Heroic Old Pit Bull Takes a Bullet for His Owner

"Hold him in your arms. Let him die in your arms," owner's girlfriend told him. But Justin Becker wasn't giving up on his dog.

Kilo, a 12-year-old pit bull, sports an orange head bandage with a red "S" on it. The "S" is for "Superhero," and was added by a veterinary office staffer who thinks the world of the old pitty, who nearly gave his life for his owner.

A man posing as a Federal Express deliverer came to the door of Justin Becker and tried to force his way into his Staten Island apartment. A scuffle ensued, and Becker pushed the home invader to the ground and jammed his body with the door.

Kilo, the brave old superhero pit bull (Photo by Steve White)

What would have happened next is anyone's guess, but Kilo left no room for guessing: He ran and stuck his head out the opening of the door, perhaps to see what he could do to help his distressed owner. Whether the intruder meant to shoot the owner and the dog got in the way, or meant to shoot the dog, we'll probably never know. But Kilo took a bullet in his head at point blank range. The intruder ran off. 

It didn't seem like there was any way the dog, shot so close, could survive. Becker’s girlfriend, Nicole Percoco, told him, "Hold him in your arms. Let him die in your arms." But Becker wasn't giving up on his dog. "I'm not going to let him die," he told her. He rushed him to a nearby veterinary hospital, where it was discovered that the bullet ricocheted off the dog's skull and exited through his neck. The bullet, by some miracle, did not penetrate Kilo's skull.

“This is like, one in a million,” said Dr. Greg Panarello, whose veterinary clinic did surgery on Kilo. “He’s very lucky.”

We sure hope Kilo recovers well. He's 12, with a bullet wound in his head and neck, so he needs a great deal of TLC. Let's send our wishes for a speedy recovery to this very good dog. As one commenter in the NY Post story about this said: I hope he's treated like a king for the rest of his days.

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Remembering Heroic 9/11 Dogs

This weekend marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. While the focus of most media is on the tragic events of that terrible day, Yahoo News ran a poignant slideshow featuring some of the 13 canine members of the Search Dog Foundation who searched for victims for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. These teams offered hope in a world that felt bleak and hopeless — even if all they might find were remains that would help give families closure.

I’m running a few of the photos on the blog, so that as we remember and honor the human rescuers and the thousands of victims of 9/11, we can do the same for these heroic dogs. Head to the Yahoo News page to see the complete slideshow.

In the above photo, border collie Cowboy searches for victims in the rubble of the Twin Towers. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)

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Debra Tosch and her search-and-rescue partner, Abby, searching at the World Trade Center disaster site.

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Erick Robertson comforts his year-old search-and-rescue dog, Porkchop, as he receives intravenous fluids for dehydration after working four days to find victims of the World Trade Center attack.  (AP Photo/Suzanne Plunkett)

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A very calm, brave rescue dog being transported out of the debris of the World Trade Center. (Reuters/HO/U.S. Navy Photo by Journalist First Class Preston Keres)

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