We really don’t deserve dogs, but at least we can award them for being so wonderful.

This July, a six-month old golden retriever named Todd saved his owner, Paula Godwin, from a rattlesnake bite. He was recently crowned winner of the first ever “Milk-Bone Dog of the Year” award at the 8th Annual Streamy Awards for his heroism… and virality.

There are probably a thousand poems, cookie fortunes, calendar quotes and memes about how we don’t deserve dogs, all of them true, but we can do our best to celebrate them however possible. And so this year, the Streamy Awards, which honors the best in online video and its creators, added a category for dogs, “the Internet’s favorite animal.”

Streamy Awards creator, Drew Baldwin, told Billboard, “The world wouldn’t be the same without dogs, lives are often transformed because of them, and it’s time that we honor all the joy they give to us.”

Although the adorable competition was stiff, this year’s winner was Todd, a dog we told you about here at Life With Dogs back in July when he stepped between his owner and a rattlesnake while out on a hike, nearly losing his life in the process.

Todd braved the snake, and all the medical treatments that followed after being bitten, and his story — naturally — went viral.

He beat out two other contenders for the Streamy: Louboutina, “The Hugging Dog,” who found Internet fame for giving warm hugs to everyone she meets on the streets of New York City, and Pierre, a costume-donning therapy dog who who brings smiles joy to the patients at UCLA’s Mattel Children’s Hospital and travelers at LAX.

Online vote determined the outcome and Todd received a trophy and a customized piece of art from the Streamys for coming out on top.

Todd’s owner, Paula Godwin, first shared their harrowing tale on Facebook just after it happened: “So this morning was up bright and early to go on a hike on seventh street, carefree. It was a beautiful morning, but as we were walking down the hill I literally almost stepped on a mf rattlesnake. But my hero of a puppy Todd saved me. He jumped right in front of my leg where I surely would have got bit. This is what a hero looks like. Please say a little prayer for my sweet hero.”

Little Todd spent 12 hours at the vet where at times it was touch-and-go, but thanks to quick medical action and anti-venom – he made it! Godwin wants to make sure other pets will be able to get the same treatment.

“We are ecstatic because this is the first ever Milk-Bone honor, so everyone is going to remember Todd the hero dog,” she told Billboard. “We were able to start a fundraiser to help other pets, raising money for dogs who can’t afford anti-venom. There’s a lot of people out there who can’t afford the $500 dose and their pets die because of it.”

Check out Todd and all the other finalists here:

If cute dog videos are the pinnacle of adorable on the internet, what happens when you add a baby lion to the equation?

Viral infinity!

Back in 2014, a male lion cub was born at a zoo in Sri Lanka, but sadly, the cub’s mother rejected him. Zookeepers were concerned, of course. They wanted to ensure the baby lion grew strong and felt love while doing so, and since a dog’s love is, arguably, the best love, they decided to try and incorporate him into a newborn family of pups..

At first, his potential new mom was not interested, but, said the dog’s owner, Heshan Mendis, it only took a short time for her maternal instincts to warm her over.

“After five, six hours, the dog changed, and she treated the lion cub as her own pup,” he said. “She licked him and she loves the lion cub more than her pups.”

In the above video, shared by BBC News, Mendis’ sweet dog tenderly nurses the baby lion along with her own biological brood of pups. She did so for three weeks, and the cub was welcomed into the fold by the puppies, too. They all played together like a natural litter and the little lion was a welcome playmate.

Naturally, as the lion grew, he needed to find a more suitable home. He was first relocated to a zoo, and then a sanctuary and today is a beautiful, full grown lion, no longer the tiny furball that Mendis welcomed into his home for a time. The lion, however, never forgot him – and Mendis still visits, and enjoys petting his old friend.

Animal experts say that there are a multitude of reasons why a lioness might reject or abandon a cub. One could be that she doesn’t have enough milk or may favor a stronger cub over another. In rare instances, lions may reject a cub that has been overly handled by humans.

For this once-little lion’s sake, it’s good that a dog mom’s love is so vast, she can share it with other babies, too.

Don’t fly home with leftovers, America! That’s the message out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport this week, after a Homeland Security with a nose for contraband thwarted one incoming passenger’s attempt.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection office says that brave hero Hardy – a beagle whose job title is Agriculture Detector — did just that, hitting on a scent in a traveler from Ecuador’s luggage on October 11. Inside? A 2-pound pig’s head (cooked). Although we’re sure Hardy really deserved a bite, it was nonetheless seized and destroyed.

