Jonah,

I’m all for heroic dogs and stuff. But let’s keep things in perspective. I’m willing to bet at least a dollar that on an average day, far more people are injured by dogs than saved by them. A reader was thinking along similar lines and sent these links just from his search of today’s headlines.

And for the record, it is my understanding, after careful investigation of the incident, that Princess the cat knocked over the kerosene lantern in question only because she was being chased by the brutish dog Thumper, who then shamelessly sought kudos for cleaning up his own mess. Then she got her tail burned — ain’t that always the way?