An armed man chose the wrong Maine gas station to rob last week.
The man went inside Holly’s Gas Station in Saco on Feb. 9 and asked clerk Justin Ireland if he could use the phone. Ireland’s Pit Bull/Boxer mix, Thor, vigorously wagged his tail at the stranger.
But then the man pointed a gun at Ireland, handed him a plastic bag and shoved him. Ireland, who’d been holding onto Thor’s harness, released his dog. Thor immediately sprang into action to protect his dog dad.
A surveillance camera captured Thor jumping on the robber, biting his hand and face.
The robber ran off and fled in a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck, according to a UPI report.
Neither Ireland or Thor was injured.
According to the Saco Police Department’s Facebook page, the suspect is a white male who’s about 5’10 and weighs 180 pounds. He probably has bite wounds on his hand and the sides of his face.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the police department at 207-282-8216.
Eleven-year-old Savannah Vanase was cleaning the chicken coop in her family’s Norwich, Conn., backyard earlier this month when she was approached by a raccoon.
The family’s Pit Bull, 21-month-old Tank, saw the raccoon, which was just inches away from Vanase.
“All of a sudden my dog comes barking and sprinting under [the coop], and I look under, and there’s this huge raccoon,” Vanase told WTIC-TV. “I just didn’t know what to do. I just stood right here.”
She said she was surprised to see her mild-mannered snuggle buddy turn into “Super Puppy.”
“They were just tussling, and the raccoon went on his back and scratched him on his face, and Tank kept trying to pounce on him,” Vanase said.
Tank killed the raccoon, which later tested positive for rabies.
Unfortunately, Tank’s heroic act has the possibility of ending in an “Old Yeller” type tragedy for the pup. His rabies booster shot was a few days overdue. If he was infected, he will have to be euthanized.
Tank must be quarantined at a local animal shelter for six months to see if he develops symptoms of rabies. Animal control officer Donna Gremminger told KTRK that if Tank’s vaccinations had been up to date, he would have required a 45-day home quarantine.
“We’re trying to avoid [euthanization] and give him his fair chance,” Savannah’s dad, Chris Vanase, told WTIC-TV. “It’s the least I could do for saving my daughter.”
Gremminger said Tank has so far shown no signs of rabies, and said that none of the dogs she has seen quarantined in the shelter have turned out to be infected.
The six members of the Vanase family must also undergo a series of treatments for rabies.
“When he comes home, (I’m going to) make him a big, nice, peanut-butter-bone-treat cake and hug him as hard as I can,” Samantha told KTRK.
Hopefully Tank’s story will have a happier ending than “Old Yeller.” And hopefully Tank’s family will make sure his vaccinations are up to date for the rest of this hero’s life.
A Pit Bull named Lou, who had been saved from an abusive owner, apparently decided to “paw” it forward to the family who rescued him.
When a fire broke out early Saturday morning in Chris Julian and Kelly Yarbrough’s Carbondale, Penn., house, Lou woke them by barking frantically.
“There`s a fire behind the door. I grabbed the door. It was red hot,” Julian told WNEP. “All I screamed was, ‘Call 911! There`s a fire,’ and by the time I got back to the room, there was no time to think.”
“The fire was coming through the door and the dog saved our lives,” Yarbrough said. “If it wasn’t for him, we’d all be dead right now.”
Although they lost almost everything they owned, the couple, their two younger children and Lou were able to escape without any injuries.
The couple’s two older children weren’t home at the time. Yarbrough told WNEP it was very fortunate that the family had watched a movie together in the master bedroom Friday night, and the two younger children had fallen asleep on the floor. Had they been in their own bedrooms, “I probably wouldn’t have been able to get them out,” she said.
“I’m grateful for God and the way that it did happen,” Yarbrough said. “I’m grateful God gave me Lou, our dog, and I’m grateful for the Red Cross to help us as much as they could.”
You may not recognize his name, but you’ve probably seen his videos. Sharky the Pit Bull was usually seen gently playing with chicks, ducklings, bunnies and many other little critters — who were often perched on his head, belly or back.
