Around 5 p.m., Rubert "Lee" and Elizabeth Littler adopted a 135-pound Saint Bernard from the Highland County Dog Pound.
About six hours later the dog chased down a burglar that had allegedly cut telephone and cable lines to his new owner's West Pleasant Street home and was attempting (or already had) to enter a basement door on the back side of the home.
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| Rubert "Lee" Littler and hero dog, Hercules |
Up to that point, Lee said, the dog he had just named Hercules had not made a sound.
"I was taking Hercules out the back door to go to the bathroom and just had a hold of him by the collar, since the yard is fenced in," Lee said. "I had opened the main door, but not the screen door, when he started growling. The next thing I know he's pulled out of my hand and is going through the screen door.
"The guy must have just come up out of the basement when he heard me open the door. Anyway, Hercules jumped off the back porch, over the stairwell, and I see this guy running toward the fence (maybe 15 or 20 feet away). (Hercules) ran up and grabbed the guy by his ankle as he was going over the fence."
Lee said the suspected burglar was able to get away, but probably only because Hercules is still recovering from what a vet says was likely a coyote attack.
Hercules' odyssey to becoming a hero actually started at the end of last month.
Greenfield attorney Peter Quance said he was hiking with a Chillicothe-area doctor in Ross County on Saturday, Oct. 29 when they came across what they first thought was a log in the trail ahead of them.
It turned out to be Hercules, who was bleeding and dehydrated, barely able to lift up his head.
Several people helped Quance get Hercules into his truck, and the dog was taken to Quance's home in Greenfield where he quickly perked up with water and food.
Quance took Hercules to Greenfield veterinarian James Orr on Monday, Oct. 31, and by looking at the dog's wounds, Quance said the doctor guessed that Hercules had been attacked by coyotes.
Antibiotics and pain medication evidently had Hercules feeling better by Wednesday, Nov. 2 when he scaled Quance's 6-foot-high fence.
After roaming around Greenfield for awhile, Hercules was soon taken to veterinarian Michael Sims' office and Highland County Dog Warden Tim Hart picked the dog up that afternoon.
While dog pound volunteers were actively looking for a safe place for Hercules to call home, along came Lee and Elizabeth Littler.
"Originally, we adopted him because we didn't want him to be euthanized. We thought we'd get him back up and going and see if we couldn't get him a new home or some rescue group to take him," said Lee, who has four other dogs. "But now we don't know what we're going to do. I think he's more or less earned his right to stay."
UPDATE:
The heartwarming story of Hillsboro's own Hercules has become an international sensation.
Since The Times-Gazette's Jeff Gilliland and Lori Tuttle told Hercules' story in Friday's newspaper, media outlets from around the globe have reported the tale, along with requesting to use the photo snapped by Gilliland which accompanied the story.
Domestically, reporters and editors from news outlets ranging from the Dayton Daily News to various television stations to the Washington Post, Las Vegas Sun, Fort Worth Star Telegram, Denver Post, Seattle Times, Sacramento Bee, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Anchorage Daily News and nearly 200 other outlets have published the exploits of the 130-pound Saint Bernard. The United Kingdom's Daily Mail called Friday asking permission to use the photo.
Hercules' owner, Rubert "Lee" Littler, has been overwhelmed by the response.
"I was wowed by it," said Littler on Friday. "I'm still in shock that Hercules even did what he did. Saint Bernard's are by nature very gentle. But they're also among the most intelligent dogs."
[What I like even more about this story is that they hadn't adopted him and simply stuck him on a chain in the backyard. XL dogs love being inside the home with the family just like XS dogs. This beautiful dog repaid their kindness with his devotion. Remember, Collies, St Bernards, Newfies and Bernese were the original nanny dogs!]
