Dogs are known as man’s best friend because there is nothing like the love and loyalty that they show to humans. Now, a tragic story is going viral that shows this in a very sad way.

Pete was a 14 year-old English Settler who was incredible loyal to his owners Stephen Parisi and Cathi Henn, a married couple in New York. The couple fostered and adopted Pete, who was from Ohio, after he became too old to act as a hunting dog.

In February of 2018, Stephen took Pete and his two other dogs hiking with him on the Monksville Reservoir in New Jersey. As they explored, they ran right into a black bear in the middle of the woods.

“The bear’s only exit was a 180-degree turn and the bear was never going to turn its back on something that it was scared of, so it came for Stephen and the dogs,” Cathi said.

Pete immediately risked his own life by taking the bear on, fending him off long enough for his family to escape to safety. When Stephen had gotten the other dogs to safety, he went back to distract the bear and found a seriously injured Pete. Stephen rushed Pete back down the trail and met Cathi before the two took the injured dog to the vet.

X-rays showed that Pete had extensive trauma to his spinal cord which meant that he could never walk again. Vets said he needed several surgeries, and given his advanced age, he likely would not survive them. That’s why Stephen and Cathi made the heartbreaking decision to have Pete put down so he wouldn’t suffer anymore.

“Run free Pete, you no longer have all those aches and pains of old age,” they wrote on Instagram. “You had a great 18 months with us running the days away like you loved.. Love you Petey. Save me some cheese for when we see each other again.”

 

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Below is an account from my husband of yesterdays pack walk. “Today we lost our brave, old man Pete. The dogs surprised a black bear just off the trail while we were hiking this morning. It must not have heard or smelled us with the pouring rain. It felt threatened and turned around. Pete stepped up and held off the bear until I could get the other dogs to safety. Once I was sure they were safe, I went back and scared the bear off, but Pete was gravely injured. I was able to get him back down to the main trail and, thanks to Cathi and Kate, we were able to get him in a car and to the hospital pretty quickly. He held on like a real trooper the whole time, and he was never alone in his pain. The x-rays revealed some pretty bad spinal damage that would mean he could never walk again, if he survived all the surgeries (not a certain thing at his age). We decided it was best to let him go this afternoon. Run free Pete, you no longer have all those aches and pains of old age. You had a great 18 months with us running the days away like you loved.” Please light a candle for Pete and remember that fostering and rescuing a dog can sometimes save you. Senior dogs have so much to give. Love you Petey. Save me some cheese for when we see each other again. ❤️?❤️

A post shared by Me & My Shadow Pets ? (@mmspets) on Feb 12, 2018 at 1:16pm PST

“I want to remember Pete as the happy-go-lucky dog he was. I want to remember him running through the woods, always with his tail wagging,” Cathi added.

Pete is a true hero who will never be forgotten. Rest in peace, buddy.