What affect do animals have on our lives and what affect do we have on them?

[BritinBritain]

I was told this story by my father.

Before WW2 a young chap who lived in Tottenham in North London, had a dog that he had raised from a puppy. When the chap came home from work his dog was there waiting at the bus stop at the same time every evening for him to get off the bus to walk home with him.

When WW2 broke out in September 1939, the chap joined the army but was tragically killed during the evacuation of Dunkirk.

Every evening the dog waited at the bus stop waiting for his master until he finally died of old age many years after the war ended.

 

[AB_Shorts_Momma]

Awwww! I have heard similar stories about faithful animals.

 

[mmarsh]

My story is not quiet so tragic, but My cat is like that.

I raised him at 4 weeks old, and he is unseperable. He cannot stand being away from me, he crys when I leave for work, joins me in the bathroom, and even used to jump in the shower with me with the water running...he learned to wait outside the curtain until I finish.

 

[BritinBritain]

A couple of years ago, we thought it would be a good idea to get an Alsatian/German Shepherd as a companion for my daughter.

The wife, my daughter and I visited a local breeder to view the puppies. As we walked out to the pen where the puppies were kept, one puppy bigger then the rest of the litter pushed his way forward, sat at my feet and looked up at me. I picked him up, looked at him in the eyes, he looked back at me and then began chewing my mustache. In effect, he picked us, we didn't pick him.

We took him to the vet for his inoculations and took him home. I told my daughter to take him for walks around the property to bond with him, for some reason he wouldn't leave my side. If I went outside to inspect the fences around the property he was right behind me, when I went to bed at night he cried and scratched at the bedroom door until I let him in. He has slept beside my bed ever since. After a few weeks my son told me, “Merlin is your dog dad without a doubt.”

Quite literally I cannot move without him.

 

[perseus]

Rumour has it that the dogs howling in Baghdad were a good predictor of the imminence of the next air strike. Whether this was simply picking up a particular frequency of sound, biased reporting or something more paranormal I'm not sure. Animals were said to be rapidly departing the lowland areas sometime prior to the onset of the Boxing day Tsunami, the same possibilities apply.

 

[03USMC]

Better hearing. They could hear the aircraft at a greater distance.

 

[perseus]

Actually these rumours are almost as old as aircraft themselves

http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1916/1916%20-%200673.html

We had a dog called "Rough" that we always had to take with us into the shelter. After a while "Rough" learned to tell us when we were going to have an air-raid. He would start barking minutes before the sirens went off. The next morning after a night of air-raids you could see from our house where the German bombers had dropped their bombs over Trafford Park the sky would all be lit up. Thanks to "Rough" we always were first to get the warning however also thanks to "Rough" we were often last to the shelter because we couldn't get hold of him to bring him to safety.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/94/a2450594.shtml

http://blogs.abc.net.au/nt/2009/02/gunner-the-air.html?program=darwin_weekends