Wyatt Erb couldn’t look away when he and his wife spotted a dog clinging to life as they walked near a creek in north-east Pennsylvania, Saturday. The lab mix was tied to a rock while inside the rising water.

“The leash was actually hooked to a stone in the ground,” said Erb. “It’s not something the dog could have done by itself."

Erb quickly took action and went inside the Neshaminy Creek, in Bristol Township, north-east of Philadelphia, to get the dog out. Sergeant Thomas Gaffney of the Bristol Police Department believes the action saved the animal’s life.

“She would have drowned more than likely if the water got high enough,” said Gaffney.

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Gaffney says the dog suffered years of abuse and had a tumor on her hind leg that was never treated. He also believes it was the owner who left her tied up inside the creek in an attempt to kill her.

If the dog’s owner is found and has no history of animal cruelty, he or she could only be charged with a fine. Gaffney believes that punishment is not enough however. He vows to work with the District Attorney to stack charges of neglect and abandonment against the owner.

“You could adopt it or humanely euthanize it,” said Gaffney. “You can do many other things but to do what the person did makes no sense.”

In addition to the tumor, the dog also suffered eye infections and is extremely emaciated. She will be taken to the Bucks County SPCA later this week where she will be available for adoption. Police also believe the dog is between 8 and 11 years of age.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A wheelchair-dependent double amputee has been charged with shooting and critically wounding an Alaska Wal-Mart manager over a disagreement about a service dog.

Daniel Pirtle, 45, was caught while attempting to flee the Anchorage store on his motorized wheelchair, according to police reports about the Saturday incident.

He was charged with first-degree assault and weapons misconduct, and on Tuesday declined a public defender, telling the judge that he preferred to represent himself. "I know how to do that," he said at the pre-indictment hearing.

The shooting left Jason Mahi, 33, in critical condition at a local hospital, a family member said.

The dispute was over a service dog used by Pirtle, according to police reports. Mahi was shot in the abdomen after he asked Pirtle to leash the dog. An off-duty police officer shopping at the store detained Pirtle, according to police reports.

Pirtle had two pistols with him at the store and later admitted to detectives that he had shot Mahi, according to an information report filed by the local district attorney.

Mahi's brother, Brandon Mahi, said the victim remained unconscious on Tuesday. "We're just praying every day," Brandon Mahi said after Pirtle's brief court appearance.

He said the family is upset that Wal-Mart continued to do business after the shooting. "They just kept running like nothing even happened," he said.

Dianna Gee, a spokeswoman at Wal-Mart's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said that, "considering the circumstances," store employees "did an amazing job at handling a very difficult situation."

"Their focus was on tending to the medical-emergency needs, getting help to the scene and making sure there was no immediate threat to the customers," Gee told Reuters, adding that the company had been providing support to Mahi's family since the shooting.

Although police secured the shooting scene on Saturday, the store did not close after the incident, said Anita Shell, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Police Department.

If Mahi dies, murder charges will be added, said Anita Shell, a spokeswoman for the Anchorage Police Department.

The owner of a dog found floating on ice floes Friday afternoon wasn't able to claim his pup today, but will be reunited once more Sunday afternoon.

Nerijus Steponavicius claimed his lost dog at Animal Care & Control Friday night and was told he could pick him up Saturday afternoon, but now he must wait for retreiver to be neutered and microchipped before he can go home.

Steponavicius said he will be back with his father Sunday afternoon to pick up the dog, but was happy he was able to see his beloved pup this afternoon.

"He's really shy and he started jumping," Steponavicius said.Steponavicius said the dog had no history of running away and would have never run away if he was there.

He planned to take his pup to his parents house to play with their two labs, but that trip will have to wait."I’m just a real disappointed," he said

Rescue crews captured the dog at about 4:30 p.m. Friday after he was seen jumping from ice floe to ice floe off Howard Street Beach.

The dog's name is reportedly "Pifas," and he got loose nine days ago when Steponavicius'  landlord was changing locks while Steponavicius was at school.

He's posted several notices on Facebook about his missing dog and said he drove straight to Animal Control when his sister called him to tell him about a dog on the ice.

A quick comparison of photos assured him the dog was his and he immediately rushed to Animal Care & Control, he said.

Pifas was about 200 feet off the shore of Lake Michigan when word reached fire officials about an animal on the ice.

Rogers Park neighbor Dave Kenhast also saw the dog and jumped into action, grabbing his wetsuit and kayak to hit the water. Fire officials responded with a boat and a helicopter.

With Kenhast inching close, Pifas jumped about the ice fragments, sometimes landing in the icy water and pulling himself out. 

"I wanted to just grab him because it was shallow enough where I could stand, and I just wanted to get my hands on him but he wanted to bite me, it looked like. He didn't want anyone touching him," said Kehnast.

Eventually, the dog jumped into Lake Michigan and swam the short distance to the snowy shore. He took off from there, eluding authorities as he ran around nearby apartment complexes.

