Non-shaggy dog stories of the heartwarming variety
Here’s a dog story to brighten your day. Let’s hear it for Buford the rancher’s dog:
A huge search operation was launched when the [2-year-old] boy disappeared from his home in Seligman, Arizona, about 100 miles south of Grand Canyon National Park …
The sheriff’s office said that more than 40 rescuers, including Department of Public Safety rangers, joined the search, and a DPS helicopter spotted two mountain lions in the area.
But 16 hours after he went missing, rancher Scotty Dunton found him on his land 7 miles away. The boy was safe and well and had apparently been led to his property by the rancher’s dog, Buford.
“I got in my truck to go to town and I see Buford walking down the side of the fence with a little blond kid with him,” Dunton told NBC affiliate KPNX of Phoenix. “I had heard about the missing child this morning, so I knew it was him.” …
“[The child] went through some rough country, it’s all mountains and canyons and boulder piles, and it’s rough for adults, let alone for 2-year-old kids,” Dunton said. “He did a remarkable job to go 7 miles like he did.” …
Dunton said of Buford, “He loves kids, and I imagine he wouldn’t leave him once he’d found him.”
And hat tip for commenter “sdferr” on this one:
A dog abducted from Kibbutz Nir Oz during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught was found in southern Gaza last week by Israeli ground forces.
Billy belongs to Rachel Dancyg, the divorcee of Alex Dancyg who was taken hostage and killed in captivity. Rachel’s brother Itzik Elgarat was also abducted from the kibbutz and murdered in Gaza.
Aviad Shapira, a reservist who has served more than 300 days in Gaza since the start of the war, told Channel 12 that Billy ran into his arms when his unit was operating in Rafah. He proceeded to take care of the dog for four days and insisted that he be allowed to take her back with him to Israel.
The dog – a real cutie; see photos at the link – had a microchip that allowed it to be traced to its owner. Not only is the story heartwarming, but interesting because the Hamas terrorists killed many Israeli dogs during October 7 but not this one (go to that link I just gave for some heartbreaking stories of the dogs who were killed on October 7).
I have long had a fondness for Cavalier King Charles spaniels.
And then there’s Mary Queen of Scots’ small dog – perhaps a spaniel or terrier – who accompanied her to the very end:
Mary was taken prisoner in England in 1568, and was held for 19 years. She was allowed to keep dogs throughout her captivity.
One eyewitness account tells of her tiny dog that had hidden within the folds of her skirt on the day of her execution. Of the event, Robert Wingfield wrote:
“Then one of the executioners, pulling off part of her dress, espied her little dog, which was under her clothes, which could not be gotten forth but by force, and afterwards would not depart from her dead corpse, but came and laid between her head and shoulders (a thing diligently noted:) the dog being imbrued with her blood, was carried away and washed, as all things else were that had any blood, except those things that were burned.”
Wingfield’s account does not clarify the color or type of dog that wouldn’t leave Mary’s side. And many tales have grown up around this little detail of Mary’s death. Some had said it was a white dog, others say it was black. Some say it was a Skye Terrier. Although some professional dog breeders claim that the Skye Terrier didn’t come into existence until the 19th century, leaving people to believe that perhaps it was a Scottish Terrier that was so devoted to her.
I hadn’t heard Buford’s great story, so here’s thirty cheers for Buford, atsa good boy hero-dog.
I have a Great Pyrenees, named Lilyana, just like Buford. Tonight, she shall have a grilled cheese sandwich, to honor her Great Pyreneeshood. She would most assuredly do the same for a lost child.
Great dog story. Lots of ways it could have been tragic, ~ 100.
Kingman, Az, on Route 66, just before Barstow in the Mohave desert, as well as the song. In the Chuck Berry version, he wrongly says Barstow like wow, rather than toe. I was 4, and flew with sister & Granny, while Dad & JoMa drove from Chicago to LA. More than two thousand miles all the way. They got divorced in 61-62.
Kingman has lots more vegetation, but is still really dry. 2 yr old toddler easily could have died.
It’s good to be empathic with those suffering some tragedy, or near miss, like this.
As I’ve mentioned before, my wife and I have had dogs in our marriage for over 40 years. We have 3 now, Icelandic Sheepdogs,( https://guildofshepherdsandcollies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Icelandic-Sheepdog-Jackie-Brown.jpg). My wife and her sister were breeders of this very rare Viking breed, and now are involved in rescue for the breed.
As AmyJo, of Chicks on the Right, often says, “dogs are angels among us, and we do not deserve them.”
@ physicsguy > “dogs are angels among us, and we do not deserve them.”
Perhaps we should add to Neo’s list of dubious heroes of the Left the group that wants us to eliminate dogs to save the planet from climate change.
Maybe that will open eyes among their supporters, in ways that killing people doesn’t seem to have done.
The most chilling and sad short story I’ve ever read was “The Last of the Winnebagos” a world where a mutated parvo virus killed all the dogs. Connie Willis is a very gifted writer.
I believe that dogs can make us better people. I’ve seen it happen.
A JFM > “Connie Willis is a very gifted writer.”
She is indeed, and I have read and loved everything she wrote.
BUT she is also among the clueless Democrats who believe everyone who reads their books shares their political principles.
I was at a book-signing reception for her in our Denver suburb library around 2009 (ages ago now!) and she made a derogatory comment or two about President Bush*, obviously expecting confirmation from the audience, which she got, except for my family, which sat in jaw-dropping stupor at the arrogant effrontery of her assumption.
I suppose that no ever had ever objected to such partisan remarks (it was Denver-adjacent, and she has lived in Colorado most of her adult life), but that had never happened to me before.
And we conservatives are far too polite to make a ruckus about being disrespected and having our feelings hurt.
I still read her books, but I don’t buy them anymore.
*In re Dubya, at the time I supported him and disagreed with her opinions; after the Bush family decided they preferred Biden and the Democrats to Trump and the MAGA movement, I withdrew my allegiance.
Re: Connie Willis
AesopFan:
How sad. I liked her too. In particular “To Say Nothing of the Dog,” which won the 1999 Hugo Award and fits with the current topic.
The title is a call-out to the well-known Jerome K. Jerome book, “Three Men in a Boat” (1889).
physicsguy
I doubt that AmyJo had ever met a French Bulldog. My experience–very combative towards other dogs.
@ huxley > I have also read the Jerome book, “Three Men in a Boat” and it is as funny as the Willis book.
She writes a lot of both subtle and nearly-slapstick humor, which is what got my attention before I started reading her more serious tomes.
This is one of my favorites, a clear-headed view of social censorship.
I haven’t kept up with her political views, but I wonder if she endorses the “anything is fair in Getting Hitler-Trump” or if she has had second thoughts about the Democrats going so far left since 1988, like a number of other erstwhile liberals.
The short story itself is better than the review, of course.
http://www.troynovant.com/Atalanta/Bookcase-S/Willis-Connie/Ado.html
You figure domesticating dogs from wolves in, maybe, ten thousand generations. It would be a pretty harsh culling. Except for those which didn’t buy the program and ran off.
You can tell from how the puppy plays with the two-year old whether it’s a keeper.
Saw one documentary which presumes dogs have a need, maybe a dopamine hit, to be around humans.
So, except for the war dogs, we have bred “angels”.