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.

It’s news that warms the hearts of dog lovers everywhere! More than 100 dogs were rescued last week from commercial breeding facilities – a VERY polite term for what we generally call puppy mills – scattered throughout the Midwestern United States.

The National Mill Dog Rescue brought the dogs to a large rescue facility in Peyton, CO, on Friday, beginning the arduous (but wonderful!) process of naming, evaluating, vetting and treating them. Each will be tested for heartworm and other parasites and have all their medical needs addressed. It is the first step on the road to loving forever homes.

Theresa Strader, the founder of National Mill Dog Rescue, says the dogs came from several different breeders in five different states. Most of them have spent their entire lives in cages, their sole purpose in life: producing puppies for pet stores.

“A commercial breeding dog, once it’s not producing anymore, they just kill them,” Strader told KKTV. “The bottom line is they have no future beyond that life if we don’t step in.”

National Mill Dog Rescue takes the dogs in once breeders surrender them. Although commercial dog breeding is legal, Strader believes its standards need to be improved. She says the conditions these dogs live in range from good to horrific and everything in between.

“When you see that baby in the window, when you’re playing with it and petting it, you know that puppy is its parent’s worst enemy,” said Strader of the cute pups we see in pet stores across the country.

Strader says each of the rescued mill dogs will become adoptable and, with hope, new members of loving forever families.

“These guys have a lot of life left in them and the truth is, the way I see it, it’s our fellow man who put them in this position and we owe it to them as people who love dogs to give them a happy ending.”

The National Mill Dog Rescue has rescued more than 13,200 dogs since 2007. For more information, or to look into adopting, check out their website. See the entire video of the rescue’s Colorado “homecoming” here:

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British pop star Sam Smith is in Denver this week (his show’s tonight at 8 p.m., as a matter of fact) and he’s enjoying the beautiful terrain, lovely Rocky Mountain summer weather and of course, meandering the city. And guess what, Colorado? He loves it!

How do we know?

Because as the Oscar- and Grammy-winning crooner was meandering the neighborhoods enjoying the exploration, he took time out to cuddle a random stranger’s dog and post it to his Instagram account!

Smith, known for hits such as “Stay With Me,” “Too Good at Goodbyes,” and “The Writing’s on the Wall,” which was the theme song from the most recent James Bond installment, “Spectre,” clearly loves him some pupper snuggles. There were a few more animal pics on his Instagram account, including one where he’s holding a small koala bear and a fun shot of the singer posing between two beefy English bulldogs that was captioned, “In love.”

We totally get it, Sam!

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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.”

The tiny trooper began life as an abused puppy in Mississippi, but she’ll be spending the rest of it in the lap of luxury with superstar NFL quarterback Peyton Manning’s family.

According to the Animal Rescue Fund of Mississipi, the small pup was rescued from a carnival worker whom rescuers came across at a county fair where she was reportedly kept in, “a garbage bag or tied with a rope around her neck, covered in fleas and infected with internal parasites.”

Once vetted, she was cleaned up, de-flea’d and fed — all while being fawned over. Apparently, the Manning family spotted her, too, and decided to adopt.

“She is now a Manning and will live life large with this superstar family,” the rescue wrote on Facebook. “Adopted pets are the best!”

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Hopelily was advertised on Craigslist as a “mini-bulldog” whose owners wanted $800 for her.
In reality, the “3-month-old” was about 4 weeks and terribly undernourished.
But then, she was rescued by Road Dogs.
And now, her life is charmed.

You can follow her (and her sister, Sunday) on Instagram!

Great story from The Dodo!

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It was a boy — seven times — plus one girl for Eleanor Rigby (Ellie, for short), a service dog who went into labor unexpectedly as she and her owners were waiting to board a flight at Tampa International Airport.

Personnel with the Tampa Fire Rescue, which documented the birth on Twitter, helped Elle to deliver her puppies.

An airport spokesperson told Fox 35 that a woman and her daughter were flying from Tampa to Philadelphia. They were aware that Ellie was pregnant, but didn’t realize how far along she was.

The puppies’ father, also a service dog, was on-hand for the birth, as well.

Although her humans missed their flight due to the birth, they were happy that Ellie and the pups were doing well and now plan to drive the 1,000-mile journey with the 10 dogs in tow, according to reports by the Miami Herald.

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We are living in the days of baby reveal photos, cakes, parties and more — so why not do the same for our fur babies?!

Joy Stone, 25, of Melissa, TX, and her golden retriever mix, Rey, did an adorable photo shoot with photographer Carlye Allen to celebrate the new addition to the family, surprising her husband and their black Lab, Kairi.

“She is so sweet and has loved everyone she has met so far,” Stone told ABC News. “She can also get extremely playful and absolutely loves running around and playing with Kairi.”

The beautiful images got lots of attention on social media, of course, and both Stone and Allen hope the images inspire people to adopt instead of shop.

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His dad couldn’t be more direct but somehow this pup still seems to doubt the sincerity of the compliment on his sharp-looking bandana.
Hilariously adorable video!