A Florida Keys man punched a shark to save his dog from becoming a meal. The rat terrier named Jake, who was badly bitten, is expected to recover.

ISLAMORADA — Greg LeNoir watched in horror as the shark’s mouth opened wide, chomping a large set of teeth on his beloved 14-pound dog, Jake.

”Noooooo,” LeNoir shrieked, fearing the worst.

But the case of the rat terrier vs. the shark has a happy ending.

”Jake’s doing great,” LeNoir’s brother, Phillip, said Monday. “And I still can’t believe my brother jumped in the water and punched a shark.”

The saga began Friday afternoon when Greg LeNoir took Jake to the Worldwide Sportsman’s Bayside Marina pier in Islamorada for the dog’s daily swim. LeNoir said Jake is a fast and fearless swimmer, often retrieving jellyfish and soaked coconuts.

But this time, Jake, a 28-month-old dog adopted from an animal shelter, unexpectedly encountered the shark, which was about five feet long. As Jake disappeared under the water, LeNoir conquered his own fear and sprang to action.

”I clenched my fists and dove straight in with all my strength, like a battering ram,” LeNoir, 53, said Sunday, reliving the frightening ordeal. “I hit the back of the shark’s neck. It was like hitting concrete.”

Sharks are not uncommon in the marina, which is near the Islamorada Fish Co.’s open saltwater pool that attracts large tarpon.

LeNoir, a finish carpenter who lives in Islamorada, said he concluded the creature was either a bull shark or lemon shark after describing it to local fishermen and another brother, Louie, a shark-tooth collector in Orlando.

LeNoir’s wife of 17 years, Tessalee, said she wasn’t shocked by her husband’s heroics. ”People know him as Dr. Doolittle,” she said. “He’s the one who climbs up a tree to save a possum.”

Lenoir added: ‘We have no children. Jake became our child. When I saw the shark engulf him, I thought, `This can’t be the end.’ ”

The shark let go of Jake, and the dog popped to the surface, frantically swimming the few yards to shore. LeNoir followed, paddling through a red trail of blood from the dog.

At VCA Upper Keys Animal Hospital in Islamorada, veterinarian Suzanne Sigel and emergency on-call assistant Callie Cottrell patched Jake’s wounds.

”Amazingly, he wasn’t critical,” Sigel said. “He’s one lucky dog.”

The shark’s teeth punctured Jake’s skin and some muscle on the dog’s abdomen, chest and back in a pattern that looked like ”an upside-down smile,” Sigel said.

Jake also suffered lacerations on his right side and front left leg, with skin hanging like ribbons, LeNoir said.

”The shark put almost all of Jake in his mouth, except for his head and three of his legs,” LeNoir said.

Sigel reexamined Jake on Monday and said the pooch is expected to recover.

”He looks great and is recuperating well,” she said. “I was worried he may have inhaled saltwater when he was pulled under, but there’s no evidence of infection or pneumonia. He’s healing great.”

You never know when opportunity is yours. Take the case of Daniel Webster, a U.S. congressman in the nineteenth century. Webster wanted more than anything else to be President of the United States. He was offered the vice-presidency by William Henry Harrison, but turned it down. Then Harrison died in office. Again Webster was offered the vice-presidency, by Zachary Taylor, but declined. Taylor died in office. Webster never did become President. Source: “Knowledge in a Nutshell”

I guess I’ve read it all now. Pets who cheat on their owners! Pets are no different than people. If opportunity knocks, pets answer the door, too. I see it every week at my house on Saturday when Matty’s loading up the trash for a trip to the dump. That’s Daphne Davenport’s favorite activity. So, of course she befriends Matty until he asks “who wants to go riding?” Geez, if I were a dog, I’d want to go riding. It doesn’t mean Daphne loves me any less. She just loves riding. Cats do the same thing. They just act more reserved when they’re sticking it to ‘ya.

In any event, read the article, see what you think, then tell me if you live with a two-faced fur-face.

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26860866/

Now that Matty has actually seen the bear, I’m not so sure I want to keep luring him into the yard with hopes of leftovers. I could easily surprise him leaving the house at 11pm and that wouldn’t be a good thing. Give me some advice here people! Do I keep feeding the critters or let them fend on their own?

Matty emailed me about 2 o’clock this morning to tell me the outside flood light came on and he saw what appeared to be a bear near the screen house. Just Friday night the bear trampled our garden and ate half the bird food. Even the raccoon scrammed when the bear showed up this morning. Gotta love life at the North Pole.

So, I came home one day last week from food shopping and the upstairs bedroom doors were both wide open. Hmmm. I specifically closed them before I left. Ghosts? Nope, Baby Kitty.

I was fast asleep yesterday afternoon when the door swung open and in walked Baby Kitty. She somehow knows how to jump up and unlock the door. It’s the kind of door handle with a thumb-latch, or should I now say, a paw-latch. (p

3:30 0n Saturday morning. I’ve been doing chores for hours and am caught up for the moment, at least until Matthew wakes up and I can get to the noisiest of chores. Working 3rd shift keeps me on the same schedule seven days a week. Vacations are no exception because by the time you alter your schedule, it’s time to reinstitute it, so why bother?

I wish someone would open up a full-service restaurant in Keene so I can take a “lunch break” during the work week. Mostly I munch on things as I type away and after nine hours straight, I’m pretty worn down. I’d take a walk to break up the night, but the skunks and opossums and coyotes are out there walking too, and rumor has it, they can outrun me.

Tonight I looked up my high school Spanish teacher, Stan Miller and dropped him and email. He was my second favorite teacher right after Joe Murray. Other nights I write letters to people who could give a rat’s rump that I wrote; folks like Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. My message is always the same “why can’t we all just get along?”

Okay, Matt’s up, time for a little in-house chatter. Today’s the day Daphne Davenport gets to go for a ride to the dump! Already the little fur-face sees the yellow “Walpole bag” and knows it’s ride day! Maybe we’ll spot some big dog also enjoying a ride to the dump. “Zoinks!”

Unlike most of us, Nancy Pelosi can find something to smile about in the midst of this terrible financial upheaval. Might she know something that the rest of us don’t?