Among humans, there is no greater act of devotion than taking a bullet for someone. And that’s just the kind of loyalty displayed by the fourth of our famous Sheps. This Shep lived in San Francisco in the early 1940’s. His owner, David Kuhach, was a Russian immigrant who owned a bar in the city. One night in March, 1945, a masked gunman broke into the bar, and forced Kuhach into a back room, where the money was kept. Shep came to Kuhach’s aid, leaping at the throat of the gunman, who then shot Shep in the shoulder with a .38 caliber bullet before escaping with $80. Shep and his owner survived, and the photo shows him in bandages, being attended to by Kuhach. The newspaper article praised “faithful dog ‘Shep'” for his bravery.
Though we love our Shep, I don’t think he’d jump in front of a bullet for us, unless that bullet was made of bacon.