Pork and pork products from other continents are not permitted into the United States — this, in an effort to avoid introducing foot and mouth disease, classical swine fever and other animal diseases into the domestic population.

CBP Area Port Director Carey Davis hailed Hardy’s work as illustrating “the tremendous expertise of our four-legged K-9 partners in protecting the United States.”

And while the pig’s head may not surprise you…

…some of the things that a dog can detect actually might!

Bacteria: Did you know that since the 1970s, dogs have been employed to detect disease in beehives? This helps beekeepers and other interested parties prevent the germs from spreading and infecting healthy hives. Dogs have made the detection process smoother and faster, inspecting as many hives in 45 minutes as it would take scientists to do in two days.

Diabetes. Yes, really! With their incredible, sensitive noses, dogs can be trained to sense when blood sugar is high or low and alert their diabetic owners to take action. They can even run and fetch an insulin kit.

Cow fertility. You would think the bulls could smell it, too, but dogs can actually detect it sooner. And that’s more important, because most cows are impregnated by artificial insemination. What’s more, bull semen is expensive! So some farmers have taken to using specially trained dogs to sense when their cows are in heat, just to make sure.

Tow truck driver, Martin Hall, Jr. and his family have been receiving lots of love and thanks from the community after helping an elderly man who had fallen and been injured.

But it’s not just Hall who helped the man out. One of his dogs did the job of “flagging” Hall down.

Hall had been heading out to a call in Mariposa, CA, near the town of Coulterville, when he came across the black dog sitting in the middle of the dirt road. A retractable leash was attached to the pup’s collar. Hall caught the whole encounter on video using his phone.

“I found this dog with a leash on it he won’t come to me,” said Hall.

Perplexed, but seemingly aware that something wasn’t quite right, the tow truck driver tried to feed the dog his peanut butter and jelly
sandwich and share his water but he had no luck.

“That sucks this dog doesn’t come to me, dogs likes me sometimes,” said Hall.

Hall was concerned. The dog was out in the middle of nowhere. But he noticed some clues littered in the nearby brush.

“There was a flashlight on the roadway and a trail here,” said Hall.

As Hall continued to investigate, the dog still wasn’t warming up. It lay back down in the middle of the road and wouldn’t budge an inch. It was about this time that Hall heard yelling coming from the nearby woods. He yelled back, then went to check things out.

A short walk from the road and he discovered an elderly man laying in the dirt. Another dog was by his side.

“What’s your dogs name?” Hall asked.

“Chico,” said the man.

Chico had been protecting his owner since the fall. Meanwhile, the other pup had wandered onto the roadway, seemingly waiting for a passerby who might be able to help. The dogs’ owner had fallen down an embankment and broken a hip. He had been lying in the brush for 10 hours before Hall happened upon them all. It was pure luck, too, as Hall had only happened down that particular road by accident.

Help was called. The man was rescued. And while Hall was certainly instrumental in making sure that happened, it was the loyalty of a dog who refused to budge that prompted the action.

Can a dog have a dog? In the city of Manila in the Phillippines, it would seem that not only can a dog have a dog. It can have a seeing-eye dog! And this sweet pair is taking social media by storm, according to Fox 8 Cleveland.

According to their Facebook page, Ginger and Kimchi have been “ambassaDOGS” for three years now.

Kimchi, you see, is a blind spaniel mix who’s believed to be between 9 and 12 years old, and her wonderful friend, Ginger, an 11-year-old golden retriever, serves as her companion and guide.

According to the page, the couple who owns the dogs had planned to adopt Kimchi from CARA Welfare Phillippines several years ago and brought Ginger along to meet this potential sibling. In the past, Ginger had been aggressive with other pups, so they weren’t sure it was going to work out, but the pair hit it off right away.

“We immediately took them out for a walk that turned out to be very pleasant, Ginger even licked him when we stopped for a breather,” the couple said online, “Seems like the dog, whom we later named Kimchi, chose us, and Ginger chose him.”

Kimchi was rescued after being found abandoned. He suffered from many health issues and was almost completely blind.

He lost his sight for good three years ago, but Ginger has been his seeing-eye dog ever since. The couple said that Ginger acquired this role without any formal training and that “Kimchi doesn’t mind being led around, for the most part anyway. They are always paired when we go out, a guide dog, for a blind dog!”

So inspired were they by their dogs’ devotion, and grateful to the rescue that brought the family together, not only do they volunteer for CARA, they have more than 22 companion animals!

In addition to serving as “ambassaDOGS,” both Ginger and Kimchi provide service for the community as well. The two dogs are often invited to provided emotional support to hospital patients, students, and company employees.

