Hero Dog Geo Throws Himself in Front of a Truck to Save a Boy

Geo suffered a shattered leg and a fractured spine during the accident in England, but he'll recover.

You're acquainted with Kabang, the hero dog of the Philippines, who pushed two children out of the way of a speeding motorcycle and took the impact herself, losing her snout in the process. (She is currently being cared for at UC Davis.) Another hero dog recently did something remarkably similar -- and was just as gravely hurt in the process. 

In Clacton, England, Carly Riley was out for a walk with her sons -- Charlie (10), Josh (7), and Ben (4) -- and their dog, Geo, a German Shepherd-Collie mix. They were waiting to cross the road at a light. They heard a roar and saw a truck jump the curb. 

“We were waiting to cross the road, when I just heard a car going really fast," said Carly, according to the Sun. “Then a pick-up truck mounted the [curb]."

The pick-up barreled towards them -- specifically, right toward 10-year-old Charlie. It all happened too fast; Carly was stunned and couldn't react.

But Geo the dog could. He leapt up and pushed the boy out of the way, taking the full force of the impact himself. But Charlie was safe.

"Geo must have sensed it as he leapt on Charlie and took him out of the way. It could have wiped us all out," Cary told iTV.com. "If it wasn't for Geo I am 100 percent sure it would've been Charlie."   

The truck then hit the dog again, unbelievably, and drove off. Geo suffered from a shattered leg and fractured back, and he underwent a five-hour surgery on Wednesday. According to the Geo the Hero Facebook page, the leg needed two metal plates to hold it together, and the dog has a serious infection in her back.

The medical costs quickly overwhelmed Carly and her husband, and they've set up a PayPal account to accept donations for Geo's care. Information can be found on the Facebook page, which also provides updates on the dog. 

Geo, incidentally, is only 7 months old. 

“It wasn’t a question of getting him put down, we want him fixed no matter what it costs. He’s family,” Carly told the Sun. "I have no doubt Geo saved Charlie.”

If you'd like to help, please visit Geo the Hero on Facebook.

Via the Sun; photos via Facebook

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Man Could Get 9 Years For Killing Dog in Front of His Kids

Michael Tessmer

As the prosecution tells it, Michael Tessmer, of Oconomowoc, Wis., came home with his two kids in February 2009 and found that their 3-year-old labradoodle had urinated and defecated on the floor. Instead of feeling bad that the dog couldn’t get outside when she needed to go, he kicked her — 10 times — in front of his then 11-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter. The dog died.

It wasn’t until the boy wrote “My dad is a killer,” for an after-school program assignment that the authorities investigated. The defense for Tessmer, now 54, says it was not his intention to kill the dog, and that the dog could actually have died from rat poisoning, which also causes hemorraging. (What a coincidence that would have been!)

The defense also claimed that the boy did not really suffer mental harm from seeing his dog kicked to death. But the prosecution  says the boy could not sleep at night for months after the incident, and had nightmares about it when he did sleep. (And what about the girl? I can find nothing of her in any stories.)

According to WHLB Radio, A jury on Monday found Tessmer guilty of both killing the animal and causing mental harm to a child. He is scheduled to be sentenced on May 9. He faces up to nine years in prison. (Sounds like he has a different set of people looking into his future than the man who threw his neighbor’s dog onto a busy highway near Chicago and got off with a $100 fine…) I’ll keep you posted.

A Labradoodle, like the one who died at the other end of her owner's foot (Photo: Flickr photostream of Estoril)

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