A day to honour the dogs who went above and beyond to LITERALLY save their humans!

Purina Canada Animal Hall of Fame 2019

It was an emotional and inspirational day at the Purina Canada Animal Hall of Fame inductee ceremony.

Tucker, Rosco and Shelby – 2019 Animal Hall of Fame Recipients

This was my first time attending the Purina Animal Hall of Fame Award ceremony. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew I was in trouble the minute they handed out packages of tissues to all in attendance. You could say I get a tad emotional when it comes to animals and pets. But add to that, stories of the brave acts these dogs accomplished, the lives of the families and people they saved, well let’s just say, it’s a good thing there were plenty of tissues to go round.

In attendance were three very special dogs. Tucker, Rosco, and Shelby. All in attendance to receive their well deserved award and be inducted to the Purina Animal Hall of Fame.

Achievements and Bravery

Dog Heroes

At the start of the ceremony, stories were shared of these dog’s achievements, and why they had been selected as this year’s recipients for the Animal Hall of Fame. Each dog went above and beyond, some, even putting their own lives at risk to protect their owners. But each dog did so purely out of love and the instinct to protect their humans and families.

Below are the stories of these three heroic dogs. Three dogs I’m sure everyone can agree upon, are not only deserving of the honour to be inducted to the 2019 Purina Animal Hall of Fame, but are truly Pet Heroes!

Tucker

Tucker- Alerted family of fire in house, saving all inside.

Tucker is a 6 year old Shepherd Rottweiler mix from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.

It was Tuckers persistence, unusual behaviour of barking, pacing, whining and pawing at the bed of his owners Rachel and Jason to wake and alert them something was wrong. When Jason opened the door, he was to find that the room was filled with light and all they could see was a wall of fire. Fire alarms had not gone off because there was no smoke in the house, as it had bellowed directly outside.

The couple knew they had to get out of the house right away, so Jason got one son out of his own bedroom, Rachel grabbed their other son, and they planned to all meet outside with Tucker.

Once outside, the family watched in horror as their entire house was engulfed in flames. That night, the family lost everything as the fire destroyed their home.

Thanks to Tucker’s life saving instincts, and ability to communicate with his owners, they all got out alive that night.

Rosco

Rosco – with his assistance, Bryan was able to get the medical assistance he urgently required

Rosco is a three year old Shepherd mixed breed from Calgary, Alberta.

Brittany and her family decided to take a day trip. Her father Bryan was not feeling well that day and decided not to join them, so Brittany decided to leave Rosco home with her father to keep him company.

While Bryan was laying in bed watching a football game, he needed to get up to use the washroom. As he tired to get up he realized he wasn’t able to. Attempting to roll out of bed, Bryan fell onto the floor, the left side of his body was numb and he realized he was having a stroke. Unable to call for help, Bryan used his right foot to tap on the floor and get Rosco’s attention.

Rosco heard the tapping and came to the bedroom to find Bryan. Bryan was able to grab hold of Rosco’s collar with his right hand. Rosco swung Bryan around, allowing him to reach a bracket on the side of the bed, which he used to prop himself up, grab the phone and call 911.

Bryan grabbed onto Rosco’s collar once again and let Rosco pull him down the hall to the front door.

The paramedics arrived within minutes and took Bryan to the hospital to undergo emergency surgery.

Shelby

Shelby – Put herself in harms way to protect and save Louise from a bear attack

Shelby is a 13 year old, German Shepherd and Chesapeake Bay Retriever rescue from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Louise and Shelby went for a walk along the trails that ran through her property. It wasn’t long before Louise noticed three black bear cubs off the trail. Suddenly, the mother bear appeared and charged toward Louise. Shelby ran between her owner and the bear and stood her ground to protect Louise. The bear slammed into Shelby, and both animals rolled around on the ground before disappearing into some bushes, still fighting. All Louise could hear were shrieks from Shelby.

Louise’s husband Andy received a call from a neighbour, warning him a bear was sighted. Andy went out to warn Louise only to hear screaming, believing it was Louise who had been attacked by the bear. But then it fell silent.

Believing that the bear had killed Shelby, Louise and Andy started to make their way back toward the house where it was safe. But before they got too far, they saw Shelby emerging from the bushes, but barely able to walk. The extensive inquires Shelby had endured in the bear attack were visible on her body, and they immediately rushed Shelby to the nearby Animal Hospital for emergency surgery.

Over the next four months Shelby had several operations, tubes inserted into her wounds for draining, and endured many physiotherapy sessions to get her back to a stable condition.

Louise knows that without Shelby’s courageous act and devotion, she might not have lived to share Shelby’s heroic story.

The Human Animal Bond

These dogs and their stories of bravery and heroic efforts to save the humans in their lives are proof of the strong human animal bond.

Each and every one of them are well deserving of the Animal Hall of Fame award.

Remember those tissues I told you about earlier? Lets just say they were put to good use when listening to Shelby’s story, and even more so, having the privilege to see Shelby walk down the red carpet, assisted by the woman she saved, Louise, and her husband Andy, so Shelby could receive her well deserved award.