We all have the impression of firefighters as heroes and they certainly deserve that honor. Even in their downtime, when they aren’t fighting fires and rescuing people from mangled cars involved in traffic accidents, they are rescuing kittens from trees. That is our impression anyway.

Recently, the men of the Kern County Fire Department demonstrated that that is exactly the kind of thing they do. IN this situation, however it wasn’t a kitten and it wasn’t stuck in a tree. And they didn’t have to go to the site. The victim and the site was brought to them.

The owner of “Junior,” a little pit bull puppy, brought the animal to the fire house. It seems in his inquisitive explorations, Junior had somehow managed to get his head stuck in the center opening of an automobile tore.
The owner was unable to extricate the dog alone and sought help from the local heroes, the fire department.

Brandon Hill, the fire department spokesperson said after a couple of photos were taken, firefighters liberally applied some vegetable oil to the pup and slid him through the greased up hole. Their quick thinking and calm reactions helped free the poor little guy. The curious pup is now safely back home with his owner and his 7 siblings.

Following the devastation wrought by a series of tornadoes that ripped across Illinois this past week, one man finds a reason for joy when the family dog is discovered alive in the rubble.
Jon Byler Dann lost his home but he and his four kids were unharmed. Still, they were grieving for their dog, Maggie, who’d gone missing in the storms. When Dann and his friends examined the wreckage, though, they heard a faint barking coming from beneath the rubble. Piece by piece the wreckage was moved including a large piece of masonry that called on the teamwork of six men to lift. Maggie lay beneath, wrapped in a piece of carpeting and some insulation.
Maggie was dehydrated and suffered a dislocated hip in the ordeal. In spite of being in shock, she wagged her tail.
Aware of the impending tornado, Dann had tried unsuccessfully to coax Maggie out of her kennel and into the safety of a room where his children were. The dog was too scared and instead scratched and clawed at him. She escaped his grasp seconds before the tornado touched down.
It was then that Jon saw the debris pelting his house and felt the warm rush of wind. He bolted for the house, ran into the bathroom and pushed an amplifier in front of the door. In seconds the house was gone. He was pinned by debris and bricks. First responders freed him and his children within 15 minutes. Dann’s wife was working in Peoria, IL at the time and was unharmed.
As the storm passed, Dann and his children felt the spray of water from broken water pipes and saw clear skies above where the ceiling of their home had been just minutes before. Once he knew they were safe he began to worry about the dog. Guilt and panic riddled him so he was relieved when she was found alive.
Teegarden Veterinary Clinic tended to Maggie where her hip was reset and she was treated for dehydration. By the next day she was eating and drinking again and even began standing and walking on her injured leg.

Dexter the cat and Gizmo are stuck in the kitchen. Gizmo watches as Dexter climbs up a pole and uses his paw for a while to try and twist the door knob.

That doesn’t work.

He tries again. Gizmo walks closer to the door as if offering Dexter moral support. Dexter tries with one paw then two.

He climbs down the pole and looks under the kitchen door. They also both look under door.
Dexter climbs up and gives the knob one more try.

Success! Door opens!

Gizmo pauses as if to say to Dexter, “well done, mate”, then quickly exits; while Dexter sits there for a while before leaving.

Gizmo pokes his head through the door for a second or two, then he’s gone.

The video was uploaded to YouTube on Oct 16th and has had a whopping 726,000+ hits so far.

Maybe it’s a myth that cat and dogs don’t get along. Maybe they’ve been pretending all this while to keep the story alive. Because going by this video, Dexter and Gizmo get along just fine :).

Hehe! Less than 10 seconds into this video, you hear joy, joy, joy! Such a beautiful sound as the baby laughs its utter delight at the dog’s attempt to eat the bubbles floating around the room. Every time he jumps and eats one, the baby’s off, laughing its little heart out.

The bubbles disappear. The dog sits patiently, happily wagging its tail, waiting for the next round of yummy bubbles. Baby waits too.

And then the bubbles come floating again! And they’re both off again! Hehe!

The dog’s actually pretty good! It catches most of the bubbles.

Posted over two years ago, with over 7 million hits and still being viewed (as recently as a day ago!)

This cute baby girl seems HIGHLY amused by the dog chowing down on some popcorn. Everytime he does so, she’s in absolute hysterics, completely taken by it! The dog seems clueless, his focus is on what’s his: the popcorn, without realising just how much he’s entertaining her.

Seven seconds into the video, she squeals in delight and for a few moments, it’s as if she’s about to tumble backwards under the sheer weight of laughter.

She waits excitedly – popcorn after popcorn – and laughs her head off. From 44 seconds, she seems to really go for it and laugh at length! And she has her dad going too!

What is it about the dog eating the popcorn? Who knows? Maybe it’s the crunch it makes – or just how the dog eats it – or both! But either way, it looks like she’d quite happily sit there and watch the popcorn munching for much longer than the actual length of the video.

