She’d wandered away from their upstate New York home earlier this month and was struck and killed by a motorist on Route 22.

As they stood by the side of the road, pondering how to handle the situation, they were approached by Trooper Louis E. Godfroy IV.

“What would you like to do with her body?” Godfroy gently asked the griefstricken elderly couple.

They asked if he could take her away; they couldn’t afford to pay someone to bury her on their sprawling property.

“Oh no, you guys aren’t going to hire anyone,” Godfroy said.

Placing the dog in his patrol car, he followed them home, laying Hoku in an old barn before finding a proper site for the burial with Henry Meininger.

“I cannot move very well because I had a stroke and I am 92 years old, so I couldn’t lift her,” Meininger told the Times Union.

The trooper returned the next day — during his time off — and laid the dog to rest in a former hay field on the 24-acre property.

Godfroy is “just an amazingly wonderful person,” Meininger said. “He was so accommodating.”

Days later, he stopped by to see how the couple was doing in the wake of their loss.

“We talked about how many dogs they’d had over the years, the kinds of dogs,” Godfroy said.

Hoku was “a very beautiful dog, very affectionate,” Meininger said. “The worst part of it, aside from me missing her, is our cat, Nina, and the dog were very good friends. The cat is now very lonely.”

The Meiningers, originally from New York City, had moved upstate to the town of Austerlitz decades ago, Godfroy said. Hoku was the most recent of more than a dozen family pets whose love and company they’d enjoyed over the years.

“I kind of had a connection to these people,” the trooper said, describing his own 3-year-old golden retriever as “spoiled rotten.”

“I’ve lived in Columbia County for almost 50 years and I’m not surprised that people are good here,” Meininger said.

“I didn’t do it for the ‘attaboy’ or the publicity,” Godfroy said. “I felt bad that a nice couple’s faithful friend got hit,” he said.

“I was so flabbergasted. Why would this young man do this? I tried to offer him money but he kept saying, ‘What I want is a handshake,’” Meininger said. “He is a charming young man. I can’t say enough about the trooper.”

Godfroy didn’t even tell his colleagues about burying the dog.

Meininger’s friend posted about him on Facebook and it went viral. Afterwards, Godfroy received a a deluge of texts from his fellow police officers. One said, “That’s what a trooper should be,” while another said, “You’re doing everyone proud.”

The State Police issued a release about the good deed, as well.

Anyone with information on who struck and killed Hoku is asked to call the State Police New Lebanon barracks at 518-794-8445. An investigation is ongoing.

The post Off-Duty Trooper Helps Elderly Couple Bury Beloved Dog appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

“I own a gun range on Wolf Springs Road in the southern part of Dallas County, down here near the river bottoms,” Len Baxley told The Dodo. “And I’ve seen these two dogs — a black one and a white one — running up and down the road, playing with each other for the last several days.”

On his way to work Monday morning, he saw the two dogs meandering along usual.  Perhaps they had an owner who just let them wander.  He returned home around 2 pm, and on his way, was shocked to see the white dog lying dead just off the road.  The black dog sorrowfully sat next to him.

“They were both about seven or eight feet off a road. I didn’t know what exactly to do. But I didn’t want anything bad to happen to the black dog.”

Baxley felt awful about the situation, and knew he needed to get the black dog out of there.  He tried coaxing him, but the dog was resolute in his decision to stay where he was.

“I realized the problem was that he wasn’t going to leave his buddy,” he said.

He called upon friends who had rescued animals, and was told to put the white dog’s body in his van, which might entice the other to jump inside.  So he did, but the black dog couldn’t be hoodwinked.

As night approached, Baxley wondered what to do.  He couldn’t get the dog to get in the van, but he knew he had to get him away from the road.  So he started driving away.

He hoped the dog would follow, and he did.  Baxley left the side door open, and slowly backed onto his fenced-in property.

“It was incredible,” he said, noting that the dog circled the van “at least 30 times” as he inched along.

“He didn’t follow me. He circled. Again and again. And then when I got back to my gate I stopped the car. And the dog just sat in front of the open side door.”

The dog sat guarding the van, but still wouldn’t get in, even with food laid out for him

“He went halfway in, but not all the way. I must have fed him everything … and then some.”

Baxley couldn’t leave his van open all night, and didn’t want to frighten or provoke the black dog, so he had to come up with another plan.

“I was sure the black dog wasn’t going to get run over at this point. But I also know he won’t leave the white dog no matter what. I figured I’d take the white dog’s body out of the van, and since the black dog wouldn’t leave his side, I’d let them spend the night out there and I’d come back and get him in the morning.”

But then he heard coyotes howling.  The black dog was limping, possibly from the accident, and was in no condition to be fighting off wild animals. It was nearly 10 pm; Baxley had been working relentlessly to rescue this dog.

So he called rescue group Dallas DogRRR, and Marina Tarashevska rushed right out.

“And you know, she had the magic touch! It took me seven hours to get that black dog to finally let me pet him,” Baxley said.  “But Marina drives up, opens up her car door and they are like best friends!”

Maybe this dog had been abused by a man, and was afraid of him just because of that.  But together, they managed to get him in a crate and inside the house.  He happily ate more food, and settled down.

It would be the perfect fairy tale ending if Baxley adopted him, but unfortunately, he just can’t keep him.

“He is a great dog. I’m sitting here rubbing him now.  We better find this buddy a home soon because we are bonding. He licked my face. He fell asleep on my foot. I don’t want him to get too attached and then be ripped away from me.”

Baxley didn’t even want to name him, because it would be even harder to say goodbye.  The entire event has already been plaguing him, and he’s hoping to see this boy go to a good home soon.

“Just seeing the black dog sitting there … And I feel bad that I passed the two of them for several days and thought maybe that they belonged to someone down here, although it’s more likely someone probably just kicked them out of their home.”

He buried the white dog on his property, and hopefully the black dog will be able to move on from his loss with a new start in a new home.  If you would like to adopt him, contact Dallas DogRRR.

The post Dog Won’t Leave Best Friend’s Side After His Death appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.

Animal control found the injured dog on Lincolnway and transported him to South Bend Animal Care and Control. Based on his injuries, the dog dubbed Trooper by staff members, could have been euthanized but because volunteers made a connection with the pet and saw he had a strong will to live, he was given a second chance.

The Care Foundation stepped up to cover all medical cost for Trooper, and after a vet exam, it was determined the dog needed emergency surgery to amputate his front leg. The accident left Trooper clinging for his life, he had internal injuries and his front, right leg was completely mangled.

After the surgery Trooper went to a foster home and a few weeks later fate brought him and his family back together.

Trooper’s foster parent works at the animal clinic and one day the foster parent brought Tropper into work. On that same day the Cortiz family walked into the shelter to look for Pio one more time. As soon as Tropper, whose real name is Pio, saw his family walk through the door, he jumped and barked out of excitement.

The dog was behind the front desk, but when he saw his family he tried to leap over the desk with his three legs.

The Cortiz family couldn’t believe they had found Pio. They were a bit shocked to learn their four-legged dog is now a three-legged pet, but nevertheless they loved their family member the same.

The family is beyond grateful to the Care Foundation for saving Pio’s life.

The post Hit-and-Run Dog Reunites with Family After Life Saving Surgery appeared first on ILoveDogsAndPuppies.