Crews eventually caught up with the exhausted animal and ushered it into the back of a white utility van.

"The biggest lesson, once again: keep those dogs on leashes along the lakefront in the wintertime," said Chicago Fire Department Deputy District Chief Ron Dorneker. "This is what can happen when they get out there on that ice and they fall through and they get a distance off-shore.

It gets to be dangerous for them and for us."Steponavicius said he's looking forward to showing his appreciation to those who helped rescue Pifas. More importantly, though, he said he's looking forward to his reunion with Pifas.

Ten months after a German shepherd was stolen from Bob Moreland’s Miramar, Fla., home, the canine is back in his owner's loving arms after a horrifying ordeal.

Tears of joy streamed down Moreland’s face when he was reunited with the dog, Black Jack.

“I didn’t know I’d ever see him again,” said Moreland, a retired Air Force sergeant.

Somehow, Black Jack ended up wandering around Century Village in Pembroke Pines. Laurie Simmons, the president of Big Dog Ranch Rescue in Wellington, was notified and sent volunteer Eric Weinberger to help bring the dog to safety.

But when Weinberger arrived, he was alarmed by what he saw.

Read more at NBCMiami.com

“I saw this God-awful collar around his neck I’ve never seen before,” Weinberger said. “Laurie told me it was a collar used for bait dog in a dog-fighting ring.”

Black Jack was being used as a bait dog, and a chain with raw meat also had been attached to his neck to lure dogs to fight. The dog was maimed.

“The collar had worn through his skin,” said Dr. Susan Baker. “It was so tight it had imbedded into his flesh.”

The volunteers and staff worked to nurse the dog back to health and reunite him with his owner. The dog’s implanted microchip led them to Moreland.

And now, Moreland and volunteers at the rescue try to erase the horror Black Jack endured.

Now safe from harm, the dog is on the road to recovery.

A couple with four children were shot and killed in an argument over dog feces on Monday, police in Texas said.

Officers were called to a shooting at the Sable Ridge Apartments in Dallas at about 8 a.m. Monday.

When officers arrived, they found two people, later identified as 32-year-old Michelle Jackson and 31-year-old Jamie Stafford, dead at the scene from apparent gunshot wounds.  An infant inside the couple's apartment was not injured.

After talking with witnesses, police began searching for Chung Kim, a resident of the complex identified by residents as a man who lived in the unit below Stafford and Jackson and was seen leaving the complex after the shooting.

Police later located Kim in his black Lexus SUV nearby and took him into custody.

Investigators said the couple had been dumping dog feces on the patio and at the front door of Kim's apartment.

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Police said Kim pulled out a gun and shot Jackson as she stood on her balcony. Police said Kim then went upstairs and into the couple's apartment and shot Stafford as he jumped off the balcony while trying to escape. 

Police said Kim then stood over Stafford and shot him again.

Residents said they heard arguing followed by several gunshots.

"I heard about eight or nine gunshots just go off, ‘Bow, bow, bow,’ like three separate times,” said resident Michael Issa. “It was like, first there was two or three, then there was a pause for like 30 or 40 seconds and then there was another three or four shots, and there was a pause, and a couple more shots

"I waited for like three or four minutes and I ain't hear nothing. I came outside to smoke a cigarette and look upstairs and there's feet hanging over my head," he added.

A friend of the victim said there had been several arguments over pets and noise.

One neighbor, Yoland Washington, spoke of the couple's children, including the infant who was home at the time of the shooting.

"When they come home today, their mother and their father is gone. Little baby, they call the newborn Little Mama, Little Mama is not going to never know her parents,” said Washington.

Child protection officer Marissa Gonzales said they had taken temporary custody of a one-month-old child found unharmed inside the apartment and that three other children who were at school at the time of the shooting are now with relatives.

Keaton Fox, Greg Janda and Stefan Gorman, NBC5, contributed to this report.

Forty-one days after Clyde the beagle went missing on Long Island, N.Y., the beloved pet has been reunited with his owners, who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy.

Christina Yevoli and her son Alfonso were staying with Yevoli's mother in Levittown after being flooded out of their Massapequa home during Sandy. Clyde jumped the fence Dec. 18 and never returned.

The 10-year-old mixed beagle-hound had jumped the fence once before in their old Massapequa house but came back within minutes. This time, because he was in a new home, he may have become disoriented, said Yevoli. 

"After three or four days, I didn't think we would find him," said Yevoli.  "I thought maybe someone took him in for themselves or worse -- that he got hit by a car. But I never gave up. I just kept going and going."

Yevoli posted missing dog posters and went to neighboring towns to do the same. But it was her Facebook page, Bring Clyde Home, that got the attention of people who could help.

Lisa Dwyer saw her page and joined in the search, enlisting the help of her cousin Denise May, a dog rescuer. 

