Our dogs are loyal to the very end… and sometimes that means sacrificing their lives for their loved ones.
According to MSN, Pete was a 14-year-old English Setter who was rescued a year and a half ago by his humans, Stephen Parisi and Cathi Henn. The couple own Me & My Shadow Pets, a dog walking and sitting business, located in Greenwood Lake, New York.
Recently, the couple were taking a hike along with Pete and their doggy clients when something terrifying happened: they encountered a black bear. They recounted the heroic story on the company Instagram page, and it reads:
“Below is an account from my husband of yesterdays pack walk.’Today we lost our brave, old man Pete. The dogs surprised a black bear just off the trail while we were hiking this morning. It must not have heard or smelled us with the pouring rain.
It felt threatened and turned around. Pete stepped up and held off the bear until I could get the other dogs to safety. Once I was sure they were safe, I went back and scared the bear off, but Pete was gravely injured. I was able to get him back down to the main trail and, thanks to Cathi and Kate, we were able to get him in a car and to the hospital pretty quickly.
He held on like a real trooper the whole time, and he was never alone in his pain. The x-rays revealed some pretty bad spinal damage that would mean he could never walk again, if he survived all the surgeries (not a certain thing at his age). We decided it was best to let him go this afternoon. Run free Pete, you no longer have all those aches and pains of old age. You had a great 18 months with us running the days away like you loved.'”
Thanks to Pete, everyone else was okay, but the loss of him was a tragedy to his family. While they are heartbroken, they credit their brave pup to saving all their lives.
“Please light a candle for Pete and remember that fostering and rescuing a dog can sometimes save you. Senior dogs have so much to give. Love you Petey. Save me some cheese for when we see each other again. ❤️💔❤️”
(h/t: MSN)