Sharky, who was only 9 years old, had no difficulty winning friends small and large, but he couldn’t win his battle with cancer.
“Unfortunately my time came early and if you’re reading this, that means that I have already passed,” read a status update this afternoon on his Facebook page.
“It is my sad duty to inform you all of my battle with Cancerous Mast Cell Tumors Lymphoma. You maybe noticed I have not been wearing a doggy collar. This picture is from yesterday (notice my pale gums but happy last smile for you).”
Sharky had cancer for a few years, according to the post, but it recently spread to his internal organs.
“What can I say #CancerSucks! I will be missing you all my dear fans. I will Miss my Mommy Helen and Daddy and little 10 month old Baby Spencer. I will miss My Cool #SharkCat, chicks, roosters, chickens, ducks, geese and Oreo the Bunny…
“Please keep the #PitBull name strong and love, save and protect them for me please. I always wanted to stay positive and happy with my videos for whole world to see how cool PIT BULLS Are! Please don’t be sad, keep watching all of my videos, share and I hope I will make you smile.”
Rest in peace, Sharky. Thank you for all the smiles and being such a great ambassador for Pit Bulls. I bet there are a lot of happy angels sitting on you right now.
You can watch videos of Sharky — many of which have been viewed millions of times — on the TexasGirly1979 YouTube channel.
“My neighbor told me there was a soaking wet, shivering dog crouched in the church doorway around 7:30 a.m. Thursday,” Rev. Paul Mowry of the Sausalito Presbyterian Church in Northern California told the Marin Independent Journal.
“Initially, I thought she was just a lost dog.”
Nope. As it turns out, Daisy, a Pit Bull, had escaped from the boat she lived on with her dog dad, Stephen Alioto, as it sank in Richardson Bay during heavy rainstorms Wednesday night.
She managed to swim a mile to shore in the cold, dark, choppy water, and then walked to the church, which she had previously visited with Alioto.
Mowry took Daisy to the Marin Humane Society. She was microchipped, and it had two phone numbers.
“I tried the secondary number a couple of times and got somebody who said the dog had been given away to a good friend, Steve,” Mowry, who is also the chaplain for the Sausalito Police Department, told the Journal. “And we (the church) have a Steve who comes to our free lunches on Wednesday.”
In the meantime, heartbroken, Alioto had notified Sausalito police that Daisy was missing. (The Journal story doesn’t mention how he managed to make it off the boat safely.) Sgt. Thomas Georges realized the dog who had shown up at the church was probably Daisy.
But the story doesn’t end there. Since Alioto was now homeless, it could have been difficult to locate him. Fortunately Mowry’s partner, Joe Silverman, had a hunch Alioto might show up at a church that was offering free dinners Friday night.
“So I went there and was talking to a man whose boat had sunk,” Mowry told the Journal. “I asked, ‘Is Steve here?’ and the man said, ‘He’s here. His boat sunk and his dog drowned.'”
Mowry said that when he located Alioto and told him Daisy had shown up at the church, “He started sobbing and threw his arms around me.”
Alioto was reunited with Daisy at the shelter on Saturday. He told Mowry he had given her swimming lessons and had taught her how to survive in the water. She had her own life preserver.
For now, Alioto and Daisy are staying on a friend’s boat.
“When Steve came to pick the dog up we provided him with a new leash and dog food,” Lisa Bloch of the Marin Humane Society told the Journal. “A woman just happened to come by to drop off a donation of a 50-pound bag of dog food, and she turned around and gave it to Steve.”
The humane society is accepting food and toy donations for Alioto and Daisy, as well as its many homeless pets. According to its Facebook page, Mowry will be coordinating efforts to help Alioto and Daisy.
“Steve said to me, ‘The things I lost are just things. They can be replaced. But you can’t be replaced, and I can’t be replaced, and Daisy can’t be replaced,'” Mowry told the Journal.
“That dog is his companion. She’s his everything.”
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