Dog that saved sex victim receives an award

Rottweiler dogs often receive bad press. This is usually a result of poor skills by the dog owner. With the right care, attention and training Rottweiler can make great pets. It also now seems that they can be Heroes.

Former rescue dog Jake stopped a sex attacker in his tracks during an incident involving a woman.

Esmahil Adhami, aged 18, was assaulting a 20 year old woman when Jake came to her rescue. As Jake was on one of his constitutional walks a woman's screams were heard in the distance. Jake's owner thought it was just kids messing about but Jake knew differently. Quick as a flash Jake bounded off into the woodland area where the attack was taking place.

The assailant fled with Jake hot on his heels. Jake then stayed close to the woman keeping a vigil. Jake kept circling her in order to protect her until help arrived.

The incident took place in July 2009 near Hershall Common, Coventry. The assialant was caught and has been jailed for four years.

Jake received his award from the RSPCA. He was given a medallion and a bravery award. Suffice to say his owner is as proud as punch.

It's a dog day afternoon as city's smallest and tallest pooches take over Central Park

One is the size of a bagel. The other weighs more than Eli Manning. The tallest and tiniest dogs in the world sized each other up in Central Park Wednesday after making it into the Guinness Book of World Records. Boo Boo, a long-haired female Chihuahua, is just 4 inches tall and weighs only 2 pounds. She went paw-to-paw with Giant George, a 43-inch-tall Great Dane who tips the scales at 245 pounds. "I thought he might want a snack or something, but he was very gentle," Boo Boo's owner Lana Elswick said after meeting Giant George. "Boo Boo was fascinated. She waited a few minutes and then she went over." The tiny Kentucky canine weighed 1 ounce when she was born by Caesarean section in 2006. "The vet said if she lived, it would be a miracle," Elswick said. "She is my miracle." The palm-sized pet eats just a tablespoon of dog food each day, will drink only bottled water and has a sweet tooth. Giant George, meanwhile, scarfs down 110 pounds of dog food each month - the equivalent of 30 Nathan's hot dogs a day. "He would eat twice that if we let him," said owner David Nasser of Tucson, Ariz. "He's great, very playful with tons of energy." George sleeps on a queen-sized mattress at the end of the Nassers' bed and took up three bulkhead seats on the plane to New York. Nasser and his wife, Christie, have a 1-year-old daughter and don't worry about letting George get near her. "He's a gentle giant, and that's the true thing about the Great Danes," he said. BY CHRISTINA BOYLE

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East Carondelet fire kills 13 dogs

Thirteen dogs were killed here on Monday afternoon when a fire destroyed a small home, authorities said.

Rhonda Tutor, the owner of the home, said she raised the dogs — 12 miniature pinschers and one pit bull — because she couldn’t have children.

“I have no babies, I just want my babies,” Tutor said when she arrived at the scene.

Tutor said she was at work when a neighbor called and told her the one-story wood-frame house was on fire.

T.J. Hagedorn, the assistant chief of the Prairie Du Pont Fire Department, said the fire started just after 2 p.m.

He said it took about 30 minutes for firefighters to extinguish the flames.

Hagedorn said fire officials were trying to determine how the fire began.

The home is in the 600 block of Chartrand Road, near East Carondelet, in St. Clair County. Tutor and her husband lived at the home with the dogs, several stray cats and a turtle. The fate of other animals was uncertain.

Tutor, 43, said most of the dogs were in kennels inside the one-story home when the blaze began. Two of the dogs — Dirty, a pit bull, and Zeus, an older miniature pinscher — were loose in the house, Tutor said. 

“They couldn’t escape, they were trapped,” Tutor said.

The dogs ranged in age from puppies to upwards of 12 years old.

Tutor said she was a dog breeder but gave it up because she had a hard time saying goodbye to the dogs.

BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR