viral photos Archives - i Still Love Dogs

‘Angel Dog’ Appears as Woman Spreads Beloved Golden Retriever’s Ashes

When Wagner, Ashley Lang’s beloved 12-year-old Golden Retriever, passed away, she spread his ashes in one of his favorite places — the appropriately named Wagner Park in Aspen, Colo.

As she did so, a friend took a picture on her phone. In the photo, which is going viral and giving lots of people chills, the ashes form the shape of what appears to be a jumping dog.

“This is Ashley spreading her dog Wagner’s ashes,” wrote KOLO reporter Amanda Sanchez, who shared the photo, in the caption. “He was the love of her life. She lives in Chicago but flew to Aspen to spread the ashes at Wagner Park. Need I say more???”

Lang told CBS Chicago she believes it was Wagner’s way of saying goodbye.

“It’s pretty remarkable,” she said. “The tail and the legs, and he looks like he’s, you know, leaping to go up. Everyone keeps calling him the ‘angel dog.’”

The Nevada Humane Society shared the photo last night on its Facebook page, and it’s gotten more than 7,000 Likes so far.

“Who believes the Rainbow Bridge is real and who believes our pets are looking over us once they pass on?” the humane society asked.

But is the picture real…or Photoshopped, as some doubters believe?

“No one else is questioning that despite general darkness and shadows, the grass and building in the background are lighter?” wrote one commenter. “I think this is a bad Photoshop job.”

The majority of people seem to think it’s legit, however.

“When our precious Lab died at 6 from cancer, my husband used to feel her jumping up on the bed and softly find a place to lay down,” wrote another commenter. “Seeing this makes me believe him!”

What do you think…could this really be an “angel dog?”

Photo via Facebook

Virginia Police Officer Gives 2 Lost Dogs a Ride Home

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!

Photo via Facebook

More Than 500K Pet Parents Respond to Sick Teen’s Dog Photo Request

While 16-year-old Anthony Lyons undergoes chemotherapy in the Phoenix Children’s Hospital, he has just one request: for pet parents to post pictures of their pups on the Photo Doggies for Anthony Facebook event page.

More than 500,000 people from around the world have been glad to oblige. (Unfortunately, those photos have been removed because “one person decided to bring his negativity upon a great thing,” Lyons wrote on the Facebook page this morning. He is still asking for more photos.)

Lyons, who has three dogs at home, is being treated for lymphoblastic leukemia and must check into the hospital once each month.

Until now, the only thing that cheered him up was visits from the hospital’s therapy dogs.

“It really helps, the pet therapy,” Lyons told MyFoxPhoenix.com. “I can be in here having a really bad day, and then one of the dogs will show up and it will be the highlight of the day.”

But the therapy dogs only visit one day a week, so Roberta Lucero-Koron, a friend of Lyons’ mom, set up the Facebook page last week. It was an immediate success.

“This has gotten so viral. One thing I have to say is, make yourself smile too by looking at these beautiful animals that God gave us,” Lucero-Koron told USA TODAY. “I can’t stop crying from tears of happiness.”

Lyons is expected to recover, although the cancer treatments will go on for three more years.

“I hope I can continue to see all the pictures of your dogs,” he wrote on Facebook this morning. “No matter what, they make me happy and I try and look at every single one of them!”

You can post a picture of your pooch for Anthony on Facebook. He is also featuring some of the dog photos on Instagram (like Ruby, right, the “happiest lookin’ dog I’ve seen all day”).

Photos via Instagram

Viral ‘Poetic Dogs’ Photo Series Transforms Shelter Pups into Authors

Photographer Dan Bannino, dog dad of a former pound pup, wanted to do something to help get more homeless dogs adopted. In June 2014, he came up with the inspired idea of transforming shelter dogs into his favorite authors, photographing them and then posting the pictures on social media.

His project, “Poetic Dogs,” has gone viral since it debuted in late November.

“I’ve realized how dogs are similar to writers: speaking through their expressions, sounds and movements, they’re telling you everything while saying nothing, just like an author would do with their fine words in a poem,” Bannino, who lives in Italy, wrote on his website

Early last year, Bannino adopted his dog, Rothko, from a shelter. “From that day my life has changed,” Bannino wrote. “When I adopted him, I realized how many dogs are in the same condition all around the world, and how a single adoption could change their lives and help support the situation in a dog shelter.”

Bannino is raising funds online to take more photos and publish them in a book.

Here’s hoping the stories of all these “authors” have happy endings.

Nespola as Mark Twain

“Nespola gave us a smile from the first moment we saw him,” Bannino writes. “With his white tousled fur and his incredibly funny yet elegant ways we couldn’t associate him to anyone else than the ‘greatest American humorist.'”

Aky as Leo Tolsky

Aky, a Golden Retriever mix, was dumped at a shelter when he became too old to work as a search dog. “Since his arrival, everyone at the shelter is taking good care of him and now he’s patrolling the area, solving cases of missing cookies,” Bannino writes.

Biscuit and Crumb as the Brothers Grimm

“Like Hansel and Gretel in the Brothers Grimm’s tale, Biscuit and Crumb are two little clever puppies,” Bannino writes. “The only survivors of a litter of eight, they were found under a bridge on a very cold day.”

Wall Street as Charles Bukowski

The oldest pup in Banino’s photo series, 14-year-old Wall Street was brought to a shelter after his owner passed away. “When I saw him he suddenly reminded me of the famous writer Charles Bukowski,” Bannino writes. “He didn’t like staying too much with the other dogs, he always looks drunk since he’s very old and not standing a lot on his feet, but as soon as you establish even the smallest contact with him, it looks like he’s telling you all his incredible stories.”

A Few More Author Doggie Dopplegängers

Ernest Hemingway

Emily Dickinson

Edgar Allen Poe

William S. Burroughs

Charles Dickens

Photos via Instagram

Ridiculously Cute Police Puppy in Training Photo Goes Viral

Holy viral photo, Batman!

A 9-week-old German Shepherd named Batman became an Internet sensation today, and for a very worthy cause.

Batman is in training to become a member of the Boston Police Department’s K-9 unit. In this photo by Jonathan Kozowyk, the little pup is wearing a vest that’s just a wee bit too large for him.

The hand and legs in the photo belong to Officer Troy Caisey, the head trainer of the K-9 unit.

The photo is included in the 2015 Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog Calendar, on sale now for only $10 (plus shipping and handling). Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog is a volunteer-run nonprofit whose goal is to ensure that every police dog in that state has a bulletproof vest.

“All Massachusetts Vest-a-Dog calendar proceeds will be used to support Massachusetts police dogs, helping provide vests, essential equipment, training and dogs,” according to the organization’s Facebook page.

Photo via Facebook