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Post by Aussienot on Nov 13, 2004 16:33:14 GMT -5
The hero pooch who saved his ex-model owner from a vicious, knife-wielding would-be rapist in Central Park was honored yesterday, and rewarded with a medal and a gigantic stuffed toy bone.
"He's my hero — but he always was, even before he saved me," gushed tall, blond, Danish-born Carina Schlesinger, 25, of Cookie, the 50-pound, brown-and-black shepherd mix she adopted from a New Jersey shelter. "He's a good example of what can come out of a shelter."
Cookie, who foiled Schlesinger's attacker in May, got his just deserts at the Garden City Hotel in Long Island during the annual North Shore Animal League's awards luncheon fund-raiser. The mild-mannered mutt — dressed to the nines in a multicolored scarf and white socks — posed for pictures with Schlesinger.
The Upper East Side resident was attacked while walking Cookie on the desolate Woodlands Path. The gutsy pup took a chunk out of accused rapist Tito Rodriguez, 32, during the attack, say cops. DNA samples from some of Rodriguez's blood helped identify the Bronx resident when he was picked up a few days later on another sex-crime charge.
He was charged June 1 and is jailed while awaiting trial.
Schlesinger and her husband adopted the stray four years ago when he was a pup. They've never regretted getting a shelter dog. "These dogs deserve a second chance," Schlesinger said, turning to the gentle, long-haired cutie to compliment him: "Have you any idea what a star you are?"
New York Post - November 4, 2004
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