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Picnics, Pythons, and Heroes ... Oh My!
Golden retriever recognized as Kibbles 'N Bits 49th Dog Hero of the Year
Courageous Canine Rescues Young Girl from Escaped Python
Sundance’s Story
It was a warm, sunny August afternoon and Michelle Passalacqua of Farmingville, NY, ran inside her kitchen to pour her two daughters, Kaila (7) and Sara (3), a drink for their backyard picnic. Kaila followed her mother inside to help, leaving Sara to play in their new toy ball pit. Seconds later, Passalacqua heard a scream and then crying. She ran outside and found their pet Golden Retriever, Sundance, barking at a large, strange-looking snake dead on the ground and Sara crying on top of the picnic table.
Passalacqua quickly checked her daughter for bites, but found nothing. Sundance had saved the day. The large, eight-foot snake – a ball python – had made the Passalcqua’s ball pit its home and when Sara jumped in, it became agitated and started to slither toward her. Sundance, recognizing the danger, began to bark loudly at the reptile and eventually killed it to protect his young owner.
When I heard that Sunny had won the Dog Hero of the Year Award, I almost broke into tears,” said Passalacqua. “Sundance needs an operation to remove a few tumors from the back of his shoulders and we didn’t have enough money to schedule the surgery. Now, we are going to use the prize money for his operation. He has done so much for us, now it’s our turn to help him.
For his heroic actions, Bullet and his family received these 49th Dog Hero of the Year Award prizes:
Two other dogs also were recognized for their heroism. Read the amazing stories of these Dog Hero of the Year Runners-Up.
"It was a difficult decision selecting a winner from the 125 entries this year," said Sahnd, senior brand manager of Del Monte Pet Products. "We wanted to present this year’s Dog Hero of the Year Awards to dogs that exhibited an amazing amount of courage, devotion and fortitude while performing a heroic deed, and I think we found these traits in Sundance, Smokey Joe and Bear."
View the Dog Hero Archive Timeline, or Nominate a 2004 Dog Hero.
