Some guardian angels choose to look over us from close by.

And such help from two loving golden retrievers might be the reason Judy Muhe of Palmdale, Florida, is still alive today. When the 76-year-old woman, who suffers from Parkinson's disease and lives alone, fell in her kitchen, 10-year-old Higgins and 4-year-old Dodger clung to her side for two days until help arrived, reported ABC News.

Muhe bruised her head and shattered her shoulder when she fell, and spend the subsequent 48 hours drifting in and out of consciousness. Her two dogs, aware of her distress, laid down next to her, keeping her as warm and as comfortable as they possibly could.

"The main thing was they let me know I was not alone," Muhe told ABC News. "[Higgins] laid up against my back, and Dodger laid on my feet and legs ... I don't know what I would have done without them. ... I just love my dogs so much."

After her friend Kathy Jacobs called several times and didn't receive a response, she entered Muhe's home using a key that Muhe had previously given to her.

"When I came in, we found her right away on the floor," Jacobs told ABC News. "The dogs were right here with her. They actually ran to the door and then they ran back to where she was, like showing us that she was there."

Muhe has since undergone two surgeries to repair her shoulder.

Dogs not only have an incredible sense of when things aren't right, but also make sure to let their owners know as well.

Jason and Tiffany Huston from Goshen, Ind., are trying to get back Prance, their Shih Tzu, after a neighbor sold the dog online. However, police say there is little they can do to help the Hustons because the online transaction was made legally and no laws were broken.

Prance became a member of the Huston family three-and-a-half years ago when the couple got married and decided to get a pet. The family moved to a mobile home community in Goshen, Ind., but Prance got lost last month while the couple was away and the dog was left with a family member.

“[The dog sitter] lost sight of [Prance] for a moment — she tends to want to sniff around and see what’s out there — and when we got home she was gone,” Jason Huston told News Center 16.

As soon as Prance went missing, the family member posted “Lost Dog” fliers around the neighborhood and visited local shelters trying to locate the dog to no avail. When the pet owners came back home they joined the search efforts. A Mishawaka Pet Smart adoption worker suggested the couple look online in the Michiana “Lost and Found” 'another site' pages, and it was there where the Hustons found a “For Sale” announcement of a dog just like Prance.

Surprisingly, the online announcement was made a neighbor from their own community.

“The original for sale post had a separate picture and I knew immediately it was our dog ,” Jason Huston said. “It had our collar, it was shaved but had identical markings. It was our dog.”

After contacting the seller, the seller said she thought the dog was a stray and she was helping it by selling it online. The Hustons learned their four-legged family member was sold to a Fort Wayne man for just $50.

The buyer was suspicious of the $50 sale of such a nice and healthy dog, but since his granddaughter’s dog had recently passed away, and the price of the dog was a bargain, the man went ahead and purchased the pet.

The Hustons have tried giving the buyer the $50 he spent on the dog plus an additional $100 as a reward, but the buyer has refused to accept the money and return the dog.

Authorities say that because the dog was purchased in good faith, the case is a matter for civil court. Now the Hustons will need to face a pricey court dispute to get back the dog that is rightfully theirs.

Nigel the parrot has said "cheerio" to his British-born owner and "Buenos dias" to another family.

The African grey parrot spoke with a British accent when it disappeared from a Southern California home four years ago. But Nigel spoke Spanish when he was found and returned to Darren Chick of Torrance last week.

Someone found the bird and turned it over to a vet who found Chick by accessing the bird's microchip.

Chick, who's British, said he wept tears of joy. But on Wednesday, he gave Nigel to the Torrance family who'd kept the bird for the four years he was missing.

The Torrance Daily Breeze said that a family member emailed the paper after hearing about Nigel's return and said they were heartbroken after the bird flew away from their home earlier this month.

Liza Smith said her grandparents bought the parrot they call Morgan — after the rum that features a parrot on the label — at a garage sale for $400. It learned Spanish from her Guatemalan-born grandfather.

"Loro Macho, Loro Macho" Ruben Hernandez, 86, cooed to his feathered friend on Wednesday at the home of the Redondo Beach veterinarian who found Nigel.
"We're just over the moon," Smith told the newspaper.

Smith said the bird had become a special friend to her grandfather, especially in the two years since he lost his wife, who used to whistle tunes to the bird.
The parrot "is one of the last mementos for my grandpa," she wrote in her email to the Daily Breeze. "Morgan's loss has been hard on him. They have a very special bond."

Morgan also knows the first bars of the theme from the movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," knows the names of the family's three dogs, barks like them, and likes to imitate the beeping sounds made by an early-morning trash truck, Smith said.

A friendly disposition and a cute, crooked front paw immediately drew Jessica Cantone and her fiancé Nick to the weeks-old black lab puppy they named “Lucy” and brought home—along with her lookalike sister—earlier this year. Little did they know that Lucy’s outward-facing paw was actually a deformity that would affect her quality of life for months to come, and require surgery at the MSPCA’s Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts to correct.

