Dog News

Teenager Risks Life to save Dog

by Katherine

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Last month, many neighborhoods in Nogales, Ariz., flooded and the rising waters forced area residents to evacuate leaving everything behind. Thirteen-year-old Manuel Andres Sierra couldn’t leave without rescuing Bones, a six-year-old Pit Bull.

Some might say that Bones is not the most friendly dog, but to Sierra, the pet is his companion, friend and protector.

Andres Sierra and Bones
Andres Sierra and Bones

 

“He takes care of us, he plays with me,” Sierra told Nogales International. “He protects us.”

On Sept. 17, 2014, Sierra and his family had to leave their home late at night, but the teenager refused to leave the family’s three pets behind. Two of the dogs were smaller and safe with family members, but Bones was locked in the backyard behind a 6-foot fence.

The family tried looking for the key to unlock the fence but they couldn’t find it and that was when Sierra decided to jump the fence, land in ankle-deep-and-rising water and carry Bones over the fence.

“(It’s) something I wouldn’t have been able to do,” Sierra’s aunt, Alda Molina said. “Maybe I would have, if (Andres) wouldn’t have been here. But yeah, he took it up himself. He jumped the fence and everything.”

The three pets were transported to a family member’s home outside the flooded area. The rest of the family spent a few nights at a hotel. Once the waters receded, Sierra the three dogs and other family members returned home.

Thanks to the teenager, Bones is alive today.