10 Of The Most Heroic Dogs; What Did They Do?

Discover 10 of the most heroic dogs.

Top 10 Heroic Dog Stories from Real-Life

Not all heroes wear capes or walk on two legs. Man’s best friend has been performing heroics on TV and in films for years. However, there are dozens of examples of dogs saving the day in real life. Some will not receive any worldwide praise or bravery awards, but this doesn’t take away from the heroic deeds. Below, in no particular order, are 10 examples taken from countless examples of man’s (or woman’s) best friend saving the day.

Most Heroic Dogs

Hero dogs come in all shapes and sizes

Hero Dog Number 1: Maya

Hero Dog of the Year 2008.  Maya, a usually calm and quiet 5-year old pit bull, came to the rescue of Angela (her owner) after she returned home from a birthday party. An intruder had followed her. When Angela opened her front door, the man pushed her in, slamming the door behind them. He started strangling her. Angela managed to scream, and Maya came to the rescue, biting the attacker on the arm. The attacker fled but was caught months later due to a trace of blood that was left on Maya’s face.


Hero Dog Number 2: Peanut

Peanut hadn’t had the best of starts in the world and was a badly abused dog. His new owners had adopted him from a rescue center in Michigan. One St. Patrick’s Day, Peanut was behaving oddly and was barking all over the house, acting like he wanted to go out. Eventually he was let outside, where he dragged his owner through a field. They found a naked, shivering three-year-old child. The child was wrapped up warmly, and the authorities were called. Peanut must have either heard the little girl’s distress, or smelled her in the distance.

Peanut the hero

Hero Dog Number 3: Eve

Eve’s owner was on her way to an antiques fair when her vehicle caught fire. Eve struggled to escape as she is paraplegic, and she became disorientated by the developing smoke. Luckily, Eve was alert to the danger and dragged her owner (Kathie Vaughn) from the vehicle and into a ditch. Moments later, the vehicle exploded.
‘This could have ended very differently if Eve hadn’t responded so quickly,’ reports Daniel Richard, a pet blogger at Writinity and Draftbeyond.  ‘Kathie being unable to assemble her wheelchair quickly was a huge problem.’


Hero Dog Number 4: Max

Max literally took a bullet for his owner Osmar. Osmar was parking his car when 2 robbers tried to take his keys. They began shooting at him when he refused to hand them over. When his owner was shot, Max attacked the robbers causing one of them to make a run for it. The second opened fire on Max and hit him in the chest and leg. His heroic act didn’t cost him his life – thankfully he made a full recovery!


Hero Dog Number 5: Joe

A David and Goliath tale from the animal kingdom. Joe’s owner, Deborah, was recovering from a car accident and had left the front door of her house open. A 100 lb. black bear found its way into the house, found Joe’s dog bowl, and started eating Joe’s dog food. Joe the Yorkshire Terrier was not impressed, and barked, hounded and nipped at the bear until it ran away.


Hero Dog Number 6: Paris

A slightly different form of hero but well worth including in the list. Whenever Paris goes for a walk around Cornwall, she picks up bottles and cans and pops them into recycling bins.
‘What is remarkable is that no one has trained her to do this,’ reports Sophie Christine, a lifestyle writer at Research Papers UK.  ‘If only more people followed suit, we would have cleaner streets.’


Hero Dog Number 7: Sergeant Stubby

A military dog from World War One.  Stubby was a stray dog who was adopted as a military mascot due to him wandering a Yale campus where soldiers were trained.  Stubby was smuggled onto the front line and warned of poisonous gases.  He also found wounded soldiers.


Hero Dog Number 8: Roselle

Roselle was a Labrador Retriever guide dog for her blind owner Michael Hingson. Michael worked in Tower One of the World Trade Center. On September 11th, 2001, the tower was hit by a plane, and chaos ensued. Michael grabbed Roselle’s harness, and said “Lead on”, the command to take him out of the office.

Roselle took him to the stairwell, and started guiding him down the steps. Despite numerous interruptions and disruptions on the journey down, Michael was led to safety through smoke and debri,  down over 1400 steps. It took 45 minutes to get down to the lobby, and another 15 minutes to exit the building, just moments before the tower collapsed. Roselle sensed the danger, and guided Michael into a side street that was protected from the worst of the collapse debris.


Hero Dog Number 9: Killian

Killian’s owners used a babysitter for their 7-month-old baby.  Killian would growl at the babysitter which made the family suspicious. One evening they hid a phone and expected to hear the babysitter being horrible to Killian. What they discovered was equally terrible. The babysitter was shouting at and slapping their baby. The babysitter was never allowed to babysit anywhere ever again.


Hero Dog Number 10: Duke

Duke saves his owners life every day with his sense of smell. Duke is trained to sniff out peanuts in any form. Dust, oils, and butter can all be fatal to his owner.  If Duke detects some, he sits firmly in the way and will not allow his owner to come into contact.

People the world over owe their lives to their dogs, and it is important that they are remembered and celebrated.


Jenny Williams is an up-and-coming business analyst and creative writer at Thesis Writing Service and Lucky Assignments Liverpool. She also finds time to write for Gumessays.com service blog.

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