After a seven hour operation, in which a mechanical digger moved ten tonnes of earth, Tyke emerged apparently unharmed. He’d gone missing seven days previously, whilst out on a walk.

His owner, Stephen Walling, told the BBC that he’d been back to check on Tyke every day and could hear him barking.

The delay in rescuing Tyke was due to laws that protect badget setts. However, Jim Milner, a spokesman for Natural England, explained:

“In that situation there was a live dog down there which everyone knew was alive.

“From the badger point of view the fact that it wasn’t a main sett meant that there was less risk to the badger. It was probably not a breeding sett.”

Mechplant North East provided the equipment free of charge after hearing of Tyke’s plight.

Scampering around in the garden, the tiny pup fell on the stick, which thankfully missed his windpipe.

Kathryn Cave, the Tettenhall vet who treated Jack, told BBC News:

“I could feel it in his throat and I thought it was a fragment of a stick and it wasn’t until we anesthetised him that we realised it was a rather long stick.”

Jack – just 43 cm himself – is now recovering at home, with his owner in Fordhouses.

In other “puppy rescued from unfortunate swallowing incident” news, a three month old Staffordshire Bull Terrier from Rotherham has had a 27 cm tent peg removed from her stomach.

Disa was repeatedly sick, also after playing in the garden. A trip to the PDSA’s PetAid hospital, in Sheffield, revealed the enormous foreign body. Liz Airey, senior vetinary surgeon, told BBC News:

“When Disa was first admitted, we suspected a foreign body may be to blame but didn’t expect it to be so big. We operated immediately to remove it as it could have proved fatal.”

Disa’s owner, Peter Jones, said;

“The next day she was bouncing round like normal. We were worried that her stitches would come out. I’m really grateful to PDSA for all they have done. We certainly won’t be taking Disa camping though.”

After running into traffic near his home, Buck suffered three broken legs and landed his owners, Colleen and Jim Bighley, with a $3,000 bill.

Colleen told her friends on the Minneapolis and St Paul’s Pug Meetup Group that she was unable to pay the bill. Within minutes, a pug lover from Australia had pledged $2,000 and soon Buck’s future was secured, with further donations made directly to the vetinary hospital.

Buck is now at home, recovering.

Following a trip to Derby’s cattle market with his owner, Katherine Riordan, Duke took his place in the trailer pulled by her Land Rover. When Katherine reached home, Duke was no longer there.

“We only stopped once on the way out of Derby, to clean the trailer’s wheels, and we think that’s when he jumped out.

“It wasn’t until we got all the way back to the farm that we noticed he had gone. We were devastated. We thought we would never see him again”, she told the Telegraph.

She continued:

“Just when we thought we had lost him forever and that he had been run over or something terrible like that, there he was. We were getting ready for bed when he suddenly turned up at the door and just wandered in, pretty much as if nothing had happened.

“We couldn’t believe it. He actually gave us a hug – he leaps on you and wraps his paws around you – then he had a big feed and just went to bed.”

Sophie Wilkinson, of the RSPCA, said:

“We know most breeds have an excellent sense of direction, but this sort of journey is rare for a dog.”

Duke is now resting at home, with painkillers to soothe his sore paws.

Bundy, a Jack Russell belonging to Australian Jack Skrzelinski, has been rescued 3 Km out to sea, near Melbourne. After leaping from his owner’s fishing boat, Bundy kept himself afloat for 45 minutes in the 1.5 meter waves.

“We saw a few birds and penguins out there afterwards, so I reckon he might have made a bolt for them”, Jack Skrzelinski told the Herald Sun newspaper.

South African, Clive Andenorff, one of an international party that rescued Bundy, said:

“I thought it was a seal or maybe a shark, but when we stopped it was a dog that swam towards us, and we picked him up and wrapped him in a towel. He was pretty tired.”

Jack Skrzelinski told newspaper The Sunday Mail that he and Bundy would soon be back at sea, adding:

“Only this time he’ll be wearing a life jacket.”

Bundy gets in too deep – in Australia’s The Age newspaper.

PC Steve Wilson described what had happened:

“Jazz located a package with a scent similar to that of the class A drug.

“As he picked up the package his teeth pierced the wrapping and some of the substance became attached to his teeth and gums.

“When I saw that Jazz had some of the substance on him, my heart sank as I knew it would make him extremely ill.”

He was rushed to a nearby vet where he was given a stomach pump, injected with a suitable antidote and put onto a drip overnight.

“Jazz is back to full health and has returned to duty. I?€™d like to pass on my sincere thanks to the veterinary practice for responding so quickly and with such professionalism.”

The West Yorkshire Police website reports that, as a result of the raid, a man was arrested and a firearm and heroin were recovered.

Nice one Jazz.

“I thought something was wrong and then when I opened the front door the smoke just started billowing out. I went inside to try and get some water but the heat and smoke was just too much.” Miles told the Express and Star newspaper.

Although unable to get through the heat to fight the blaze, he saw his dog, Winnie, lying unconscious on the floor.

“I grabbed her and pulled her outside where I gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I had never done it before but it seemed to work well and Winnie soon came round.”

Firefighters believe that lights decorating a Christmas tree started the fire.

Fifty three people applied to adopt Ice Train, after he was rescued within minutes of being hit by a train. Vickie O’Branovich, manager of the Chippewa County Humane Association shelter, selected Ice Train’s new family as they already have two Siberian Huskies, so know exactly what to expect.

Ice Train’s international fame has led to a rise in the number of adoption applications at Chippewa and one miraculous reunion. A family visiting the shelter, to see Ice Train, found the dog they had lost over a year ago.

It’s wonderful that Ice Train – who’ll hopefully be given a warmer name by his new family – has found a happy ending. Let’s remember the hundreds of other dogs who are lost on the streets in this cold weather. If you see one, it’ll only take a few minutes out of your day to run him to the local shelter.

Ice Train video and news story at kare11.com.
Ice Train’s story in the St Paul Pioneer newspaper.