A Martin Bryson of Dundee planted a piece of fake dog poo in his house as a joke. Then, his daughter Reese dropped a bag of dog biscuits on it, and their dog Boo ate the whole thing in one gulp.

Quoth Martin’s girlfriend Shelly: “The biscuits got mixed up with the fake dog poo that had been left on the floor. For some reason Boo decided to eat it and swallowed it down in one. I got straight on the phone to PDSA as she had been sick and was refusing to eat and they told me to bring her in immediately.”

Boo, a six-month-old black mixed-breed, needed to be sent to Dundee PetAid veterinary hospital, where the surgeons noticed a swelling in the abdomen, and an X-ray showed the blockage.

Quoth surgeon Stephan Hunt said: “We were worried about Boo because if the object had moved into her intestines and caused a blockage she could have died. We gave Boo intravenous fluids to keep her hydrated and carried out emergency surgery to remove the object from her stomach. The family had been worried sick about Boo. I thought I was going to lose her. I’m so grateful to PDSA for saving her life. We can all laugh about it now but at the time everyone was very worried about her as they knew how serious it was. Needless to say we won’t be having any joke dog poo in our house again.” Boo is, by all accounts, doing fine.

Some birds swallow stones, as they help break down food in their stomach. A Jack Russell Terrier from Fleetwood found out he was not one of them the hard way.

Star, a Jack Russell Terrier, played in the garden, and, for whatever reason, ate dozens of small stones while there. Her owner Tracy McCaul took him to a vet in Blackpool after she found she could hardly move and refused to eat or drink.

Dog Defused Nazi bomb by weeing on it.

Staff found a “crunchy material” in the stomach and X-rays revealed a whole bunch of stones there. Quoth Tracy McCaul: “I was very shocked when PDSA told me she had swallowed so many stones, I just didn’t think it was possible. Star was kept at the PetAid hospital for several days and I was really worried about her.”Quoth veterinarian Jennifer Jackson: “Star’s condition was very worrying – she could hardly stand and was extremely dehydrated. On close examination, we could feel something in Star’s stomach but when we saw the x-rays we couldn’t believe how many stones she had swallowed. It really was touch and go whether Star would survive. The quantity of sharp stones passing through her intestines was damaging them and given the possibility of them piercing her intestines, there was a danger of her developing potentially fatal peritonitis. We had to carry out emergency surgery to remove the stones and thankfully she has gone on to make a full recovery. “Tracy has since removed all the stones from her garden to prevent a reoccurrence of the incident.

Juliana is one of the great unsung heroines of World War 2, and, the Blitz in particular. She once took out a bomb dropped by the Luftwaffe using only her bladder, winning a Blue Cross medal in the process. Of course, I suppose the reasons she’s an unsung heroine is because she was a Great Dane. But, nevertheless, three years later, she won another one for alerting customers to a fire going through her owner’s Bristol shoe shop.

But, alas Juliana’s story was untold for 70 years; it was only found out when auctioneers at a house clearance in Bristol discovered the second medal and a portrait of the pet. A plaque attached to the portrait reads “Juliana – awarded a medal for extinguishing an incendiary bomb April 1941. Awarded another for alerting the occupants of her master’s burning shop November 1944.”

After being estimated at being worth £60, they sold for £1,100. Quoth auctioneer Philip Taubenheim said: “We are constantly finding treasures during house clear-outs, many with fascinating stories behind them. This medal and portrait are a perfect example. They were found at two different stages of a house clearance at a property in Bristol that belonged to a relative of Juliana’s owner. We united the two and were able to lift the lid on an incredible story.” And so, they told the same story I told two paragraphs ago. He added: “That time she was given the award for putting out an incendiary bomb that had crashed through the roof of her owner’s house. I’ve never heard of a dog being able to extinguish a bomb before – one can only assume this was a Great Dane with a great bladder. These items tell a fantastic story and highlight the often-forgotten role that animals played in the war.”

But, alas, Juliana was poisoned in 1946 through her owner’s letterbox. The assailant was never caught.

The Blue Cross was originally an honor created by The Our Dumb Friends League (quite possibly the most unfortunately-named animal welfare group ever) in 1897. It was originally given to those who rescued animals, but in 1918, it was given to honor horses who served in World War I. It was forgotten until 1940, when it was given to heroic dogs, like Juliana. It stopped being awarded in 1951, but, after a police dog named Jake cleared the Tube lines after the 7/7 bombings, the award was revived just for him.

Man wakes up to find he’s been cuddling with a wild fox.

One August morning, Leon Smith, an IT professional from London, felt something nuzzle into his neck. He thought at first it was the family cat Bramble. However, when he turned around to look at his girlfriend, he realised that A) His girlfriend had gone without his noticing, and B) the animal he was holding had coarse hair; He opened his eyes to find out he was holding a fox.

I know what you may be thinking, and, the answer is, it was apparently completely innocent, and something that could have easily occurred in a PG-rated film. The fox apparently just entered the Hampton Hill house via catflap and went inside to cuddle. He then whipped out his phone and captured a picture of the fox, and they went into a 10-minute standoff that only ended when Smith charged at it, shouting.

Quoth Smith: “I just thought it was the cat, so I thought nothing of it,’ Mr Smith said. ‘It had walked up my back and was licking my neck for a good couple of seconds. I pushed him off and rolled over for a cuddle, forgetting Sophie was already at work. When I touched what I thought was the cat, it was all rough and not like Bramble at all. I couldn’t believe it. It was so calm – it just stared at me. Then it went to the end of the bed and that’s when I grabbed my phone to take the picture. It went to the door and just sat in the doorway, still staring. It trapped me.”

The fox wasn’t even looking for food; it walked past the kitchen to go up two flights of stairs. When Sophie Merrell, his girlfriend, came back home, laughed at first, but worries it will return. Quoth Merrell: “When I saw the fox I thought it was hilarious at first,’ the 28-year-old said. ‘I thought, “Well serves you right for laying in bed.” But then I put the picture on Facebook and a lot of my friends said they would have been terrified. If it had got into bed with me, I don’t know what I would have done – maybe hide under the covers and scream and cry. I’m really scared now that it will come back, I’m really jumpy. I am really paranoid when I am alone in the house that it will come and get me.

To quote the RSPCA: “Foxes by nature will tend to avoid human contact and incidents such as these are rare. We would encourage people to use humane deterrents to discourage foxes from their gardens, the most effective of which is removing or preventing access to what attracts them – for example food.”

The American Humane Society has a page about how to deal with something like this if it happens to you; presumably American and British foxes aren’t too different, behaviorally.