Rocky Archives - i Still Love Dogs

Baaa-d Job? Border Collie Herder-in-Training Leads Sheep into House

Rocky, a seven-month-old Border Collie puppy, is just getting his paws wet at the art of herding sheep.

So perhaps his owner, Rosalyn Edwards of Devon, England, shouldn’t have been too surprised at what she found inside her home late last month.

“I was in the kitchen and heard a noise,” Edwards told The Telegraph. “I turned around and the sheep were just standing there. There were about nine of them.”

The sight of all those sheep inside her house was pretty hilarious, but the mess they made? Not so much. “There was quite a lot of wee, poo and mud everywhere,” Edwards said. “It took me a little while to clean it all up.”

How did the sheep end up inside her house? Edwards, her husband and her son had gone out into a field, inadvertently leaving a gate open behind them. Being a super smart Border Collie, young Rocky quickly took advantage of the situation and led the sheep into the house through a back door.

Thank goodness for smart phones — Edwards was able to record the video below of the sheep inside her house, which has been viewed more than 92,000 times on Facebook.

Edwards put her children in another room, and she and her husband were able to successfully shoo the sheep out the front door.

As for Rocky, he was very pleased with himself, Edwards said. After all, how many herding dogs have the skills to lead sheep inside houses?

“He brought a whole new meaning to ‘bringing the sheep home,’” she told The Telegraph.

Photo via Rosalyn Edwards/Facebook

NYPD Officers Rescue Injured Pit Bull on Grand Central Parkway

When NYPD officers Melissa Mezzoiuso and George Morina-Blocker responded to a 911 call Monday morning about a “vicious” dog on Grand Central Parkway during rush hour, what they found was a brindle Pit Bull sitting in the middle of a westbound lane on the busy thoroughfare.

Morina-Blocker blocked traffic with their patrol car, and Mezzoiuso got out and approached the dog.

She realized he “was not ‘vicious’ but rather frightened and injured,” the NYPD News reports.

Mezzoiuso gently lifted the dog and carried him to the side of the busy parkway, then she and her partner decided to drive the 6-month-old pup, who they named “Rocky,” to a local ASPCA office.

Rocky was then transferred to the ASPCA hospital in Manhattan, where veterinarians determined his left front leg had been broken.

Morina-Blocker and Mezzoiuso stopped by for a visit yesterday, before the lucky pooch had surgery on his leg. Rocky “will continue to receive around-the-clock care as he recovers from his injury,” an ASPCA spokeswoman told the Queens Courier.

According to the New York Daily News today, Rocky has been renamed Huxley to avoid confusion with another dog in the hospital who has the same name. He is recovering from his surgery.

The ASPCA is trying to locate his owner, and asking anyone with information about Rocky to call 212-876-7700. In the meantime, adoption offers are flowing in.

“We urge anyone with information about Rocky to please come forward,” the ASPCA spokeswoman said. “Thank you to the officers of the 110th Precinct who rescued a dog in need and brought him to safety at the ASPCA.”

Photos via Twitter, Twitter

Chained German Shepherd Who Chewed off Foot Has Loving New Forever Home

FEB. 25, 2015 UPDATE: Samer Samir Ibrahim, Rocky’s original owner, is scheduled to be arraigned today on two misdemeanor counts of animal abuse, the Orange County Register reports. If convicted, the most he faces is up to one year in jail.

There’s happy news for Rocky, the 11-month-old German Shepherd who was dumped at an Orange County, Calif., shelter last month by his owner — who said he had no idea why his dog had chewed off his own foot.

Although his entire back right leg had to be amputated, the now 1-year-old pup has been healing “like a champ, a master on three legs,” according to an update today on the Coastal German Shepherd Rescue OC Facebook page.

The best news of all is that Rocky’s foster family decided to make him a permanent addition. They have officially adopted the lucky pup.

Rocky’s name has been changed to Aron Ralston (“Rally” for short), after the mountain climber who fell into a crevice and, after five days, had to cut off his right forearm to free himself. The 2010 movie “127 Hours“* was based on Ralston’s ordeal.

Why did Rally chew off his own foot? Tiffany Norton of Coastal German Shepherd Rescue O.C., who immediately took him from the shelter to Alicia Pet Care Center in Mission Viejo last month or treatment, had an idea why he did it.

“It was likely a situation where he became entangled in a rope or chain that basically cut off the circulation on his foot, and he chewed his foot to free himself,” Norton told KABC.

Dr. Matthew Wheaton, one of the veterinarians who treated Rally, agreed with Norton.

“He was likely tied to a pole, stake or tree via a long chain and got his back foot tangled in the chain, which cut off blood supply to the foot,” he told the Orange County Register.

“Chewing off a part of the body that is devitalized is likely a highly evolved trait,” he said. “The only dogs that would survive an issue like this would be those that would take to drastic measures to escape what they were tangled in.”

Ryan Drabek, former director of OC Animal Care, said last month that the case is being investigated.

Photo via Facebook

German Shepherd Chews Off His Foot to Escape From Chain

DEC. 19, 2014 UPDATE: Rocky has a loving new forever home and an appropriate new name!

When the owners of Rocky, an 11-month-old German Shepherd, dumped him at OC Animal Care in Orange County, Calif., earlier this week, they said they had no idea why their dog had chewed off half of his own rear right foot.

The shelter notified Tiffany Norton of Coastal German Shepherd Rescue O.C., who immediately took Rocky to Alicia Pet Care Center in Mission Viejo for treatment.

“It was likely a situation where he became entangled in a rope or chain that basically cut off the circulation on his foot, and he chewed his foot to free himself,” Norton told KABC.

Veterinarian Matthew Wheaton agreed with Norton’s assessment.

“He was likely tied to a pole, stake or tree via a long chain and got his back foot tangled in the chain, which cut off blood supply to the foot,” he told the Orange County Register.

In 2007, California became the first state to enact a law that limits the chaining or tethering of dogs. Since then, 18 additional states have enacted similar laws.

As the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) points out, tethering dogs is both inhumane and dangerous.

“An otherwise friendly and docile dog, when kept continuously chained, becomes neurotic, unhappy, anxious and often aggressive,” notes the HSUS. “Dogs have even been found with collars embedded in their necks, the result of years of neglect at the end of a chain.”

According to California’s Health and Safety Code, dogs are not to be tethered for more than three hours during a 24-hour period or other time period approved by animal control.

“I have managed a handful of cases over the years of trauma secondary to tethering or chaining a dog,” Wheaton told the OC Register. “It’s sad and frustrating because it is so avoidable.”

Ryan Drabek, director of OC Animal Care, said animal control is investigating the case.

Rocky’s injury was gruesome. “It definitely took my breath away,” veterinarian Maria Bromme told KABC. “It was really heartbreaking to see. We saw exposed bone, exposed muscle, the infection that started to set in.”

The young pup’s entire leg had to be amputated.

He’s now recuperating, and has already adjusted to having only three legs. He will stay with a foster family for two weeks, and then be available for adoption into a loving forever home.

Coastal German Shepherd Rescue O.C. is covering the cost of Rocky’s surgery and medical treatment.

Photos via Facebook