"When we think of scent, we think he's smelling for his owner," said May. "But each town has its own smell, the streets smell different. I think he was trying to find something familiar to him."

Once Clyde became lost, he may have tracked his way back to his familiar old home in Massapequa. A few days ago, a dog tracker was able to locate Clyde in the woods near the Southern State Parkway in North Massapequa, not far from his pre-Sandy home. 

Forty-one days later, and 20 pounds lighter, he is now getting reacquainted with his family. 

"I couldn't have done it by myself," said  Yevoli. "People who I don't even know are still calling me. I can't believe the amount of people who have called me and cared about a dog."

NBCNewYork.com

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A Florida man has died after a dog jumped into a van and pushed the accelerator, causing the vehicle to strike the man as he opened a gate outside of his home, authorities said.

The Florida Highway Patrol reported that 68-year-old James Campbell was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel.

The strange incident began as Campbell and Iris Fortner, 68, returned to their home in Cantonment, Fla., on the Florida Panhandle on Monday. 

According to an FHP report, while Fortner, who was driving, backed a 1995 Chevy van into their property, Campbell got out of the passenger's side of the vehicle to open a metal gate outside their home.

As Fortner opened the driver's side door to see where Campbell was standing, her large boxer came running toward the van and jumped in, pressing the accelerator, the report said. 

Before Fortner could stop the vehicle, it struck and ran over Campbell, trapping him under it, according to the report. He was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics. 

Campbell's death is under investigation. Fortner has not been charged. 

Patrick Semansky / AP

Inmate John Barba works with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training, at Western Correctional Institution in Cresaptown, Md. Dill is one of three dogs assigned since September to inmates at the maximum-security prison for basic training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The Associated Press reports from Cresaptown, Md. — Hazard Wilson's new cellmate is a hairy bundle of energy whose playful zeal can't be contained by steel doors: a five-month-old golden retriever. Yardley is one of three canines assigned since September to inmates at a maximum-security prison in western Maryland for training as service dogs for disabled military veterans.

The number of programs nationwide using inmates to train service dogs is growing, but the program at Western Correctional Institute might be the first to use incarcerated veterans to train dogs for other veterans.

Patrick Semansky / AP

Dill looks on as inmate John Barba walks away after commanding him to sit and stay. The inmates, who are also veterans, are among the state's first prisoners to join a national trend of training service dogs in correctional institutions.

Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to do better than those raised traditionally in foster homes, because puppies respond well to consistency and rigid schedules. That's just what they get in prison.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba looks at a calendar as he sits in the 6-by-9-foot cell that he shares with Dill, a veteran assistance dog in training.

Wilson, a former military police officer honorably discharged in 1982, said he's proud to help another veteran.

"I feel as though they don't get what they deserve when they come home," he said. "This is a part of why I do what I do." Read the full story.

Editor's note: Images taken on Nov. 26, 2012 and made available to NBC News today.

Patrick Semansky / AP

John Barba walks out of his cell with Dill. Professional trainers say prison-raised dogs tend to graduate sooner and at higher rates than those raised traditionally in foster homes because puppies respond well to the consistency and rigid schedules of prison life.

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Eight men were being questioned and at least seven dogs were rescued after Dolton, Ill., police and Cook County Sheriff’s Police officers broke up a what was described as a major dog fighting operation Wednesday night.

"This was going to be much more extensive," said Sheriff Tom Dart. "There were cars from out of state there. So this was a large operation that was going to go on that night."

Two men were arrested immediately, as police raided a former auto repair garage in the shadow of the Bishop Ford Freeway. But a search of the building revealed more suspects, hiding in the building’s rafters.

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"We found six more people, one of whom has a warrant out for an attempted murder case," Dart said.

The sheriff said it appeared some of the dogs had already fought by the time officers arrived. One had severe bite marks and a wounded eye which medical personnel said may have to be removed.

The fighting ring itself was splattered with blood, as were the walls of the garage. A worn out vending machine in a corner contained narcotics investigators believe were used to sedate the dogs so they could continue fighting.

Dart said it was unclear whether the dirty garage had been the site of previous fights.

"The walls inside the facility are covered in blood," he said. "It’s hard to tell if it’s new or not."

Investigators said when they arrived, the sound of the fighting echoed through the parking lot.

"You could hear the yelling and the barking," Dart said. "You could hear them cheering on their dogs, and you could hear the dogs fighting."

One of those questioned had recently been released from jail after being charged with dog fighting, an officer said. Another had an outstanding warrant on an attempted murder charge.

Dog fighting exists in a shadowy world which is often difficult to detect. The fights are often advertised word-of-mouth or in online advertisements which are closely held. For that reason, Dart said his investigators were lucky to have raided the building when they did.

"They move these fights around a ton," he said. "We’ve had numerous ones where we show up at a location, and it had been moved hours before."

Members of the South Suburban Humane Society took the dogs.

This dog was found after police broke up a suspected dog-fighting ring in Dolton, Ill.