Jules may weigh only 20 pounds, but that didn’t stop the feisty French Bulldog from chasing three bears away from her family’s home in Monrovia, Calif., Friday afternoon.
“She wasn’t having it. You’re not coming into her property,” her dog dad, David Hernandez, told CBS Los Angeles.
“She blew me away. I couldn’t believe that she turned into a wolverine.”
Two young bears entered the Hernandez family’s front yard, while the mama bear climbed onto a balcony. Because of the California drought and a recent wildfire, bears have increasingly been leaving the San Gabriel Mountains to scavenge for food in hillside neighborhoods.
Surveillance videos captured Jules racing down the porch steps and jumping toward one of the bears. As that bear stands and pushes Jules away, the little dog jumps at the other bear. In another video, a bear can be seen scrambling to make a quick exit over a fence as Jules chased it.
Jules was given a special treat, extra kisses and a bath. (The best reward would be for the Hernandez family to ensure this is Jules’ first and last bear encounter.)
While Hernandez has taken precautions to keep bears away from his home, he said some of his neighbors have been leaving dog food out for them, and one woman even makes meatloaf for them. Feeding the starving bears may seem kind hearted but is actually a bad idea and against the law.
Hernandez said he feels safer in bear country than in the city.
“You could have drive-bys or you can have bears,” he told CBS Los Angeles. “What’s it going to be? For me I’ll choose the wildlife, but just don’t feed them.”
It’s not unusual for little dogs to scare off much larger wildlife. In August, a Jack Russell Terrier and Yorkshire Terrier made headlines when the little dogs chased away grizzly and black bears.
As a group of children played alongside a street in Oklahoma City, a little girl stepped off the curb. A stray Border Collie who’s been nicknamed “Angel” darted in front of her, stopping the girl in her tracks.
Angel had seen what the little girl did not: a truck speeding toward her. The truck clipped Angel, fracturing his leg.
“He really was a watchdog,” Charles Saxton, who witnessed Angel’s heroic deed, told KOCO. “That truck came speeding down. They always do. He saved her life. Saved her from getting hit. I don’t know if it would have killed the girl or not, but it mangled the dog pretty bad.”
Another witness, Alfredo Carrasco, said Angel had been hanging around the area for about three weeks. He and other neighbors fed him.
“It just showed up,” he told KOCO. “Real pretty dog, black and white. I don’t know who it belongs to, but he was real friendly.”
Angel is now being cared for by the Oklahoma City (OKC) Animal Welfare Department. A generous veterinarian has offered to pay for the surgery needed on the Border Collie’s leg, and according to the OKC Animal Welfare Department’s Facebook page, Angel has already been adopted and will be going to his new forever home today.
“It really shows the power of the human-animal relationship,” the department’s superintendent, Julie Bank, told KOCO. “It shows how much animals are really in tune to what we’re all about. Angel really is a hero dog that saved a bunch of kids.”
As an American Kennel Club dog show was getting underway yesterday morning at Chesapeake City Park in Virginia, Christina Neff left her 10-month-old English Mastiff, Lemon Chiffon, in her SUV while she showed another dog in the ring.
When she saw four deputies running toward her car, her heart sank.
“I was thinking, ‘Oh my god, my dog’s dead,’” she told WAVY.
Master Deputy Wayne Spencer was the first to see the smoke coming from Neff’s SUV and race to it. He and three other deputies from the Chesapeake Sheriff’s Office were all volunteering their time at the event.
“It was brown smoke,” Spencer told WAVY. “It turned to black smoke. It got smokier and smokier.”
Not only did Spencer pull Lemon Chiffon out of the car, he got in and drove it away from the park — as flames were leaping out of the glove box.
“Cars and vans and tents were all around the vehicle,” Spencer said. “There was a lot of people around here, too. It could have been a very nasty situation.”
Spencer was able to park the SUV a safe distance away and get out before it became fully engulfed in flames.
After that ordeal, Lemon Chiffon received the show’s top prize. The four volunteer deputies were also honored for saving the dog’s life.
“Due to their quick thinking and quick reaction, no lives nor dogs were lost,” one of the dog show’s organizers said, according to WAVY.
Spencer said he doesn’t really think of himself as a hero. “We’re too old to go back in the military and too old for Boy Scouts, so we do this,” Spencer told WAVY, describing the deputy volunteers.
“It was very amazing,” Neff said. “‘Thank you’ does not cut it.”
Neff and Lemon Chiffon participated in another dog show today, getting there thanks to a loaner car provided by a local dealership.
Hopefully Neff won’t leave her dog in the car again — not only because of the rare chance of another fire, but because the morning temperatures in Chesapeake have been in the high 70s, which is too warm for a dog, especially a large one like Lemon Chiffon, to be left in a car, even with the windows cracked open.
