Category: Animal House
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) - They eat together. They sleep together.
They're about the same size and look a bit alike, with similar coloring, although Chloe the 22-pound pug is almost as broad as she's tall and Willow, a Siamese cat, has longer legs and is, well, more willowy.
Sometimes 7-year-old Chloe even deigns to chase and play with Willow or puts up with the 1-year-old feline's rubbing and licking her.
But the bond between the pets of Amanda and Ron Bjelland grew even stronger last Thursday.
The morning began as usual. At about 6:10 a.m., Bjelland walked with her pets to the mailbox to pick up the morning newspaper.
The return to the house ended as usual, with Bjelland and Chloe going in the front door and Willow wandering around back to explore.
But by 6:15 a.m., things began to change.
Chloe started crying at the glass door to the back yard. Bjelland let the 7-year-old dog out onto the deck and continued her morning routine.
But Chloe kept barking and barking, so Bjelland let the dog back inside.
When, after another quarter-hour Chloe still was barking at the door, Bjelland let the pug outside again.
More barking.
So Bjelland went out to see what was causing the ruckus.
Chloe led her owner down the back steps. Willow was nowhere in sight as Bjelland and the dog reached family's koi pond.
The cat had fallen through the ice that covered the 5-by-9-foot fish pond except for a hole in the center kept open to allow gasses to escape from the koi habitat. The cat was churning with her front paws but couldn't escape the frigid 3-foot-deep waters.
Shaking, shivering and meowing, Willow was pulled from the pond, then rushed to the house to be warmed up.
Rabbit tracks were in the snow near the pond. Bjelland suspects that the cat may have been checking out birds or wildlife that frequent the yard and gone onto ice, which gave way beneath her. The owner figures the cat was in the pond for about 20 minutes.
For raising the alarm, Chloe was rewarded with a special bone.
With the warmer weather in recent days, the Bjellands worked to chip away the ice on the pond.
The pets are back to their love-you/maybe-I'll-tolerate-you relationship.
And Chloe?
"She knows she did good," Bjelland said.
Truly a beautiful story. what a little hero. Grandma told me, that when Mom was growing up, they had a dog named King and a cat named Mitchko. King was a German Shephurd and Mitchko was a mutt that Grandma found in the street. One day, Mitchko went missing and so Grandma sent King out to look for her. When they came back, the cat was full of dirt and grime from who knows where. As she watched, Grandma saw King tenderly cleaning Mitchko with his tongue. She thought he was going to hurt her but he just wanted to make sure that she was all clean. Of course, Grandma gave her a bath afterword. From then on, the two animals were inseparable. Everywhere the one went, the other was sure to follow. at times, Mitchko would go out on her own and King wouldn't rest until he found her. Sadly, no one knows what happened to Mitchko. We think she was hit by a car or that someone stole her. King looked for her everywhere but couldn't find her. He was depressed for days on end and was never the same. As a sidenote, since we're talking about amazing animals, Grandma would often send King across the street to get small groceries. She'd tie a bag around his neck and attach some money to it. Everyone knew him, and as soon as he came into the store, they'd greet him, put the groceries in the bag and take the money. Right away, he'd go home and Grandma would take them from him. *smile*
ooo thanks for that!. that's nice.
Wow, those are both cool stories!
LibraLady, do you belong to PetWarmers?
Tiffanitsa, that is amazing about the dog going to the store!
Yeah. He wasn't a guide or service dog or anything, since Grandma can see and all. He just learned these things and loved to do them. *smile*
No, what is pet warmers?
Aww what good stories. I have two labs. One is a yellow and another is a black. The black was my guide dog but I had two retire her.
awww! how cute! I love animal stories like these! That's cool about the dog getting groceries.
Definitely! Same here. What are Pet Warmers?
Awww! Great story! I know this post is old, but I had to at least say something.
Oh, and Eleni, that's too cool about your grandma's dog going to the store for groceries! Gotta love animals. Lol.
Aww that is so cute. What a good dog and glad the kitty was ok. Cool, I want to teach my guide dog to get groceries. LOL
Aww! That was really cuuuute! The purrfect story!
that was a pretty storey. yay: