Dog Sacrifices Itself To Save Master From Bear

Dogs are amazing.

[Jason Schildler] said he heard the dog yelping loudly Thursday after dark and went out to see what was happening.

Suddenly, "all I saw was this dark thing lunging at me," Schindler said.

But his dog jumped between the two and was quickly snatched up in the bear's jaw, he said.

"If not for the dog, I wouldn't be standing here," Schindler said.

The bear, estimated at being between 400 and 500 pounds, dragged the dog to his nearby den under a thicket of downed trees.

Schindler said he returned to his house, grabbed a .30-30 rifle, returned to the scene and fired, possibly hitting his target before the bear fled into the woods. He rescued his dog, gushing blood but breathing, and rushed him to the Sparta Veterinary Clinic.

The relationship between dogs and humans is wonderfully strange. Are there any other examples of two entirely different species caring for each other just because they like each other?

Intestinal parasites do not count, nor do cats, for similar reasons.

I guess people might say "horses," but the dog's place is special. Sleeps in the home, even in the owner's bed.

Just an odd thing how two species which look absolutely nothing alike just seem to decide 100,000 years ago that they'd be buddies.

posted by Ace at 10:15 PM

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