The Unlikely Friendships Between Dogs and Other Animals

Although they’ve long been regarded as man’s best friend, did you know that dogs can become friends with other animals as well? You’ll grin when you see these endearing relationships between dogs and all kinds of wildlife. Let’s enjoy some of these precious moments that were caught on video.

Ducks and Dogs: An Ageless Bond

As evidenced by this cute picture of Rusty the cocker spaniel offering Donald the duck a ride on his back, our furry pals have been buddies with ducks since 1949. Ducks and dogs share a unique kinship that endures over time.

Dogs and Monkeys: Picking Up Tips from the Finest

A touching event occurred in the busy Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka when a monkey gave a firm hug to its adopted puppy buddy. This loving demonstration between two distinct animals illustrates the strength of friendship and love.

Piglets and French Bulldogs: An Unbreakable Bond

Baby, a French bulldog at the Lehnitz animal refuge in Germany, discovered that cuddling piglets was his true calling. Six little piglets and Baby struck up a conversation right away. These endearing exchanges serve as a reminder that friendship has no bounds.

Ducks and Dogs: Lifelong Playmates

This adorable picture shows the amazing friendship between Barclay the dog and Rudy the duck. When the two are together, they frolic and leap, demonstrating the unadulterated happiness that may result from strange friendships.

French Bulldogs and Tigers: Cuddling Together

A French bulldog named Bella provided a two-week-old young tiger cub with loving care in Japan. When the cub’s mother rejected it, Bella intervened to make sure the little tiger didn’t feel abandoned. This touching demonstration of interspecies empathy highlights the generosity present in the animal realm.

Dogs and Elephants: A True Friendship’s Tail

At the Tennessee Elephant Sanctuary, most interactions between humans are restricted, but Bella the dog discovered a unique opening. She developed a close relationship with Tarra the elephant, and the two would frequently follow one another about and even share a bed. This endearing bond serves as a reminder that love is unconditional and unaffected by size or species.

These are Only the First Steps…

There are countless touching stories of dogs and other animals becoming buddies. These strange relationships—such as dogs and cats cuddling up to mice or a kind, enormous bear carrying its devoted dog companion—serve as a powerful reminder of the strength of friendship and love. Animals are incredibly good at finding friends in the most unlikely places.

Therefore, keep in mind that these relationships go beyond what humans can understand the next time you witness a dog befriending another animal. They impart to us values such as empathy, acceptance, and the indisputable link that unites all living things.

Former teen idol Leif Garrett’s life took a horrible downward spiral

To me, it feels like teenage heartthrob Leif Garrett does not get enough credit as an artist and performer. He deserved so much more!

Throughout his career, the former teen idol experienced extreme highs and lows, but the highs he sought through drug addiction, which he used as a crutch, resulted in him sinking his career…

Before you see him today, at 62, it might be good to hold your breath…

What a babe he was….. Leif Garrett started as a child actor, and in the 1970s, he set the hearts of young women to fluttering when he became a musician.

My mom told me that when she went to the grocery store with her parents, she could see Leif’s face on all of the teen magazine covers at the checkout lanes.

Leif Garrett Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The American singer-actor, born in Hollywood, California, was 5 years old when he first appeared in the movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in 1969, which became the sixth highest-grossing film of the year.

Following that role, the sleepy-eyed, flaxen-haired heartthrob featured in the film Walking Tall, along with its two sequels. In 1983 he joined a number of fellow teen heartthrobs, including Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze and Tom Cruise, in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders.

Some might also recognize him from his performances in TV series, like FamilyThe Odd Couple (1974), Wonder Woman (1978) and CHiPs (1979).

In 1977, he released his first album Leif Garret, and fans went wild when he performed covers of popular songs like The Wanderer (Dion), Surfin’ USA (The Beach Boys) and Paul Anka’s Put Your Head on My Shoulder.

Flickr / A.Currell

Garrett was on top of the world. The blond, shaggy-haired singer toured worldwide, and his fans (mostly young girls) went crazy as soon as they saw him. 

