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.
FEB. 16, 2015 UPDATE: Carmen has been released from the hospital, an update today on the Carmen Ledford Crowdrise page reports.
“After almost two weeks of 24-hour care at Care Center, Carmen is strong enough to continue her recovery from home, with Ben’s brother, Phil and the watchful eye of the entire family,” according to the update.
“If it hadn’t been for the vet who rescued Carmen, the Care Center and the support and donations from friends, family and pet lovers from around the world, we would not have been able to provide Carmen with the level of care that has allowed her to walk out of the hospital today.”
As of Feb. 16, more than $29,000 has been raised for Carmen’s veterinary care.
More than $28,000 has been raised to pay for the veterinary care of Carmen, a 9-year-old Boxer who suffered severe lung damage while trying to shield her dog dad, Ben Ledford, from a fire in a Goshen Township, Ohio, home Feb. 5.
Unfortunately, Ledford did not survive. If not for the around-the-clock care by veterinarians at Care Center in Cincinnati, Carmen would likely have died as well.
When firefighters arrived at the house, they found Carmen on top of Ledford in the basement, shielding his face from the thick, black smoke. Ledford was still breathing, but died a short time later at a hospital.
Carmen was rushed to Care Center in critical condition, and placed on a ventilator to enable her to breathe. By Tuesday, she was able to breathe without the ventilator.
“She’s doing very well. We’re very happy with where her progress is at this point,” Dr. Marlo Anderson, the hospital’s critical care specialist, told WCPO Feb. 10.
“Initially when we take them off the ventilator, there’s a chance she may need to go back on for a few hours as her body is adjusting … but so far she hasn’t needed any of that.”
Dr. Anderson said it was an especially good sign that Carmen was able to breathe through her nose. “Prior to her going on the ventilator, she was breathing very hard through her mouth,” she said. “Dogs breathe primarily through their nose, so anytime they are breathing through their mouth you know there is a problem.”
“She’s awake, aware and even moving around a bit,” wrote Ledford’s brother, Phil Ledford, on Carmen’s Crowdrise page Feb. 10. “It was good to see her recognize the family and respond to our voices.”
Ledford’s sister, Emily Ledford, told WCPO Ben and Carmen adored each other. “There was nothing in this world that Ben loved more than Carmen and there was nothing that Carmen loved more than Ben,” she said. Her brother was a big Ohio State University fan, she said, and had named his dog after “Carmen Ohio,” the university’s alma mater.
Dr. Anderson said she wasn’t too surprised by Carmen’s heroic act. “A lot of dogs instinctively know when there’s a crisis going on, so a lot of them do go to try to protect their owners, so she very well may have been trying to protect him,” she told WCPO.
Carmen began physical therapy Wednesday, and continued to show signs of improvement during the week.
“Carmen is coming off fluids and IV medications today,” wrote Care Center on its Facebook page yesterday. “She still requires oxygen support at this time as her lungs continue to heal. She is eating and drinking on her own and will have some more rehabilitation today.
“Carmen is in good spirits and wags her adorable little nub tail to show it! She has started to give out some sweet doggie kisses to her family, Dr. Anderson and her technicians.”
Phil Ledford will adopt his brother’s beloved dog when Carmen is ready to leave the hospital.
“The ongoing support for Carmen, and Carmen’s family, has been overwhelmingly positive,” he wrote. “The family is humbled by the generosity being offered to help Carmen.”
In a viral video titled “Обманывать друзей нехорошо” (“Wrong to Deceive Friends”) posted by PositiveVideoShow on YouTube last week, when a big brown dog sees his owner disappear under the water, the pup jumps into the lake, landing on the man’s head.
The dog then grasps his amused owner’s hand in his mouth, and guides him to safety.
A heroic act indeed — but the dog dad had simply been ducking his head under shallow water near the shore.
Still, this dog deserves a вкусно награда (that’s Russian for “tasty reward”), don’t you think?
“I was really scared … I thought I was going to miss Christmas,” six-year-old Kollin Bailey of Herriman, Utah, told the Deseret News.
Kollin was flying a kite Friday afternoon when he tripped and fell about 10 feet into a manhole. “I was looking back at my kite and I fell, then I blacked out. And when I opened my eyes, I was in there,” he said.
“I saw lots of sticks. Sticks were everywhere. And I think there was something, I think it was green, it was moving down there.”
As the hours passed, his aunt, who was babysitting Kollin, became very worried and called his mom, Shara Bailey. The West Valley City Police were notified of Kollin’s disappearance around 5:30 p.m. Officers and community members spread out around the area, about 25 miles south of Salt Lake City, and searched for the missing boy.
His bike was discovered near a water retention site, but no one noticed the open manhole or heard Kollin shouting for help.
That is, until K9 search dog Copper, a 100-pound Bloodhound who, like Kollin, is also 6 years old, was put into action. After getting a whiff of Kollin’s pillow, Copper led his handler, Sgt. Shane Matheson, to the manhole.
“To him it is just a game of hide and seek,” Matheson told the Deseret News. “It’s kind of a nice change of pace from finding bad guys to actually helping a family out.”
Matheson helped lift Kollin out of the manhole. The boy suffered a broken elbow and scratches, but is otherwise okay.
Someone — not a city worker — had apparently tampered with the manhole cover and removed it.
“These need to be bolted down, something, or (have) a lock on it,” Shara said. “There are three manholes in that area where kids play all the time.”
The evening after he was rescued, Kollin, with his arm in a sling, visited the police station to give his hero a reward. He gave Matheson and Copper big hugs — along with a bone-shaped treat for Copper.
“I never thought I’d owe my son’s life to a dog,” Shara said.
On its Facebook page, the West Valley City Police Department wrote, “We are grateful for our K9 teams and their ability to make a life-saving difference, as well as the partnership with other law-enforcement agencies that puts the safety of the public at top priority.”
Despite Kollin’s worries, thanks to Copper, he won’t be missing Christmas this year. And as for Copper? Kollin’s dad, Shawn Bailey, told the Deseret News, “I was telling everybody at the hospital last night, ‘That dog is going to get the biggest bone he’s ever gotten for Christmas.'”
Judy Muhe, 76, has Parkinson’s disease, and exposure to cold air can mean trouble for her.
When she took a bad spill in her Palmdale, Calif., kitchen, bruising her skull and shattering her shoulder, her two Golden Retrievers rushed to her. Dodger and Higgins snuggled up beside her for two days, with no food or water, as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
“They let me know I was not alone,” Muhe told KABC.
“Dodger kept nuzzling me with his nose and Higgins was laying right beside me. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I just love my dogs so much.”
Kathy Jacobs, a friend of Muhe’s, became concerned when her phone calls went unanswered. She and her husband used a spare key to enter Muhe’s house.
“The dogs were right here with her. They actually ran to the door and then they ran back to where she was, like showing us she was there,” Jacobs told KABC.
Jacobs believes the dogs saved her friend’s life.
“Because of her injuries and the time she spent laying on the floor and dehydrating, and being with her Parkinson’s, we probably would have lost her,” she told KABC.
Muhe, who has had two surgeries on her shoulder since the incident, said she had no doubt her Golden Retrievers would do the same thing if it happened again.
“My guardians, yes,” she said.
KABC reporter Leo Stallworth — who said he was going to go home and hug his own two dogs — said Muhe had just one request: “Love our pets.”
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