DOG STORY - Vs. alligator, dog wins, saves old git

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Miami Herald

Posted at 4:17 p.m. EDT Thursday, July 26, 2001

Dog fends off alligator, protects elderly woman in Fort Myers

A dog suffered numerous puncture wounds fending off an alligator after an 85-year-old woman fell in the back yard of her southwest Florida home and lay immobilized with broken bones until her family returned home.

Ruth Gay was in fair condition at Lee Memorial Hospital in Fort Myers on Thursday following surgery on one shoulder, and manipulation of the other to reset a dislocation.

Two-year-old Blue, meanwhile, was recuperating at home, licking his wounds.

The brave deed by the Australian blue heeler earned the scrappy 35-pound cattle dog a special place with Sylvia and Albert Gibson and Gay, Sylvia's mother, who has lived with them in Fort Myers for 20 years.

``Blue scared the gator off and kept it away from my mother-in-law. The dog got chewed up pretty bad,'' Albert Gibson said Thursday.

Gay, who was home alone, went outside into the yard to walk the dog Tuesday just before 9 p.m. She slipped on the wet grass and fell, face down, breaking her nose and dislocating her shoulder.

She managed to flip over on her back, then lay there immobilized, hollering, Gibson said. The dog lay at her side, up against her.

Suddenly, the dog growled and left. It was dark. Gay couldn't see what was happening but knew the dog was in a fight.

Earlier in the day, there had been three gators, ranging in size from 6-to-12 feet, in the canal next to the house. The banks of canal were about 50 feet across the yard from where Gay was lying injured. There's no seawall and after days of heavy rains, the water was high, to the top of the bank.

Later, Gay told her family she thought a gator had gotten Blue.

``She could hear Blue yelping and whining. She knew he was getting hurt,'' Gibson said. ``Then it stopped.''

The Gibsons arrived home shortly after 10 p.m. When their car pulled up the dog raced to meet them, dripping wet. ``He was going wild, barking and jumping. He led me right to her,'' said Gibson, a retired construction superintendent.

``The first thing my mother-in-law said to me was: 'I think I really messed up because Blue got killed.'''

He is going to contact state wildlife officers to have the gators trapped and removed.

Gibson, who is recovering from knee replacement surgery three months ago, managed to get his mother-in-law to her feet and the couple took her to the hospital. The Gibsons got home around a 4 a.m. Wednesday and a few hours later took Blue to Suburban Animal Hospital.

``There were a lot of little puncture wounds, bite wounds,'' said Dr. Terry Terlep, whose colleague treated the injured animal. A veterinarian stapled Blue's stomach wound, cleaned up the others, put him on painkillers and antibiotics and sent him home.

``He's a little dog and fast like lightning,'' Terlep said. ``He was trying to fend off this animal, trying to get it to go away. And he's so fast he could get out of the way.''

``It's amazing what an animal will do in a time of need,'' Terlep said. ``He's a pretty brave dog.''

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001

Answers

Great story about "man's best friend." Anybody know any cat stories like this? Will a cat come to your defense, and stand by you under attack? Just wondering.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Cats're smarter than dogs. They know they don't have to risk their lives to save you. They'll wake you up if the house is on fire (in order to save themselves, of course) but other than that, they mind their own business. I guess you can count the fact that they kill spiders around here. I mean, any one of 'em could be a brown recluse or a black widow. Wonder how many they've prevented me eating in the night?

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

Well, we've got 3-1/2 cats. The 1/2 one is because she sometimes takes off for weeks at a time, then returns. Anyway, since cats are said to have 9 lives, you'd think they would spend one now and then on the "master" who's in big trouble. But no. I think they're selfish.

-- Anonymous, July 27, 2001

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