Just two weeks ago, another Virginia officer performed a heroic deed, although it wasn’t quite as dramatic as Spencer’s.
When Officer J.T. Kulish of the Roanoke Police Department saw two lost dogs wandering near railroad tracks, he invited them into his air-conditioned patrol car, located their owners and gave them a ride home.
Yes, Virginia, there really are great cops in that state!
OCT. 15, 2015 UPDATE: For being such a loyal friend, Tillie has been honored as a “Washingtonian of the Day” by Gov. Jay Inslee. During a ceremony today, Tillie received a written proclamation as well as a Washington apple pin on a ribbon tied around her neck, the Seattle Times reports. The governor encouraged everyone in Washington “to celebrate the bravery and loyalty of this canine companion.”
Best buddies Tillie, an 11-year-old Irish Setter mix, and Phoebe, a 4-year-old Basset Hound, went missing from their Vashon Island, Wash., home over a week ago.
In photos that have gone viral, the dogs were finally found Monday in a ravine, where Phoebe had fallen into a old water basin and couldn’t get out.
“For nearly a week, Tillie stayed by her side with the exception of the few minutes of each day when she went for help,” the volunteer-run nonprofit Vashon Island Pet Protectors (VIPP) wrote on its Facebook page.
Volunteers from the rescue organization had been searching for the dogs for days. Vashon Island resident Joe Curiel phoned VIPP Monday and said a “reddish dog” had been approaching him on his property for a few days. The dog would then run back into the ravine.
“So with a needle-in-the-haystack hope, we made our way into the ravine and after a bit of searching, finally heard that sweet sound we have been waiting for all week,” VIPP wrote. “A small, one-woof response when we called out, ‘Tillie.'”
When the volunteers found Tillie, she was laying next to a cistern, her head resting on the concrete wall. They feared the worst.
“We knew that meant Phoebe was inside the cistern, and every breath was held and every doggie prayer offered that the peek over the rim would somehow find her safe,” VIPP wrote.
The prayers worked. Phoebe was sitting on top of a pile of concrete rubble, safely above the water.
Although Phoebe and Tillie were hungry and cold, they are both doing well, USA TODAY reports.
The two dogs’ experience is a good example of why you shouldn’t give up looking for a lost pet.
“Hope is an awfully hard thing to keep open and alive in the face of heartbreak, but it so important for happy endings for missing pets,” VIPP’s Amy Carey told USA TODAY. “Or even for unhappy endings with closure.”
Phoebe and Millie’s dog dad, B.J. Duft, told ABC News he was thrilled when Carey called him with the news that the two had been found.
“I was absolutely not surprised to learn that Tillie had stood by her side the whole time,” he said. “She’s a very caring, loving and nurturing dog and the two of them are best friends.”
Duft has had Tillie since she was a puppy. He adopted Phoebe two years ago, after the two became buddies at a doggie day care.
During a party Duft was hosting Sept. 7, the two BFFs escaped out the front door that someone had left open.
“Tillie would never leave even if the gate was left open, but she’s best friends with Phoebe, and so when Phoebe follows her little Basset Hound nose, Tillie always goes with her to make sure she’s OK,” Duft said. “They’re best pals — inseparable.”
Duft told ABC News he’s ordered GPS collars for the dogs so they never get lost again.
And to prevent other dogs from getting stuck in the 90-year-old cistern on his property, Curiel used a jackhammer to destroy it, KING5 reported Sept. 18. Curiel had already partially filled the cistern so children wouldn’t get stuck, but it was still too deep for a dog.
On its Facebook page Monday, VIPP thanked Curiel for alerting them to Tillie and also thanked “the awesome and amazing Miss Tillie.”
“A true friend and a humbling example of the power of love,” VIPP wrote.
To make a donation to help Vashon Island Pet Protectors save more pets, click here.
Officer J.T. Kulish, of the Roanoke Police Dept. in Virginia, was cruising along in his patrol car on an off-duty assignment last week when he spotted two apparently lost dogs walking near railroad tracks.
The passenger-side window of the car was open, so Kulish whistled at the dogs. He must have been pretty surprised by what happened next.
When the two dogs turned and saw him, they both jumped into the patrol car through the open window!
According to the Safer City Roanoke Facebook page, “The trio hung out for a little bit while Officer Kulish did some research on his new-found friends and he was able to reunite them with their owner (but not before they all posed for this cool picture).”
That cool picture posted Sept. 4 is going viral, with nearly 17,000 Likes and over 4,000 shares as of Tuesday afternoon. The two dogs appear to be very happy and really seem to be enjoying the patrol car’s air conditioner (Roanoke’s daytime temperatures were in the low 90s last week).
More than 1,300 Facebook users have left comments praising Kulish’s action, and I’d like to join them. Excellent way to protect and serve, Officer Kulish!
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