Lentil, the 5 month old French Bull Dog puppy has found his place in the world and it’s helping kids and those around them accept the craniofacial differences that affect heads and faces like cleft palates or cleft lips.

Lentil started out as one of 4 pups born in New Jersey, all with facial defects. Little Lentil was the only one to survive despite being born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate. He was unable to eat or drink on his own and needed constant attention.

Lindsey Condefer is a volunteer working with the French Bull Dog Rescue Network of Philadelphia. She offered to take on Lentil’s care which consisted of feedings through a tube ever two hours around the clock. Food or liquid could easily go up his nose and Condefer says his life hung by a thread for the first three months. After that feedings moved to every three hours.

Condefer was able to line up surgeons through the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school. They would perform the necessary surgeries that would eventually allow Lentil to lead a more ordinary life. Because repairing the cleft lip is really a cosmetic procedure, it was decided to leave it as is. The veterinary school asked that Lentil become part of a program where kids with specific conditions meet animals with the same issues. Lentil would be a great asset in dealing with kids with craniofacial issues. The program helps those kids to feel as normal as possible.

Subsequently, Lentil is a staple at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he has met with hundreds of patients like fourteen year old Danny Pfeiffer. Pfeiffer suffers from Saethre-Chotzen syndrome, a genetic condition which causes the skull bones to fuse too early and stops the skull from developing normally. The shape of the head and face can be adversely affected. Lentil helped him cope with his own differences because Lentil, too, looks different than a normal dog.

Lentil has been able to eat on his own since his surgery in May. Since then he’s become the mascot for craniofacial awareness and travels wherever he is needed. When he’s not on the road, he hangs out at Condefer’s pet shop in Philly where fans stop by to thank him for his work.

Condefer thinks Lentil was put here on Earth for a reason and that he survived his ordeal for a reason. She says he is a special dog and so do the hundreds of children he has helped in his short life so far.

Today in Oklahoma thousands of people are beginning to clean up following a massive tornado that destroyed hundreds of homes. Millions of dollars in damage were done and many people have lost all of their belongings, including in many cases pets. However today one woman’s story has been making waves as she brought hope to the entire community.

Barbara Garcia was being interviewed today about how she waited out the storm in her home, during the interview she was very sad to report that she had lost her dog during the storm and hadn’t been able to locate it. Then out of nowhere, in the middle of the live interview, Garcia’s dog came running out of the rubble to greet her.

This is perhaps the greatest news to follow the horrible destruction of the tornado. It is incredibly uncommon for something so heartwarming and happy to happen in the wake of destruction but the story of this woman has absolutely become viral. Nobody else’s story has managed to bring as much cheer and hope to the thousands of people that were affected which makes Garcia’s story absolutely incredibly touching.

If not, well here’s your chance! No, you’re not seeing things – the cat is actually walking the dog. It picks up the dog’s leash and pulls it along – the dog follows, no barking, no struggling, no fighting.

Seventeen seconds in, the dog distracts itself, but the cat gives it a meow and it’s back in line again. They go up the stairs, chill for a short while, look back, and then up they continue, up a couple more flights of stairs ’til they reach the door of their apartment.

Who said cats and dogs don’t get along?!

There have been over a million views of this video on YouTube since it was uploaded in March. The pets’ owner (Dafna Kopelis) says the cat wasn’t trained to do what she did.

How this poor dog got itself stranded on that small piece of floating ice is anyone’s guess. But nevertheless there it was – the only thing between it and the freezing water being that little chunk of ice.

And it was snowing too.

Having being spotted by fishermen on a boat, one of the men went into the water to rescue the dog. The water must have been unbelievably freezing. It looks it.

It looked to be a group effort – there was a rope tied around the rescuer’s waist while he went for the dog. When he got there, he carefully moved the floating ice along with the dog til he got to the boat, then tying a rope around it, it was lifted to safety by the crew.

The dog was later reunited with his doggie pals. Well, they look like his pals owing to their body language - they looked happy to see him, checking on him to see if he was OK. Then they all go off together.

Lucky dog. Compassionate fishermen. The dog might have been in the wrong place, but thanks to the fisherman, it happened at the right time.

A homeless guy ran into some serious trouble health-wise. Couldn’t move to go get the help he desperately needed, didn’t have a phone and where he was was secluded. So he sent his trusty dog
Buddy with a note attached to him (his harness) in the hopes he’d come across someone who’d read it and help.

In the note, it said “Help. Send help. No joke. Cannot walk. Medicine not working. Need doctor.”
With the note attached, Buddy went looking and as luck would have it, a woman who was taking her own dog for a walk noticed him, saw the note and called 911.

The police and ambulance didn’t know where the man was as he hadn’t given his location. They still managed to find him despite that. He was taken to hospital, seen to, discharged and looked after by friends.

It’s invaluable what Buddy did and what a lot of dogs like him do. He tapped into the situation, knew what was up and did what was asked of him - saved a life.