Tag: English Mastiff

Deputy Saves Mastiff from Burning Car at AKC Dog Show

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!

Days Later, Mastiff Who Rescued Baby Needed Rescuing Himself

When Duke, the English Mastiff she and her husband rescued a year ago, woke her in the middle of the night earlier this month, Lucia Catherine Piscoglio, of Swedesboro, N.J., knew something was terribly wrong.

Piscoglio checked the video baby monitor next to her bed. The face of her 9-month-old daughter, Ava Jane, was buried in the bumper pad of her crib.

“As Duke and I ran to her side, I didn’t feel her inhale or exhale,” Piscolglio wrote on the Duke & Vaccination Awareness Facebook group page. “I am not positive if she ever stopped breathing, because I scooped her up so quickly and she began to cry from being startled. Duke gave her a quick lick on the head and we sat in there all together for awhile.”

Ava Jane and Duke, who’s 20 months old, have a special bond that was formed even before the baby was born.

“Throughout pregnancy he stayed by my side,” Piscolglio wrote. “Once Ava Jane was born, he immediately became her best friend. They never leave each other’s side. He sleeps outside her door. He is there for every diaper change, every bath and whatever else we decide to do.”

Just a few days after performing his heroic deed, Duke himself needed rescuing when he suffered a severe allergic reaction to a Lyme disease vaccination.

“He was swollen all over, not eating, not drinking, not going to the bathroom or even moving,” Piscoglio wrote.

Duke was placed in critical care at a local animal hospital, where veterinarians determined he had vasculitis, which destroys blood vessels, as well as hemorrhaging in his eye.

As soon as Piscoglio posted Duke’s story on the Facebook group page Mastiffs Rule Drool is Cruel, she received offers from around the world to help with his vet bills, according to NBC10.

Nearly $1,500 for his care has been raised as of today via the crowdfunding page Dukes Vet Bills.

The Facebook group Duke & Vaccination Awareness, which Piscoglio created after her dog’s ordeal, currently has about 345 members.

Duke was released from the hospital, but he still has swelling and difficulty walking. “He is being treated with a steroid pill, antibiotic, Benadryl twice a day and Pepcid,” Piscoglio wrote. “He has also been placed on a strict diet.”

Piscoglio noted that she is not against vaccines, but urged pet parents to educate themselves. “Ask questions, because we almost lost Duke to something preventable,” she wrote.

“This is a story that can show many that the world is not so bad and that there is kindness everywhere,” Piscoglio told NBC10. “Duke is Ava Jane’s guardian Angel. Now Duke has many guardian Angels.”

Photos via Facebook

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