Posted on 05/14/2005 10:52:07 AM PDT by kingattax
WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. May 13, 2005 — A border collie and golden retriever mix from Missouri has won the National Hero Dog award for alerting her owner that her husband was pinned underneath a tractor.
Eight-year-old Shannon, who lives on an 80-acre farm in Washington, Mo., accepted the 23rd annual National Hero Dog award Friday with her owners Ted and Peggy Mandry.
The award does not honor trained rescue dogs but "a companion animal that's well-treated and has bonded with the family, so they somehow know what to do and step up to the plate when there's trouble," said Madeline Bernstein, president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Los Angeles.
Shannon caught media attention last June when firefighters credited her for saving Ted Mandry's life.
Mandry was unloading debris about a quarter-mile from his house when a parked tractor popped out of gear, rolled down a ravine and toppled into a 10-foot deep gully. The tractor's front end loader trapped Mandry's right leg.
"I was calling for help and whistling for two hours, but no one knew where I was," he said. Peggy Mandry, who thought her husband was out mowing hay, stepped out for a while and Shannon was locked inside the house.
When she returned, Shannon was howling and scratching at the door.
Shannon, a border collie and golden retriever mix from Missouri, is photographed with her owner, Ted Mandry, Friday, May 13, 2005, after she was presented with the National Hero Dog award in Woodland Hills, Calif. Shannon won the award for alerting Mandry's wife, Peggy, last June when he became pinned underneath a tractor. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Daily News, Tina Burch)
(Excerpt) Read more at davesdaily.com ...
Man's Best Friend(Beer is Next)!
This dog has more character than any member of Congress.
Arf!
Have cats ever done anything like this?
My thougths exactly. There are no Police cats, bomb&drug sniffing cats, or cats to assist the blind. I wonder why that is.
There used to be a program on Animal Planet hosted by Alan Thicke called Animal Heros -- or something like that. I remember a cat that saved her family from fire by waking up the owner, although no cat of mine has ever showed such character!
Don't guess we're allowed to stretch that in an analogy to people, countries, etc..are we? /sarcasm off
Sorry to all those cat lovers in Freeperland, but cats are about as smart as a bag of rocks.
***Have cats ever done anything like this?***
My little kitty rescued members of our family on several occasions, the most memorable of which was when my husband got cornered in our fenced-in yard by a dog the size of a small horse. The little, faithful cat hissed at the dog and aimed straight at him. She chased the dog all over the yard, and finally out of it. We had her for twenty years and I will always miss her. (She had a great sense of humor, too.)
We had a cat once by the name of Coyote. One morning I was in the bathroom getting ready to go to work. The door was open and Coyote kept coming and meowing in an agitated manner. Then he would walk away, look back to see if I was following. I couldn't figure out what he wanted so I followed him. He stopped outside the kitchen where a kitchen towel was on fire near where I was boiling water for coffee. Coyote helped by preventing a fire. He was an intelligent cat.
Yep, “Mo. Dog” was just irresistible.
Well, I do try my best, doll. 
You have taken in cats that were beloved pets of someone else. Cats sometimes do not adjust well to new environments and new owners. It takes patience and love. I have two cats, each having belonged to two of my daughters. They are old now and have grown used to me. They come to me for attention and to be fed. They are loving, but not like the cats that I raised from kittens.
However, cats are very intelligent animals. The eldest cat, who is 16 years old, has decided that my 80 pound dog, who is 3 1/2, is not going to hurt her, and is therefore not going to keep her from doing the things she wants to do. She faces him down and will chase him out of the room if he disturbs her. She is right, too. Harm would never hurt her. He would only hurt someone who is a threat to me.
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