Meet the hero pup that protected two young girls and reunited them with their family

Dogs are among the warmest and friendliest creatures on this planet and they bring in a lot of happiness to everyone living around them. Moreover, they are also considered one of the smartest animals as they are enlisted in police forces, medical services and many other disciplines.

An astonishing incident reiterated this fact when a family dog made use of his sharp wits to protect two lost children. Abigail and Cecilia Bourg went missing in the woods behind their house at the end of November 2022. While their parents were fraught with worry, their pet Golden Retriever, Artemis, proved to be a hero, reports CBS News.

Mary Bourg recalled the exact moment her girls went missing. "I just start like running around the whole property—six acres—and that's when I called [my husband] and said, 'They're gone,'" she said. After four hours of searching, police and neighbors eventually found the girls about a mile away from their home when they heard Artemis barking. According to Bourg, Artemis initially shielded the girls from the search team and "wasn't letting them by the girls."

She said: "He was circling them, growling at the people to protect them." After the family was reunited, the girls explained that they got lost while attempting to keep up with Artemis. "He kept running ahead of us. We were trying to follow him, but we couldn't keep up," said Abigail.

Justin, the girls' father, shared that the family has forgiven Artemis for fleeing seeing how he fiercely protected his girls afterward. He said, "He's got a free pass for a while. I won't be fussing at him for chewing up blankets and shoes." 

In another adorable story of a dog using his smart wits, Scruff, a border collie of 13 years, has been dubbed "the eco dog" by residents of his area for his efforts to protect the environment. Yvonne Faulkner and David Grant, Scruff's owners, adopted him from a farm in 2009.

He, like many puppies, loved playing with sticks, but Yvonne stopped him from doing so owing to a fear of mouth splinters. Instead, he began to play with plastic bottles. Scruff's owners noticed his fixation with plastic bottles during their walks in 2021. He'd take one bottle and carry it around until he found another.

Yvonne said, "It seemed wrong that he would pick the bottle up and then drop it again—we thought people would think we were dropping litter. So we got him to start bringing the bottles to us and we put them in a bag and then count them up at the end of the walk." The counting began in 2022 since it had never occurred to their owners before. Scruff has already recovered over 1,000 items after a slow start with only 40 in January.

For the last year, the couple has used the hashtag #scruffsbottlepatrol to advertise their pet's environmental credentials on social media. Yvonne said, "We get such a good reaction on Facebook where Scruff has been dubbed an eco-dog."