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Dog Heroes Sam Murphy
Balto/ Togo In January 1925, Doctors of Nome, Alaska had come upon a bacterial disease called Diphtheria that had an incubation period of one week. The symptoms included a sore throat, fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, and a thick grayish membrane which forms over the tonsils and pharynx causing difficulty breathing and swallowing. Diphtheria can also affect the heart, kidneys, and nervous system. However the nearest antitoxin was about 1000 miles away in Anchorage, Alaska and the bush planes were not deemed safe during such cold weather ( 62 degrees below zero.) The only agreed way to get the serum to Nome was by dog sled. What many people do not know is there was another hero (other than Balto) who was never really recognized, not even in the movie made about this race, which was also the inspiration for the Iditarod. That hero was another sled dog named Togo. The serum left Nenana on January 27, 1925 and, for the next six days, passed from musher to musher. The most treacherous and longest leg of the journey was tackled by Togo’s team and from there it was then passed to Balto’s team, which is why all the credit was given to Balto because it was his team that had arrived ahead of schedule with the life saving serum. It is unknown exactly what kind of dog Balto was because he was a mutt but whatever kind of dog he was, he was important enough for the city of New York to build a bronze statue of him in Central Park. Balto died in 1933 and his remains, along with Togo’s, are now on display at museums. The movie of this event was called ‘Balto’ and was released in 1955.
Togo – most traveled dog in Alaska – champion trophy winner in Nome – Record of longest and fastest run in Serum Drive
Barry Barry was a St. Bernard who worked in the mountains of Switzerland near a monastery in Great St. Bernard pass. As a rescue dog, the St. Bernard using his excellent sense of smell would find people buried under many inches of snow. It was recorded that during his 12 years at the monastery Barry saved the lives of 41 people who would have otherwise froze to death. One story is that Barry found a small child and began to lick the boy’s face to keep the child awake and warm while doing what he was trained to do -bark so the monks could find them. It began to snow so hard that the monks could not climb the steep cliff to reach them and so even though Barry was not trained to do so, he carried the boy on his back down the mountain to the safety of the monks. Unfortunately, as Barry was trying to save the life of the 42nd person, he lost his life. After digging the unconscious man out of the snow Barry stretched his body over top of the man to keep him warm. When the man came to, in a daze he saw what looked like a wolf getting ready to eat him and he plunged a dagger into Barry’s side. Without even a whimper Barry retreated quickly to his master’s cabin where he bled to death on the door step. Barry has a tombstone which was placed on his ‘grave’ stating all of his accomplishments. I say ‘grave’ because he was not buried. Barry’s remains are on display in a museum.
Chips Chips the war dog was a Shepherd mix that was donated to the war effort during WWII. Chips served on the front lines guarding tanks in Africa, France, Italy, and Germany. One of the many heroic feats of Chips was when he drug a phone line across an active and dangerous battlefield so his platoon could call for back-up. Even more shockingly, when he was on a beach in Sicily both he and his handler came under fire of hiding enemy troops . . . Chips dove into the enemy ‘bunker’ and within minutes the enemy soldiers came out in surrender. Sadly, Chips was stripped of his silver star and purple heart when dogs were reclassified in the military as ‘equipment.’
Hachik Hachik was a purebred Akita who became famous in Japan because of his loyalty to his owner Eisaburo Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University. Ueno brought Hachik home in 1924. As a small puppy Hachik would walk home everyday with Ueno from the Shibuya Train Station. After a few months, about mid 1924, Hachik became so used to the routine that he would walk himself to the train station everyday where he would sit and wait patiently to meet his owner. In 1925, after Ueno had a stroke at the University and unfortunately died, the professor’s family gave Hachik away. Hachik ran away from his new owner to go home but had no luck in finding the professor. Hachik started to go to the train station every night to meet the evening train waiting hopefully for his owner to come home. He would walk home alone every night and come back to sit at the train station the following day for 11 years ( the rest of his life). Hachik sat there in rain, snow, and heat, waiting for Ueno to come. Students that knew the Professor wrote articles on the Akita which were published and soon gained attention across the world. In 1934 a bronze statue of Hachik was placed outside of the Shibuya Train Station to commemorate the dog's loyalty. Hachik died later in 1935 of heartworm.
Shana On October 12, 2006 in Alden, N.Y., Shana a half wolf, half German Shepherd dog rescued her owners, 81 year old Eve and Norman Fertig, from becoming victims of a violent snow storm. The Fertigs owned and lived on a forest sanctuary. Everyday around 7pm they would go out and feed/ exercise their animals. However, this particular day was not a typical day for the Fertigs. As they were feeding the animals the storm became so violent that it up rooted trees which fell in the pathway the Fertigs needed to get back to their house. Since the Fertigs had not anticipated this event they were not dressed very warmly. They huddled together in an ally to stay out of the wind and out of the way of falling trees. Shana found the Fertigs a few minutes later and began to chew and claw her way through the snow under the fallen tree because the Fertigs could not climb over it. At around 11:30 (2 hours later) Shana had dug her way to the house which is when she turned back to get the Fertigs. Upon returning to the Fertigs Shana grabbed Eve’s jacket sleeve and promptly slung the 86 pound woman on to her back, Norman then took hold of Eve’s ankles and Shana pulled the two home where they arrived at around 2 am. Shana laid down with the Fertigs the whole night to keep them warm (the power being out due to the storm) until the Fire Department came the next day. Shana received the Citizens for Humane Animal Treatment's Hero's Award for bravery. Which is very uncommon because the award is usually given to people.
Sergeant Stubby A stray dog was found on the Yale campus by John Conroy who named him Stubby. When it came time for Conroy to go over seas during WWI, he smuggled Stubby along with him where he stayed for the next 18 months. Stubby's keen sense of smell and good hearing allowed him to alert his unit of poison gas attacks and approaching artillery. He was able to locate and rescue wounded soldiers. He even captured a German spy. Stubby participated in a total of 17 battles, and was even awarded several patches and medals - which he wore on a coat made for him by the women of a French town. Conroy smuggled Stubby back to the U.S. with him where Stubby lived the rest of his life.
