A dog in Peru is being hailed as a hero after she stopped a stick of dynamite from exploding outside her family’s home, but the act left her unable to bark.
The cocker spaniel mix, named Manchis, sprang into action after a suspect dressed in black hurled a lit stick of dynamite through the entryway of journalist Carlos Alberto Mesías Zárate’s home in Huaral.
Surveillance footage shows Manchis racing toward the explosive, grabbing it in her mouth, and chewing through the fuse until it goes out like a scene out of a movie.
“She chewed it and chewed it and saved our lives,” Zárate told NBC News.
Dog saves family from explosion
Authorities later confirmed the device was the kind of dynamite used in landmines. Zárate believes the attempted bombing was linked to his investigative reporting.
A bomb squad was called to secure the scene, and one suspect has been arrested. Zárate and his family have since requested police protection. Had the explosion been successful, it could have been catastrophic as 10 people and three other dogs were inside the house at the time.
While the family escaped unharmed, Manchis suffered damage to her vocal cords from biting the fuse.
“You can’t hear her bark now,” Zárate said, noting that the once-loud watchdog’s bark is now only a faint rasp.
Despite her injury, Manchis has become a local celebrity, celebrated for extinguishing the fuse and preventing what could have been a fatal blast.
This isn’t the only good dog to go viral in 2025. Earlier this year, a pet owner shared a heartfelt moment of their dog continuing to wait by their neighbor’s fence every morning, even after the neighbor, a 94-year-old woman who had given the dog treats every day, died.
