In a video going viral, an 8-week-old Heeler puppy named Buck experiences hiccups for the first time as he rides in the backseat of a car.
Hilarity ensues…for viewers, that is, but not necessarily for poor little Buck, who has no idea what is happening and gets kind of barking mad about it. What the Buck?
The 15-second “Buck Has the Hiccups” video, posted on YouTube April 27 by Matthew Kennelly, has already been viewed more than 1.2 million times.
Enjoy! (Sorry, Buck.)
Other breeders advised Karen Riddle of Greenville, S.C., to euthanize a white German Shepherd puppy who was born without a right front paw.
No way. Riddle realized the 9-week-old puppy would be the perfect companion for a child with a disability — and she was right.
“I decided to call Shriners Hospital for Children,” Riddle told GreenvilleOnline. One of its patients happened to be 3-year-old Sapphyre Johnson, who had been born with a birth defect that left her without some toes and fingers. She had been at the hospital since she was 3 months old, undergoing multiple surgeries.
“They don’t know what caused it,” Sapphyre’s mom, Ashley Johnson, told GreenvilleOnline. “But she had just two really long toes on each foot. And when she was 1, we had them amputated so she could be fitted for prosthetics.”
When Sapphyre was shown a picture of the puppy, “she looked at it for a moment, and she said, ‘That’s my puppy. He’s just like me,'” Shriners child life specialist Elaine Hardin told GreenvilleOnline. “In the future, I could see Sapphy at her first show-and-tell in school, and she could bring in her dog and explain about her dog and herself. Everybody loves dogs, and they’ll want to know about her dog that’s special like her.”
On Monday, Sapphyre was able to leave the hospital for her home in Tennessee with new prosthetic legs and the new puppy, who will be her therapy dog. The Johnson family named him Lt. Dan, after the character in “Forrest Gump” who loses his legs in the Vietnam War.
“It was awesome yesterday,” Riddle told ABC News Tuesday. “We said, ‘Sapphyre show him your feet,’ and, oh boy, she threw off her prosthetics and her socks, and said, ‘Look!’ Then Lt. Dan put his paw up at the exact same time.”
Ashley Johnson told GreenvilleOnline she thought what Riddle had done was “wonderful.”
Also wonderful: Shriners Hospital for Children, which made Sapphyre’s prosthetic legs, has promised to make a prosthetic paw for Lt. Dan when he’s fully grown.
Photo via Twitter
Firefighters in Portage, Mich., were able to put out a blaze in the home of Lanchi Rohall two months ago, but, tragically, they were unable to save the lives of her six dogs.
A compassionate dispatcher with Portage Public Safety who knew Rohall suggested to her supervisor, Torie Rose, that the department do something to help Rohall cope with her loss, MLive.com reports. With the grieving dog mom’s permission, employees began making donations toward getting Rohall a new dog to help ease her pain.
Rohall is especially fond of Pomeranians, so the dispatcher began searching online for the perfect pup. She eventually found Teddy, a rescued Pom who was available in Flint, Mich. The donations from Portage fire and police unions, as well as officers, covered Teddy’s $250 adoption fee.
Rose and the dispatcher brought Teddy to Rohall, who is temporarily staying in a motel.
“I think he needed her as much as she needed him,” Rose told MLive.com. “You could tell right off the bat they were going to be a good match.”
Teddy, who was rescued from an abusive situation, was treated by a veterinarian for worms. He also has very sensitive paws, so Rohall got him some little shoes to protect them.
Rohall and Teddy paid a visit yesterday to the Portage Police station. Rose said Teddy was like a different dog.
“He was well-groomed and looked very happy,” she told MLive.com. “She has taught him commands through hand movements, and he is very much attached to her. If she goes out of his sight, he gets nervous.”
Rohall said she is very thankful for how people have gone out of their way to help her since the fire. It was “wonderful, wonderful. God works in mysterious ways,” she told MLive.com.
As for her new best friend Teddy, she said he’s adorable. “He looks just like a baby fox,” she told MLive.com.
Photo via Twitter
There’s something especially heart-tugging about Chihuahuas who are best pals with dogs four times their size. One such odd couple is a Chihuahua named Little Miss and Buster, a Boxer, who were found wandering the streets of Phoenix together April 8.
They were brought to Maricopa County Animal Care & Control, but no one came to claim them.
“Little Miss and Buster are obviously bonded. We think it would be heartbreaking to separate the two, and we’ve made it clear to potential adopters that they must stay together,” Melissa Gable, a public information officer at the shelter, told the Arizona Republic.
The shelter posted an adorable photo of Little Miss snuggling on top of her BFG (best giant friend) — her favorite napping spot — on its Facebook page, and it soon went viral.
“Little Miss appears to be the boss,” Gable told the Arizona Republic. “Buster was trying to sleep and she walked right over, barked in his ear and started nudging him with her nose. He just sighed and went back to sleep. He’s very patient with her, and she does whine if he isn’t around.”
Applications from potential adopters started flowing in and were entered in a lottery. The drawing was held Sunday, and the lucky winner is a California family. They are scheduled to come to the shelter today to claim their prizes, enabling Little Miss and Buster to live together happily ever after.
Photo via Facebook
Theia, a 1-year-old Pit Bull mix, showed up one day last month at a Washington farm. She was emaciated, battered and covered in dirt, yet still wagging her tail. If dogs could talk, the farmers might not believe the story she told them.
The stray, who was known by almost everyone around Moses Lake, had been hit by a car four days earlier. In a misguided mercy killing, someone hit Theia in the head multiple times with a hammer, then buried her in a shallow grave.
When Sara Mellado of Moses Lake read about Theia’s ordeal on Facebook, she decided to become her foster mom.
Theia was taken to Washington State University’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital and treated for a dislocated jaw, nasal bone fractures and leg injuries.
The veterinarians believe Theia’s nasal fractures, which make it difficult for her to breathe, were a result of hammer blows to her head.
“I’m assuming that the person who did this meant to put her out of her misery, but I’m still horrified by the carelessness of the act,” Mellado told WSU News.
Theia’s dislocated jaw is healing nicely, but to help her breathing, she will need to have a stent surgically implanted in her nose.
To help defray the cost of the surgery, WSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital’s Good Samaritan Fund is contributing $700. More than $1,100 has been raised as of Tuesday morning via the Help Theia gofundme.com page. Mellado notes that the surgery and treatment may cost more than $9,000.
Despite Theia’s injuries, ever since she arrived at WSU, her tail has not stopped wagging. She enjoys giving smooches to everyone she meets.
“Considering everything that she’s been through, she’s incredibly gentle and loving,” Mellado told WSU News. “She’s a true miracle dog and she deserves a good life.”
Photos via WSU News