Lucy and her sister, named “Lola,” immediately settled into their new owners’ Boston-area home. The dogs’ early days were marked by constant play and walks around the neighborhood. Soon after, though, Jessica noticed a change. “At first it was subtle—Lucy would stop playing and sit down even as Lola continued to encourage her on. Shortly thereafter she began to limp immediately after playing.”

Jessica brought Lucy to her local veterinarian who examined the dog’s right front paw and reassured Jessica that, despite the deformity, Lucy would be able to compensate as she got older. The limping got worse, however, and Lucy was referred to Angell.

Determined to help Lucy overcome her physical limitations, Jessica brought her to see Drs. Sue Casale and Daniel Frem of Angell’s renowned surgery service.

“Lucy had a right radius (ulna) angular limb deformity—which means the bones of her legs were misshapen—causing her paw to turn out and, as a result, compromising the leg’s ability to bear weight,” said Dr. Casale. Moreover, the affected leg was nearly one inch shorter than her other front leg. “This is what was causing her so much pain.”

Drs. Casale and Frem employed a novel procedure called a corrective osteotomy in which Lucy’s lower leg bone was cut and re-aligned using a device called a “circular external fixator,” which was attached to the outside of her leg.

The fixator kept the two ends of the bone aligned to encourage a natural process called “osteogensis,” in which the two ends of the bone—despite being completely separated—began to grow toward one another.

Jessica and Nick played an active role in helping the new bone to grow. “For nearly a month we turned three knobs, three times per day, with a wrench to keep pace with the growing bone—it was fantastic to know that we were literally helping her grow new bone tissue.”

The couple devised novel ways to help Lucy overcome the discomfort associated with the adjustments by, for instance, adjusting the fixator when she was eating her favorite food.

After three weeks of adjustments the leg had “grown” almost an inch, making in equal in length to Lucy’s other front leg. Lucy is expected to wear the fixator for another six weeks or so, while the new bone tissue settles and heals. After that, it is on to physical therapy to rebuild her leg muscles.

After the emotional and physical roller coaster that defined Lucy’s journey, the couple is thrilled to have their dog home and on the mend—even with the physical therapy still ahead of them. “She is so happy to be home,” said Jessica. “I know she’ll go on to have many years to enjoy hiking, running, walks in the park and all the other activities that have been so hard for her in the past.”

Lucy had surgery about two months ago and, after a visit to Angell Medical Center last week, he vets were pleased with the results as her bones have fused.
Lucy is expected to have to wear her fixator for a few more weeks, but then it can come off and she will be able to walk and play like a normal dog.

Four people, including the son of a U.S. senator, have been indicted on charges of animal cruelty that resulted in the deaths of 21 dogs, AZ Central reported.

The news caused big sighs of reliefs from many dog lovers in Arizona and elsewhere. Since June, when reports came in that some 20 dogs died in a windowless 8-by-12-foot room, there's been widespread outrage that law enforcement hadn't taken any action against the owners of Green Acre Dog Boarding. Numbers have wavered back and forth since the initial reports, but it's believed that there were as many as 28 dogs in the room. Twenty-one of the dogs died overnight.

The owners of Green Acre said the dogs died of heat exhaustion when one of the dogs chewed through the power cord for the room's air conditioner. The results of a necroscopy revealed that the dogs more likely suffocated. Prosecutors claim that the owners crowded all the dogs into the room, then sealed the doors with packing tape to contain the smell. That also had the effect of cutting off oxygen and thus killing the dogs.

The deaths happened between the night of Thursday, June 19, and the following Friday morning, but dog owners weren't contacted until Saturday.

Valerie Collins, who had left two dogs in the custody of Green Acre, said "We went out of the front and he carried my Daisy who was lifeless. I prayed that they were still alive and [the facility's owner] just threw her at my feet like a piece of meat."

Shannon Gillette told reporters from Inside Edition that she was contacted while on vacation and told that her dogs had dug a hole under the fence and escaped.

"Todd Hughes, who left me this message, was not out looking for dogs. He was standing there with a wheelbarrow and a shovel digging dog graves," Gillette said.

Since then, the owners have been angrily advocating for legal action against Green Acre. There's a social networking page about the incident, and online petition, and a Twitter tag for supporters of the dog owners.

Many people have suspected that the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has held up the investigation because one of the people involved is Austin Flake, the son of U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. Flake and his wife Logan were supposed to be watching the dogs the night of the deaths.

It's possible that Flake's family connections may have slowed the indictment, but it didn't stop it. The grand jury charged Austin and Logan each with 21 counts of felony cruelty to animals and seven counts of misdemeanor cruelty. Logan's parents, Jesse Todd Hughes and Maleisia Hughes, are the owners of Green Acre. They were each charged with 22 felony and seven misdemeanor charges of cruelty to animals, plus one count of fraud. There has also been a lawsuit filed against the two couples by the owners of the dogs, charging them with fraud and neglect.