Six weeks ago, Army Spc. Alec Alcoser, 22, and his working dog, Alex, were on patrol just outside Bagram Airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan when a young man approached.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, two Afghan and three Czech soldiers stepped between Alcoser and the young Afghan to conduct a search. Alcoser called Alex back, bending down to get a cigarette. Then, a flash. Alex yelped. A firefight erupted. The dog and the soldier stayed together.

“I would yell at him and his ears would twitch, but he wouldn’t look at me,” Alcoser said in the Army Times. He calls San Antonio home. “I think he was in a state of shock. He didn’t growl, he didn’t bark, he didn’t cry. He stayed right there.”

Last week, the pair were reunited at the South Texas Veterans Health Care System’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. Alcoser was emotional. Alex licked his face. The last time they had seen one another they were in Washington, D.C., where both received the Purple Heart.

This time, though, if all goes as planned, the pair will be together for good.

Alcoser was 6.5 months into a nine-month deployment when the suicide bomber attack occurred. On days off, they shared a bed. On duty days, they shared rituals.

“On a day with a mission, we’d wake up, I would give him a doggie treat and I would have some ice cream before we went out, and when we got back, we usually slept,” Alcoser recalled.

“That was a normal day for me and Alex out there,” he said, adding that a taste for sweets was born of his association with troops in special operations forces. “It was kind of their thing to eat a sweet because you never know if that’s going to be your last when you go out.”

The Aug. 5 left Alcoser with shrapnel wounds, broken bones and a mild traumatic brain injury, but doctors say he escaped without any loss in cognitive ability. Alex lost his back left leg. Both are learning how to get around again.

The shrapnel wounds cover about 30 percent of Alcoser’s body, most in his lower extremities. Its emergence is a slow and painful process. Both his arms and legs were broken, among other bones. He uses a cane or a walker. Alex limps sometimes, too.

There are goals to reduce the vet’s dependence on pain meds and in time get him well enough to start work at the Center for the Intrepid at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston.

“They’re estimating about four to six months, and so I’m already a month and almost half in, and I’m already walking, so I think I’m going to beat that time,” he said. “Either way, the doctors say I have a pretty good chance of making a full recovery, and that’s all that matters. I’ve got to get back to my dog. That’s the important part.”

Multiple surgeries over the past several weeks make medical memories hazy. There is lots of rehab in his future. Alex, who is 8 and a half, was trained to detect explosives and corner suspects who try to run and hide, doesn’t realize he’s retired.

He tried to search a car after arriving at Audie Murphy VA Hospital.

“When they’re old and retired, they still don’t know they’re not supposed to work,” said Regina Johnson, a retired Army dog handler who works in the Defense Department’s DoD Military Working Dog Breeding Program at Lackland.

Alcoser is not daunted by the frustrations of learning to walk again. He has wife, Misty, and an infant son. His mother, who lives in Houston, drives to the hospital to visit every weekend. In time, he’d like to return to his post at Fort Drum, New York. He’d like to be a Sergeant one day.

He thinks on fallen brothers often. The Afghans and Czechs took the worst of what the suicide bomber brought. Though the former survived, the Czechs were killed instantly.

“There’s no point in being mad or sad or anything like that. I’ve got to live through the people who died for me, so they give me a lot of strength,” he said. “And Alex ain’t complaining, so I don’t think I should, either. His injuries are a little worse than mine,” Alcoser said.

“A lot of people call him a dog, but I think he’s a little more than that. He’s a soldier.”

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Years ago, police in Ontario rescued 31 sickly dogs from a suspected fighting operation. They were pit bulls, a “breed” long since banned in this Canadian province, but they were also evidence in a court case, so they were remanded to an undisclosed shelter while a court determined what would happen.

As often goes in the realm of the legal, they waited a long time.

The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) pressed for all of them to be put down, arguing that as they had only known violence, they were a lost cause.

Dog Tales Rescue and Sanctuary, however, asked for the dogs to be released into their care, where they could be rehabilitated and eventually find their way to real families.

Along the way, one of the dogs who had arrived to the shelter pregnant, added 8 new puppies to the controversy.

Finally, in July of 2017, a judge made a ruling. The dogs (except for one deemed too dangerous and two who died while in custody) would be released into rescue and hit the long road to rehabilitation.

One of the roads led all the way to Jacksonville, FL, where 14 of the dogs landed in the care of a rescue called Pit Sisters. A few of them were from the litter born at the shelter.

