It was just another night in the Chaichanhda household. Everyone went to bed, as usual, the parents in their room, and their toddler in her own room. What they were unaware of was an impending accident and a heroic act which will be etched in their memory forever. The tragic turn of events that followed made an impact not only on the apartment but also on its residents.

When Nana Chaichanhda’s apartment in Stockton, California was on the verge of burning down from the fire, their 8-month-old pit bull turned the hero for the family. Sasha the pit bull was outside but started barking at Nana’s door, very much out of character for her. She was keen and quick to sense the fire in a neighbouring apartment and promptly started barking, trying to warn everyone.

Nana had never seen her beloved dog barking so loud before. She knew something was wrong. As Nana came out of her room, she realized that a fire was ablaze. Nana instinctively went to grab her toddler from the other room, as would any mother. With the apartment burning down around her, Nana had to make her way to the room where her 7-month-old girl was in.

Much to her surprise, she found Sasha there. In that chaotic situation, the heroic dog had reached the toddler even before the mother. Sasha had somehow managed to climb on the bed of the sleeping baby and grabbed the waist of the baby’s diaper. She was determined to pull her out of her bed and carry her out of the apartment which would crumble any time. She persistently kept pulling at the diaper when Nana saw them.


Nana was quick to grab both her baby and the pit bull as she dashed out of the fire-ravaged apartment.

This heroic dog turned saviour not only for her owner but also for the owner’s little girl. She managed to get the child out of the room while Nana carried both of them out thereafter. Not once did the dog hesitate to go through the fire to save a life.
Thanks to the loving and daring pet, the family survived the ordeal. The fire left their apartment inhabitable. A cousin of Nana’s who lived in the same building also suffered from the same fire. Together they are now living with an aunt who resides in the same building complex as them. The kindly woman has taken them all in and is thankful to the pit bull for saving her granddaughter as well.

The Stockton Fire Department is investigating the fire breakout. They are yet to determine the cause of the midnight fire which disrupted many lives of the building.

The whole locality is in awe of the pit bull, while before this particular incident, most of them had little or no trust on the dog. They seem to better understand the breed and have taken to it very amusingly. They have been all praises for Sasha the saviour.

Nana was quick to admit, “If it wasn’t for her, I would have still been in bed and things could have taken a worse turn.” She is vocal about her gratitude and has plans for a big treat for the beloved dog.

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Sadly, it doesn’t seems the problem will be soon fixed. Therefore, a major part of those pups won’t have a home and a family.


“This problem has escalated to the point where it would take decades of a concentrated spay-neuter program in a city like Houston to begin to reduce the numbers,” said Peter Zheutlin, a rescue dog advocate in US. “The shelters are not often high priorities for governments either when they’ve got competing demands from the school department, the police department, the fire department, parks, sanitation. Who speaks for the dogs?”


However, surprisingly one country has beaten all the odds, becoming the first nation without homeless dogs. Over the last few years, Holland has been working hard to fix their stray dog problem and it finally paid off! And now the Netherlands has officially become the first country without stray dogs.

Let’s hope that other countries will fallow their example. And here’s how they managed to deal with it.

Their first step was to implement a country-wide sterilization program. Every dog that was brought it for sterilization was also given a medical exam and brought up-to-date on any vaccinations needed. This, too, was instrumental in cutting back on the spread of diseases like rabies.




Then, the authorities passed a new set of laws in order to improve the animals rights and to protect their health. The Dutch government also raised taxes on store dogs to encourage people to rescue dogs from shelter.

“Animals — and our entire society — need the animal police,” said Marianne Thieme, leader of the Party for the Animals. “There is a direct link between violence against animals and violence against humans.”


Now, more that 90 percent of the Dutch residents own a dog, having taken a million of them off the streets. It’s a happy ending for dogs in Holland and a happy ending for humans, too!

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