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Dave and Kelly Minnis have three children, two younger, one older, and all united by a common belief that what their family needed was a pet. And that’s how Hercules, a fluff-ball-of-a-pure-bred-Pomeranian pup, with white fur and a muscular name, landed in the midst of the Minnis home around four years ago, an entry remembered for its licks, barks and puppy-snuggles.

“We were looking for a friend for the kids,” Dave Minnis says. “Little Herc was tiny and, as a puppy, pure fur, so we thought Hercules was the perfect name.

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“And, let me tell you, he grew into his name.”

Hercules, the pup, became a nine-pound pooch that could leap six feet in the air from a standing start. He was small, though believed himself mighty, and was protective of the kids (Lindy, Madison and Cameron), and especially close with Kelly.

Photo by Courtesy of Dave Minnis

He was also a city dog, accustomed to leash walks and a fenced-in backyard in Mississauga, Ont. So when the Minnis’ headed north for a weekend getaway at Shannon Eddy and Shawn Kane’s 50-acre farm near the village of Creemore, Hercules was venturing into new territory. An expanse he set off to explore, on a snowy February afternoon, when he spied an open door at the farmhouse and made a run for it. Galloping down a country road, stopping cars as he went — but not stopping.