Our four-legged friends can be comfort to us in so many ways. For the elderly they can offer companionship, exercise, a purpose and sometimes even keep us going.



For 80-year-old Ken Pendagraft, his dog of 14 years offered him a reason to go out every day and take him for a walk, not to mention companionship and unconditional love.

But when Ken was found distraught with a very sick dog, neighbors rallied around to help.

What happened after this shows just how connected we are to our animals and how much we need them.

Ken lived in a mobile home community in Hemet, California with his 16-year-old dog Zack. According to his neighbors he was friendly but generally kept himself to himself.

That was until his dog became very sick and Ken didn’t have the money to rush him to the vet.

Reached out to ask for help
Neighbor Carol Burt said: “Ken was in tears …He said, ‘I don’t know what to do. I have no money to take him to a vet’.”

Carol decided to post about her neighbor’s plight on social media in the hope that someone could help treat Ken’s sweet dog.

Her appeal was answered by Elaine Seamans, founder of the At-Choo Foundation, a rescue organization that helps dogs in need of medical care.

He and his papa have been together for 14 of Zak’s 16 years. They are each other's best friend and I am pretty sure, we...

Posted by At-Choo Foundation on Saturday, March 3, 2018

Elaine did all she could for Zack who was diagnosed with “glaucoma, severe arthritis and a 6/6 heart murmur, making any surgery impossible.”

Sadly, Zack didn’t make it and Elaine posted an update on Facebook saying: “Prof. Zack’s loving papa was with him as his soul was released from his body that had stopped working for him. He is now feeling like a puppy again and doing all things happy and joyful.”

Void of loneliness
But unfortunately, the sadness doesn’t end there.

On behalf of Ken, At-Choo Foundation posted a message from him thanking all his well wishers who had sent cards and messages of condolences but said he was experiencing a “void of loneliness.”

Not long after he lost his beloved Zack, Ken died of a heart attack.

Anyone who loves their pet knows how stressful it is when they pass.

To each and everyone of you who took the time to reach out with kindness and compassion to Prof. Zack's dad in his time...

Posted by At-Choo Foundation on Tuesday, March 13, 2018

May Ken rest in peace with his beloved dog Zack.

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Ruby is a shelter dog that was abused for most of her life by her previous owner before being rescued by the Care Rescue LA. 

Even the endangered animals list get bigger and bigger, apparently some “extinct” species have been rediscovered. This time a very unique ancient dog breed has been spotted in the wild for the first time in 50 years.

Image credits FACEBOOK
It took half a century for researchers to rediscover the New Guinea singing dog – a species thought to be extinct in the wild. With only a few of these dogs living in captivity, the researchers were completely baffled to spotted them in some remote areas of Papua, Indonesia. Closely related to the dingos, these dogs are famous due to their very unique and melodious way to howl.


Back in 2016, during an expedition conducted by the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation, a pack of 15 wild dogs has been spotted near a gold mine. A couple of years later, the researching team returned to collect DNA samples and GPS data from this pack in order to compare it with the captive singing dogs. Turns out they had an over 70% genetic overlap – that means they’re incredibly close related.


“They look most related to a population of conservation biology New Guinea singing dogs that were descended from eight dogs brought to the United States many, many, many years ago,” Elaine Ostrander – geneticist at the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute and co-author of the paper told CNN.

“New Guinea singing dogs are rare. They’re exotic. They have this beautiful harmonic vocalization that you don’t find anywhere else in nature, so losing that as a species is not a good thing. We don’t want to see this (species) disappear,” Elaine added.


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Dozens of farmers in Divide County, N.D. put their own harvesting on hold to cut 1,000 acres for a farmer who suffered a heart attack after his combine caught fire last week.

Credit: Rodney Olin and Don Anderson via KFYR
Lane Unhjem was in the middle of harvesting when he went into cardiac arrest. He was flown to Minot where he is in stable condition.

When word spread of Unhjem's situation last week, local farmers immediately started coordinating an effort to help him out.

Around 60 farmers brought 11 combines, six grain carts, and 15 semis to get Unhjem's Durum Wheat and Canola in the bin.

"I talked to a couple of farmers, got their equipment, and then other people just started calling and we had equipment offered from all over the place in the county, and their workers to go with it," Jenna Binde told KFYR.

Those who assisted say letting the Unhjems' crops go unharvested would've been a big loss for the family, and helping out was just common sense.

"Everybody knows the Unhjems, and they're good people and good in the community, and just kind of the farming way of life too. You help your neighbor out when they need it and don't expect anything in return," added Binde.

It took only seven hours for the farmers to harvest the Unhjems' 1,000 acres of crops over the weekend.

Unhjem's family says he is doing okay but has a long road of recovery ahead.

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