1. In 1995, after his owners were killed in a car crash, this Russian dog refused to leave the site of the accident. Despite attempts to adopt him, he would always return to the site, waiting for his owners until his death in 2002.
3. In New Zealand, a nine-year-old Jack Russell terrier named George died from injuries after saving a group of school children from being mauled by two pit bulls.
4. In 2006, a beagle called 911 from a cell phone and saved her owner's life after he suffered a seizure and collapsed.
5. In August 1923, Frank and Elizabeth Brazier, from Silverton, Oregon, drove east to visit relatives. They took their 2-year-old collie, Bobbie, along for the ride. When they reached the town of Wolcott, Indiana, Bobbie saw a pack of dogs and ran after them. That was the last time the Braziers saw Bobbie. Even though they spent days looking for their dog, they lost hope and headed back home. Six months later, Bobbie somehow made his way back to Silverton. Bobbie had traveled approximately 3,000 miles, crossing the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains during the wintertime, to reunite with his owners. His eyes were swollen, his legs were gashed, and his toe pads were worn, but he made it home.
6. Storm, an English golden retriever, was walking with his owner, Mark Freely, along the Long Island Sound when he spotted a fawn drowning in the water. Storm plunged into the water, grabbed the baby deer by the neck, and swam to shore. Storm nudged and pawed the fawn until she started moving on her own.
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When animal rescue arrived at the scene, the frightened baby deer went back into the water and had to be rescued a second time.
7. In 2012, Christine Spain collapsed onto some train tracks while going on a late-night stroll. At that moment, a freight train was quickly approaching. Christine's pit bull Lilly sprung into action and used her teeth to pull her owner off the tracks. Lilly lost her front leg in the process, but despite her injuries, she and her owner both survived.
8. Peter and Betty Lee were sailing near the Caribbean when they were attacked by five pirates. Their dog Kankuntu did his best to fight them off, aggressively biting the intruders. He was stabbed, shot, and left for dead. Kankuntu and his owners all survived.
9. Jasmine, a greyhound, was a rescue dog who lived in a wildlife sanctuary in the UK. She was found as a young pup, locked in an abandoned shed. After she made her recovery, she stayed at the sanctuary and "mothered sanctuary residents back to health." Among the residents were puppies, foxes, fawns, badgers, chicks, guinea pigs, rabbits, and even a goose. She died in 2011.
10. Around 1860, Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs living in San Francisco. Not only were they recognized for their superb rat-killing skills (one time disposing of 85 rats in 20 minutes), but their inseparable friendship garnered the respect of fellow San Franciscans. The board of supervisors exempted the duo from a stray dog ordinance that allowed unclaimed dogs to be euthanized. Lazarus died in 1863 after being poisoned by a man, who claimed the stray dog had bitten his son. Bummer died in 1865, two months after a drunk kicked him down some stairs. Mark Twain reported Bummer's death for the Californian on Nov. 11, 1865.
11. Laika was a 2-year-old stray, roaming the streets of Moscow, when she was chosen to be the occupant of Sputnik 2, the Soviet spaceship that launched Nov. 2, 1957. Dr. Vladimir Yazdovsky, one of the scientists involved in the launch, described Laika as "quiet and charming." Before the launch, he took Laika home to play with his kids. He wrote about the experience, "I wanted to do something nice for her. She had so little time left to live." Laika died within hours of reaching orbit, but paved the way for human space travel.
12. Duke, an 11-year-old Great Pyrenees, successfully won his fourth-term bid for mayor of Cormorant, Minnesota. Duke won his first mayoral race back in 2014 by a large majority of 12 votes. In 2016, he won the mayoral race for a third time by a landslide, but there was some drama: One vote went to his girlfriend, Lassie.
