Size doesn’t matter
This is something that some of us hear our parents tell us as children to make us feel better about our heights, then continue to hear from other people throughout our lives in different contexts. This saying is confirmed in several ways over our lives, such as news of this tragically touching story. Last year in Pancevo, Serbia, when a neighbor’s watchdog bull mastiff charged at a ten year-old girl for no apparent reason, a small dog saved her life.
The little girl, who had been on her way home from a friend’s house, was attacked from behind by the huge dog. Her arm firmly in the grasp of the bull mastiff, who had her pinned to the ground and was fiercely pulling her arm with its teeth, the situation looked hopeless. In response to the scene and the little girl screaming in agony, another dog jumped in to save the little girl. A small dachshund named Leo.
Leo, a small heroic dog
The owners of the heroic dog said that usually, Leo would shy away from dogs bigger than himself even at the sight of them. Leo was more the type preferring to snuggle up to you and such, but that day, Leo turned into the heroic dog that many remember him as today.
As previously mentioned, the small heroic dog took the lead in saving the little girl by jumping onto the scene and commencing to bark and bite the other dog. Nikolina Vucetic, the little girl Leo saved that day, was then let go from the dog’s grip.
“When the dog let go of me, he looked around and then stormed at Leo,” said Vucetic as she remembered the incident.
The fight between the heroic dog, Leo, and the bull mastiff was not a fair fight
Upon considering the two breeds, it’s easy to imagine which dog did the most damage. However, the distraction of the fight with the dachshund allowed the little girl to get away to safety. But by the time locals were able to drive away the bull mastiff, the little heroic dog, Leo, had sustained very severe injuries.
The vet could do nothing to save Leo’s life, and he died two days later. Locals at the time wanted to see a memorial built for Leo in memory of his heroic actions that day. One local said, “We want to make sure the dog is honoured. If the dog had not jumped to the rescue the little girl could have been killed.”
Which is what happened two weeks ago. The Serbian town now has a life-sized statue of Leo that stands next to the children’s playground in the park where he stands at attention, ready to jump in again. The little girl regularly stops by the statue to pay tribute, now happy that the little dog has the statue in his honor.
The inscription on the memorial says this: “To all the small heroes with big hearts.”
