Celebrity canine: Dog honored for rescue
Published: May 24, 2006
Zion, a yellow Labrador retriever credited with plucking a boy from a rushing mountain river 10 days ago, practically needs his own press agent these days.
Since his heroic swim out to 8-year-old Ryan Rambo, who had been flipped from a raft, Zion and his 13-year-old owner, Chelsea Bennett, have become local heroes in Glenwood Springs, Colo., and national celebrities.
In Touch, Ladies Home Journal and People magazines have called, as have the National Enquirer and “The Late Show with David Letterman.”
Pet-supply firms have sent care packages and dog treats. The Garfield County sheriff, the American Humane Association and the American Red Cross all want to issue special commendations.
“To get that kind of recognition, no, I never expected that,” said Chelsea’s mother, Robin. “For it to go beyond Glenwood and become national news is just amazing. I am very proud of Zion and very proud of Chelsea . . . I think it’s just great that people recognize that.”
A dog trainer has offered two weeks of free board and obedience training for Zion after reading comments that the energetic 2-year-old is notoriously untrained.
“Everybody here thought it was pretty neat. We just want to get him trained now,” said Ron Bruce, trainer at Tenaker Pet Care in Highlands Ranch, a Denver suburb.
Zion and Chelsea were playing along the banks of the fast-flowing Roaring Forks river on May 14 when Ryan came floating by in his life vest, growing hypothermic and meekly shouting “Help!”
Chelsea said Zion swam out to investigate, and then she called the dog back to shore with 58-pound Ryan, who had been in the water about 20 minutes, clinging to his collar.
Kathryn Jahnigan, spokeswoman for the American Humane Association in Denver, said she read the story of Zion to her mother and had her almost in tears — affirmation of the organization’s desire to give the dog its Golden Paw award for valor.
The American Red Cross chapter in Denver similarly wants to honor Zion and Chelsea next March at its heavily attended annual “Breakfast of Champions,” at which recipients each are awarded a Wheaties box bearing their likenesses, said spokesman Robert Thompson.
Perhaps the most heartwarming response, the Bennetts said, was a handwritten letter sent to Chelsea’s school from an Aspen resident whom they’ve never met indicating that he had nominated Zion for a Carnegie Hero Fund.
“Zion, you are one brave dog,” the letter read. “I don’t know if they make a choice for heroic animals . . . I’ve enclosed some doggie biscuits just in case they don’t recognize the feat.”
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