“They only knew a shelter life,” Jen Deane, founder of Pit Sisters, told Mother Nature Network.

In early assessments, one of those puppies — a dog named Dallas — drew attention.

“The more we worked with him, the more we thought he should be a police dog,” Deane said.

So trainers spent a few days testing him and they eventually connected with someone from the Throwaway Dogs Project, a Philadelphia organization specializing in dogs often seen as beyond help — and turning them into police dogs.

Dallas, of course, was just a pup. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but rather was guilty by association — for his breed.

Throwaway Dogs founder Carol Skaziak, along with a team of behaviorists, headed to Jacksonville, where they spent several days testing Dallas.

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“The first thing I saw in Dallas was a very lovable dog that enjoyed being around humans,” Skaziak told MNN. “Then what I saw was a dog that had extreme play drive.”

It’s a skill Skazniak looks for in candidates for the program.

“Believe it or not, I feel that if we were on top of the Empire State Building, and we threw the ball over the edge, he would go after the ball.”

Not the best quality for a family pet, but for police dogs, it’s essential.

“With every day that passed, I was becoming more and more in love with this dog,” Skaziak recalls. “I thought, ‘This is probably going to work out for us. This is a homerun.’”

But there was one crucial strike against Dallas: He was deathly afraid of cars — so much so that he couldn’t bring himself to get inside one.

On their way back to Pennsylvania, the trainers told Deane if Dallas could get over that fear, they would try to land him a job as a K9.

Not long afterward, Deane — a trainer with a gift for bringing out the best in dogs — sent Throwaway Dogs a video of Dallas jumping in and out of cars with unflinching enthusiasm.

Dallas was officially in the program.

Dallas the pit bull profile
Dallas is on his way to Pennsylvania to start training for his new job. (Photo: Pit Sisters)
Not long after that, Deane got a text message: A police department in Virginia had offered Dallas a job.

And all of a sudden, the dog who nearly never left that secret shelter in Ontario — a dog who was born a victim — will now spend the rest of his life standing up for them.

With a lot of people cheering for him along the way.

“We have a whole town that’s excited,” Skaziak says. “We’re just thrilled. We can’t wait to start training him.”

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A wonderful dog-to-dog rescue unfolded in Washington state this past weekend when Tino — a search and rescue dog — was called in with his human counterparts to find Puppy, a dog who disappeared two days earlier while on a trail ride with owner Karen James, according to Fox 13.

Puppy’s owners initially sought help in finding the pooch via the Useless Bay Sanctuary.

According to the nonprofit’s website, its mission is to “help dogs that other people may have trouble capturing…. Our mission is to help those stray dogs that may not fit with the tools and resources of traditional animal shelters and rescues.”

Fox 13 reported that Tino “located Puppy less than a mile from his home trapped in a dense, mud-filled gully. ”

“He could not have gotten out of the mud,” James told the station. “We would not have seen him because he was far enough off the trail.”

She added, “And you know there’s miles and miles, acres and acres of wilderness out there to search. We just never would have found him.”

Puppy, per the station, spent more than 40 hours in mud and was hauled out via ropes before being reunited with his family.

Great job, Tino and company!!!

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When a veteran’s SUV was stolen in Indianapolis this week, there was far more at stake than a vehicle. The former Marine’s service dog, Wrigley, was inside.

Indianapolis police asked the public to help find the 2-year-old Rhodesian ridgeback mix, who is trained to sense oncoming migraines and seizures.

“He’s my lifeline right now,” Lana Whitner told WXIN.

Once found, Wrigley was frightened, but police said he warmed up quickly.

And of course, there was no stopping the joyful wiggles when he was reunited with this family.

“This happy ending is brought to you by the community working together,” said IMPD. “Thank you to all who helped.”

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Summer, a yellow Lab, is 8. These days, she patrols Washington Union Station with her partner, Sgt. Micah Jones. It’s a five-day-a-week job.

“When I get up and get ready, put my uniform on, I put the harness on, she knows she’s ready to go,” Jones told ABC affiliate WJLA. But Summer hasn’t always been his partner.

In her previous life, Summer was deployed in Afghanistan with the Marines.

“She’s been in firefights. She’s found IEDs and VBEDs and it’s just an honor to work—that an animal like that saved thousands and thousands of lives,” her partner says.

And now, Summer is up for the American Humane Hero Dog Awards in the military category.

“It would mean a lot to give her the recognition that she rightfully deserves,” Jones said.

Voting for the award is public and today is the last day. To view Summer’s story and vote for her — and peruse the other dogs nominated in the Awards’ various categories, click here.