’s Facebook page. “Practical Me says I should put her to sleep, but Veterinarian Me wants to try and give her a chance.”
Mathis decided to give Graycie a chance. He took her to the University of Georgia (UGA) Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where specialists were able to reduce her prolapse, get her temperature back up and rehydrate her. Mathis took her back to Granite Hills Animal Care, and she’s been making a slow but sure recovery.
“She had a collar, so she was owned by somebody at some point,” Mathis told ABC News. “Whoever was feeding her wasn’t feeding her enough. She was 20 pounds when we found her and probably should have weighed 30 to 35 pounds.”
With Mathis by her side, Graycie has gained five pounds. He sometimes hand-feeds her.
“She’s still quite timid around me,” he said. “I’m spending time with her so she’s not scared of me.”
Graycie will be ready for a loving new forever home in a few weeks. In the meantime, as Mathis pointed out, there are plenty of other dogs across the country waiting to be adopted.
“By sharing her story, it brings awareness to other pets who need homes,” he told ABC News.
To make a donation to help Dr. Mathis and Granite Hills Animal Care save more pets, click here.
Photo credit: Dr. Andy Mathis
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. You can opt-out if you wish.Got it!RejectPrivacy Policy
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
![Big-Hearted Veterinarian Enjoys a Meal with Scared Dog in Cage [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/istilllovedogs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/veterinarian-eats-with-scared-dog-in-cage.jpg?resize=598%2C371&ssl=1)