The fraud charges stem from the fact that the dog owners claim that Green Acre misrepresented the conditions that their pets would be kept in. The lawsuit alleges that pet owners were told that their dogs would be free to play in a large backyard and be treated as members of the family. Instead, the suit claims, the dogs were made to sleep in the small, windowless "dog room" that was never shown to potential clients.

If convicted, the two couples could face a sentence as light as probation or as harsh as 1 1/2 years in prison. Jerry Cobb, a county attorney spokesman said that the latter option is unlikely because the incident is a first-time, nonviolent offense.

Animal rights activists rallied outside a Nevada courthouse on Thursday before a judge set another hearing next month for a 24-year-old man accused of beheading and dismembering several dogs.

Jason Brown faces seven felony counts of willfully torturing and killing dogs and two counts of possession of methamphetamine. If convicted of all counts, he could face more than 20 years in prison.

Half a dozen members of Nevada Voters for Animals said they were demonstrating in support of the maximum punishment if Brown is convicted.

They waved signs that said ';Accountability for Animal Cruelty'; at passing traffic in downtown Reno.

Justice of the Peace Patricia Lynch set Brown's preliminary hearing for November 18.

Brown was arrested in July after detectives say they found a decapitated dog and four dog heads in a small refrigerator in his Reno motel room.

More than 2 000 people from the US, Mexico and Europe have signed the voter group's online petition calling for maximum prosecution of Brown. Several also have made direct appeals in letters to the judge.

Authorities said they were called to the Super 8 in south Reno after a maid reported the discovery in Brown's room.

Two of the heads matched the description of a pair of Chihuahuas that Nancy Frank, of Sun Valley, told police she sold to Brown days earlier.

Officers also found two bloody kitchen knives, scissors and two dog collars with rabies tags registered to Frank, along with dog dishes, blankets and tennis balls she gave Brown to help make her pets happy.

Washoe County Sheriff's Detective Joe Bowen wrote in a probable cause report that a lifelong friend of Brown, Cheryl Bluhm, told police the day of his arrest that Brown talked about having ';urges of rage'; during a June 25 telephone conversation.

The next day, she said, Brown told her he had killed his friend's dog and it ';made him high';, Bowen wrote.

According to the report, Bluhm said she asked Brown if he had the same urges toward humans, and he told her that ';dogs are good for right now';. - Sapa-AP

Erica Morena and Katti Putnam from Flint, Mich., have filed a federal lawsuit against a Michigan Department of Corrections Investigator who shot their dog in their own backyard as police attempted to recover a fugitive who apparently was next door. The 15-year-old dog, Chloe, survived but needed three surgeries to correct her injuries. Chloe lost part of her tongue and one canine tooth.

The wrongful dog shooting took place on June 18, 2014, when Department of Corrections Investigator Ron Hughes, along with several Michigan State troopers, arrived at Moreno and Putnam’s home to recover a fugitive.

After Hughes entered the backyard, he shot Chloe as she entered her backyard through an open door. Officers told the pet owners they went to the “wrong house” and that they “would take care of this,” but as of today, Moreno and Putman are still waiting for the officer to pay the veterinary hospital bill.

A neighbor who witnessed the shooting said that Chloe did not attack or threaten any officer, yet the dog was shot below the nose.

On October 3, 2014, the pet owners filed suit in federal court. Chris Olson, lawyer representing the dog and her owners, said that “unfortunately, this tragedy is part of a nationwide epidemic of law enforcement officials shooting family pets.”

Police encounters with dogs are common because many people have dogs, but only a limited amount of law enforcement personnel have the necessary training to know how to deal with pets and avoid unnecessary shootings.

“The Defendant violated my clients’ Fourth Amendment rights,” said Olson. “We have asked the Court for relief under the federal Civil Rights Act, which authorizes compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees for such violations. In short, we want relief for Cloe’s injuries and to prevent other senseless shootings of people’s pets.”

The bond between this little girl with special needs and her service dog is incredibly special.

Faith Cloud of Pierce County, Washington, has cerebral palsy and is unable to communicate verbally. Sometimes the only way her mother, Tonya Cloud, can calm her down when she's upset is to have her play with her dog, Spice, reported KIRO 7.

On Oct. 3, Spice was hit by a car and left with a broken leg and multiple pelvic fractures when the driver fled the scene. Pierce County detective Ryan Salmon noticed a crowd gathering at the scene of the accident, and zeroed in on Faith in her wheelchair next to her injured dog on the ground, according to KIRO 7.

In that moment, Salmon took Spice, Faith, her mother and a friend to the nearby hospital to address the dog's wounds. When he heard later that the family could not afford the X-rays and treatment for Spice's recovery, he offered to pay the $200 bill for them. Tonya Cloud was grateful for his help, because she feared the dog would have had to be euthanized otherwise, and Spice meant so much to her family.

"It wasn't about being a cop," Salmon told KIRO 7. "It was about having compassion for this girl and her dog." He and his department are still searching for the suspect.

It's reassuring to see instances where law enforcement doesn't just protect us, but our beloved pets as well.