Alaskan Rottweiller Berry Saves Pregnant Guardian from Moose
Thanks to Julie for barking in this article from Newsminer.com. Congratulations on having a fabulous furbaby!
Family dog saves pregnant woman from mad moose
By Tim MowryPublished Monday, January 28, 2008
Photo by John WagnerIt was dark, but the glow of Julie Closuit’s flashlight was bright enough and the moose was close enough that she could see it lay its ears back before it charged.
“I mainly remember it looking at me and putting its ears back and coming at us,” Closuit said. “It didn’t think twice. It came right for us.”That’s when Berry, Closuit’s 3-year-old Rotweiller, sprang into action.
“As soon as I saw the moose, she jerked the leash out of my hand,” said Closuit, who is six months pregnant.
Closuit, 26, had taken Berry outside to go to the bathroom at their Goldstream Valley home last Monday around 7 a.m. As she does every morning, Closuit walked around the corner of the house with a flashlight to check for moose or the neighbor’s loose dog before bringing Berry out. After seeing nothing, she returned with Berry on a leash.
“We got to right about here and Berry started alert barking,” said Closuit on Sunday, re-enacting the incident with Berry at her side in the 20-degrees-below zero weather. “I thought it was the neighbor’s dog.”
But when Closuit shined her flashlight in the direction Berry was barking, she saw the silhouette of a moose’s head and two glowing eyes. The moose was hidden behind a spruce tree about 20 feet away.
Just as Closuit was thinking, ‘Oh crap, what do I do?’, Berry pulled the leash out of her hand to confront the moose. The friendly 76-pound Rotweiller rushed the moose and circled behind it in a C-shaped herding pattern.
“The moose veered toward me and Berry followed it and went around behind it,” Closuit said.
With the moose bearing downon her, Closuit, a lifelong Fairbanksan, did what her parents had always told her to do as a child in the event of a moose attack — she dove behind a pair of birch trees.
“It was already coming toward me,” Closuit said of the moose. “It ran right over where I had been standing.”
Berry returned to Closuit’s side as she scrambled to get to her feet. She looked up just in time to see the moose preparing to charge her a second time.
“It put its ears back again and took a step forward and Berry got between me and the moose and was barking,” Closuit said.
The moose retreated in the direction of Closuit’s walking trail, but Berry saw the direction the moose was going and made a swooping turn to head it off. The moose spotted the dog and took a right turn away from the house and back into the woods.
“She cut it off at the trail and drove it into the woods and barked at it like she was saying, ‘Don’t you come back here,’” Closuit said.
While they are now mainly used as protection dogs, Rotweillers were once bred to be herding dogs, Closuit said. After seeing her in action, Closuit can see why.
“I have never seen her instincts kick into gear like that,” said Closuit, who has had Berry since she was 6 months old. “She was in her element.”
After calling Berry back to her, Closuit ran back into the house and counted her blessings.
“I’ve had my fair of share of experiences with moose in my 26 years but nothing nearly this close,” she said.
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Good girl Berry! What a beautiful, clever furbaby.
Another example of why breed specific legislation and insurance regulations banning breeds like Rottweilers is wrong! The more stories like this that get out to the public, the better.
Considering England “invented” many bully breeds, it’s a shame that they are now turning their backs on them. Do staffies (staffordshire bull terriers), the nannies of the dog world, now have to fear for their lives? Apparently so. Shame!
I too have a Rottie- Best dog ever! My thoughts- if stupid people are afraid of her, I am probably pretty darn safe! Best part, Lexie is smarter than most people I know!