”I was on a public appearance tour in Sydney, Australia, and they had to fly me in by helicopter and then I jumped into an armored car and drove into the theater by back door. I’ve tried using a lim there before, but the fans almost tipped it over. I guess it’s an adrenalin push for them. They just freak out. It’s very weird,” Garrett told New York Daily News in 1979.

But even though his music was close to topping the charts, he struggled with management that made him feel like a “fraud.” The crossover to adulthood was also a challenge for Garrett.

“I think I was a good performer from the get-go but I wish they had offered me singing lessons before ever making a record and doing the typical punching in a sentence here or there or words or whatever,” Garret said in an interview.

“There’s a particular track (I Was Looking for Someone to Love) that doesn’t even sound like me at all. I would even possibly say I wasn’t even on that track. And to me, that IS fraud. That’s like a Milli Vanilli situation, the difference being, of course, mine was blended many times with myself and somebody else.”

Leif Garrett Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Garrett’s career started to go downhill in 1979 when, drunk and drugged, he crashed a car and sent it tumbling down a hillside in North Hollywood, leaving his then-close friend Ronald Winkler a paraplegic.

But that wasn’t enough for Garret, whose life continued its negative spiral.

In 1980, a time he describes in his book as “the apex of pinup fame,” Garret revelled in sex, drugs and rock and roll with the legendary frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury, who was at the time recording the hugely successful album The Game, which featured the hits “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites the Dust.” Garrett said he became friends with the band, who showed him a real rock star life with girls and drugs.

In an interview with Fox for the release of his memoir, Idol Truth, Garrett said:“I don’t think I was a very mature 16-year-old. I became mature very quickly because I was always surrounded by adults who were drinking and doing coke. I was a child, but being treated as an adult… And all of this was coming out of my pocket.”

He continued: “You know, I probably have the greatest fan base that I could ever imagine for myself. They have stuck with me through thick and thin. And as you know, I’ve gotten myself in plenty of bad situations. There was a lot of bad decision-making. But at the same time, I didn’t have the parental guidance that I should have at that time.”

Flickr / Leo Reynolds

Garret’s tally of charges is extensive. He dropped out of rehab and had numerous run-ins with the police, including whilst trying to buy drugs from undercover cops and trying to hide heroin in his shoe.

Despite making very effort at clawing his way back to the top, Garrett ultimately returned to his old habits. Because of his laughable experiences with the law, Garrett was selected to provide commentary on the comedy show World’s Dumbest, which chronicles the “most amazingly stupid” criminals.

The show also used other celebrities known for personal misadventures, like Todd Bridges, Tonya Harding, Gary Busey and Danny Bonaduce.

Then Garrett landed a starring role on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, a show he did not want to appear on. Garrett accused the show of having him relapse for drama, a claim emphatically denied by VH1.

Wikipedia Commons / Toglenn

In an interview the LA Times, Garrett said: “They asked to get some footage of me using, and I said, ‘I haven’t been using. They said, ‘We really have to get footage of you using.’ Anyway, I was easily talked into showing them.”

When a counselor with the production called him out, suggesting he was still using, Garrett walked off the show saying: “This is insanity and quite honestly I don’t appreciate it.”

Fortunately, Leif Garrett is sober today.

”I had a 90-day sentence in county jail. I was in court-ordered rehab before that, and then my mom visited and told me she had stage IV lung cancer. I said, ‘I’m leaving to take care of her—nobody lives with her.’ So dealing with that, I started using again. So it was like, ‘Cuff him, bring him in,’ and I did the 90 days, and that was it,” he says.

According to the former teen idol, he’s still very grateful for all his fans.

”I’ve kept every photo or letter that a young lady sent, telling me about being on their walls and kissing me good night before they went to bed,” Garrett told Closer. “It’s very surreal and a bit embarrassing, but how flattering! I can’t thank [my fans] enough, because I’m still able to do something I enjoy and get paid for it.”

Leif Garrett arrives at the opening night of ‘Rain- A Tribute To The Beatles’ at the Pantages Theatre on April 12, 2011 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images for Pantages Theatre)

We’re rallying behind Leif’s recovery and hope he can enjoy his life now!

We’d love you to share your thoughts on the former teen idol and his attempts at getting sober.

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