Bibi: The Dramatic Dog Rescue

This is really great, a dashing young man went out of his way to rescue a poor, adorable, and totally helpless dog. I wish there are more people like that young man! When Bibi the dog was blown off a jetty in Melbourne, owner Sue Drummond looked on helplessly as the maltese-shihtzu cross was tossed by the surging waves. "I thought she was going to sink and then maybe I wouldn't be able to find her," she said. "But I didn't really want to hop in the water either because I wasn't quite sure if I could make it to shore with a struggling dog."

Luckily for Bibi, Raden Soemawinata was also on the pier at Brighton. He stripped off and dived in after the dog. Mr Soemawinata, 20, was on the pier for a family ceremony to scatter his grandmother's ashes into the bay.


"It was pretty cold and windy but it wasn't such a hard decision to jump in. It wasn't such a great feat," he said after the rescue. Gale force winds triggered more than 1000 calls to the State Emergency Service yesterday as Victorians reported damage to houses, roadways and parked cars.

Bii Bi the maltese terrier was blown off the Brighton pier, by gale force winds.

Dog owner Sue Drummond, watched tragically on as her dog was pushed away from the pier, thinking about the dire fate of her beloved pet. At one stage poor Bi Bi was 30 meters away from the pier, before coming back within 5 meters.

BiBi's head was dropping below water, before making one last effort to make it back to the pier.

At that stage, dashing Raden Soemawinata age 20 from Doncaster, prepares to jump off the pier to grab the dog and bring it to safety.

Raden perilously braved hanging off the jetty just to saved the hapless dog! How brave, how noble!

With no thought about his own safety, Raden dropped down to the icy water.


The water felt like a thousand needles was pricking his whole body, but Raden never even had second thoughts about rescuing the grateful little Bibi.


The watching crowd gasped as the bold young man plummeted into the water. Bibi, looking at her savior gravely, was almost dying with cold and exhaustion. She was almost losing all hope, losing her will to live...

But rescue did come and Raden lost no time in pulling the dog to safety.

If Bibi could speak, she would probably be saying "Thank you, kind sir. Thank you, thank you!"

Finally, Raden was able to swim back to shore, bringing the poor dog back to its grateful owner's waiting arms!

Hooray! Bibi the dog is saved!


The triumphant, but very cold, Raden was exhausted at this point. But knowing he had successfully rescued Bibi, gave restored his strength.

Sue was overwhelmed by all the emotions running through her. She managed to tell Raden how thankful she is, but RAden nobly told her that he was glad that he was able to help.

To show her gratitude, Sue hugged the shivering Raden. Raden gallantly hugged her back.

Sue and Bibi, together again!

Bibi: One Lucky and Grateful Little Dog

Charmedwishes...

Blessed be!

Fantasy Poodles

They may resemble pandas, buffalos and camels - but these animals are actually poodles, all competing for the title of top dog at 'creative grooming' shows across the U.S.

Something of a canine fancy dress contest, it takes just two hours for owners to transform their pets, which are sheared and coloured to achieve each look.

The incredible transformations were captured by photographer Ren Netherland, who travels thousands of miles each year to attend each competition.

Here's what a standard, no frills, poodle looks like

Getting the hump: Cindy the poodle is transformed into a camel for a creative dog grooming show by owner and show veteran Sandra Hartness

This fairy really takes the dog-biscuit

Flower girl: Cindy, this time as a psychedelic snail. 'The transformation they go through is simply spectacular,' says photographer Ren Netherland

Paws for thought: A poodle is transformed into a very convincing panda for a creative grooming show in Pennsylvania

Top dog: Pirates of the Caribbean character Captain Jack Sparrow was the inspiration for poodle owner Missy Gullett

Horse play: The transformation of a poodle into a pony was one of Ren Netherland's favourites. 'You had no clue whatsoever what they were planning,' he said

Team player: This dog was transformed unto an American football player by shearing its coat into a jacket and furry helmet

Hair of the dog: Virtually unrecognisable as a poodle, this very convincing buffalo disguise is uncanny

A poultry effort: This pooch is made to play chicken

Bird of paradise: Cindy the poodle, this time as a peacock, is transformed with brightly coloured fur dye, glitter and a fan of feathers

Charmedwishes...

Blessed be!

The Shadow and I

I was walking my dog along our usual nightly walk at about 9pm. (I rarely have to do this since I have a very irregular work schedule.) We usually turn out of our street onto the main side street in our subdivision, walk a half-mile south to the next major cross-street, then turn around and come back north up the other side of the street.

There is one intersection two blocks from my street that tends to creeps me out -- but only at night and only when I approach it going north toward my street. There just always seem to be too many shadows making too much movement. I've always put it off to a combination of the night, street lights, and my less-than-perfect eyesight and overactive imagination.

The dog and I were walking along, occasionally stopping so it could sniff something or relieve itself. As usual, I had headphones on connected to an MP3 player in my pocket playing music. My dog's leash was in my right hand and my right arm was extended from its pulling.

I tend to walk with my head down, so I watched the shadows of me and, to my right, the dog move about as we approached and then passed each streetlight. We were just coming up to the intersection that tended to bother me a bit. We were at the point, light-wise, where our shadows were elongated and almost directly in front of me.

Suddenly, there was a second shadow to my left. Startled, I whipped my head around, thinking there was someone coming up behind me whom I hadn't heard due to my headphones and that the dogs had been too absorbed to notice. There was no one there. I looked back at the shadow, which was starting to move away to where you couldn't really distinguish shapes, and the second shadow was still there for a second, then it disappeared.

I tried to rationalize this as there being a double shadow caused by the street lights, but there was only one shadow of my dog. Additionally, the shadow was about 6-7 inches taller than me, both its arms were at its sides, and it did not have any dog leash. I have no idea what this was and haven't seen it since.

Charmedwishes...

Blessed be!