Dog survives one month after house fire

It was nearly one month after a fire destroyed the multi-unit building.

Acevedo hadn’t seen her dog Lola since the fire on February 23. But, while returning to pick up some belongings Monday, she made a stunning find.

“We thought it was raccoon or something in the house,” Acevedo said.

But she soon figured out, that scratching sound was coming from Lola, her long-haired Dachshund.

Somehow, Lola survived not only the fire, but four weeks that followed, while locked inside that abandoned home.

Doctors think she managed by drinking toilet water and eating scraps she found around the burned-out house.

“She probably was eating something in there,” said Dr. Megan Whelan, who has been treating Lola. “There’s some material on her x-rays, mineral-like material. So, she might have been getting into something in the house.”

That stretch included several nights of sub-freezing temperatures.

Acevedo immediately took the pup to Angell Animal Medical Center, where doctors went to work.

“Lola was brought to (us) last night and is currently being cared for in our Emergency/Critical Care Unit,” said MSPCA-Angell spokesman Brian Adams. “The veterinary team is performing several tests today to uncover the extent of her injuries. Lola remains upbeat given her ordeal.”

As of Tuesday, the dog appeared to be recovering. She was expected to spend one more night in the hospital before heading home.

Acevedo was just overjoyed to have her pup back. “I’m never going to tell her no ever again. You want a treat? Here you go. You want to go out? Yes, sure. I’ll go out with you right now.”

Puppy survives euthanization

It's a miracle! A three-month-old puppy abandoned in Oklahoma that was put in a trash bin after being declared dead by a vet is alive . . . and looking for a new home.

The puppy was left outside a dog shelter in Sulphur, Okla., with the rest of his litter. They were sick when they were found, so a vet at the shelter decided to euthanize them.

The procedures were performed, and then the puppies were put in a trash bin outside the shelter.

But when animal control officer Scott Prall took a peek inside the container the next morning, one puppy was very much alive. "He was just as healthy as could be," Prall told Oklahoma News 9.

The surviving puppy was named "WALL-E," after the garbage-collecting robot in the Disney-Pixar animated movie of the same name. In the movie, the lovable WALL-E was the last of his kind.

After the shock discovery, vet Amanda Kloski took the puppy in temporarily. When a woman in Pennsylvania heard WALL-E's incredible story, she wrote about him on Facebook, prompting people from all over the U.S. to call the veterinary clinic and offer him a home.

The clinic was set to look at offers from all the prospective owners Wednesday and make a decision about his new home.

"He needs a really special home because he's really special," Kloski said.

Parents of Fallen U.S. Soldier Adopt Son's Bomb-Sniffing Dog

The parents of a fallen U.S. soldier are adopting the dog that the military says loyally rushed to the Marine’s aid when he was killed in Afghanistan.

Darrell and Kathy Rusk picked up the dog, Eli, on Thursday. They asked the military if they could adopt the four-year-old black Labrador after their son was fatally shot in December during a gun battle with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Twenty-year-old Pfc. Colton Rusk was the handler for Eli, who was trained to sniff out explosives. The military discharged Eli from service following Rusk’s death.

Military officials say Eli is only the second military dog to be adopted by the family of a slain handler.

The Rusks picked up the dog at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, the training headquarters for all dogs used by the U.S. military. They said they wanted to adopt Eli because their son talked about him constantly, making him seem like part of the family.

Poetry: A Stump for a Tail

You can't buy loyalty, they say

I bought it though, the other day;

You can't buy friendship, tried and true,

Well just the same, I bought that too.

I made my bid, and on the spot

Bought love and faith and a whole job lot

Of happiness, so all in all

The purchase price was pretty small.

I bought a single trusting heart,

That gave devotion from the start.

If you think these things are not for sale,

Buy a brown-eyed puppy with a stump for a tail.

--- author unknown ---