Angie Prime of Trail is convinced she’s lucky to be alive — because of her dog Vicious.
“Definitely,” Prime confirmed Monday from Toronto, where Vicious was one of four dogs inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame at the 45th annual celebration of courageous behavior.
Vicious, a Border Collie/Labrador cross, fended off a cougar that came through some open sliding patio doors into Prime’s living room one hot August evening last year.
Prime was relaxing with Vicious, who was 11 years old at the time, and two 12-week-old puppies that had been acquired to keep Vicious company.
“We were just going to go outside for our last bathroom break of the night,” recalled Prime, 36.
“Something caught my eye and a cougar was coming into the living room,” she said. “I screamed and put my hands up. The cougar jumped on me and Vicious jumped up and got it off me.
“It was so fast. It only put one good paw on me. It was over before it began because Vicious was so fast into action.”
Even though Vicious was fast, Prime still suffered several punctures and bruising on her thigh from the cougar’s attack.
Prime praised her mid-sized dog, which only weighs about 19 kilograms. “She did exactly what you hope if anything was to happen,” said Prime.
The cougar was later found and euthanized. It was emaciated and apparently seeking easy prey.
Despite her reaction to the cougar, Vicious isn’t normally, well, vicious.
“She’s actually pretty calm, for the most part,” said Prime.
Her husband gave the dog her name when it was a puppy and herding the way a Border Collie invariably does.
Another of the canines honored Monday was former Vancouver police dog Teak, recognized as service dog of the year.
Teak responded to an armed robbery Jan. 11 with his partner Const. Derrick Gibson. The suspect ran off to a area busy with shoppers and the eight-year-old German shepherd pulled him down, but was slashed on the neck several times with a knife.
Teak required two surgeries but has now completely healed. Although he could have continued to work, the decision was made to retire Teak, who’s now happily living in the Fraser Valley as the Gibson family pet.
The other two Hall of Fame inductees were Bella from Milton, N.S., and Snickers of Oshawa, Ont.
Bella, a Bernese Mountain Dog, pulled Chris Laroque out of their burning home last November.
Snickers got help for his owner, who was lying unconscious as a result of an illness. His story is particularly amazing.
Police responded to a call last March about Snickers, a four-year-old Border Collie/Pointer cross that was barking and blocking some residents from leaving for work.
The residents were new to the neighborhood but their daughter thought the dog lived next door. The officers went there and got no response, but peered through the window and saw Snickers’ owner Greg Gould lying unconscious on the floor.
Gould suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
When the officers broke into the home they found Snickers had thrown himself repeatedly against a screen door to trigger its release.
Paramedics were called and Gould’s life was saved.
~ Courtesy of The Province
Tags: courageous dog behavior, courageous dogs, Dog Behavior, dog hero, dog honors, Hall of Fame, Police Dog, Purina Animal Hall of Fame
