The other day, after a two-week-long stint working in the field, John Alexander Palomino Bendives was looking forward to finally relaxing in the apartment he shares with his mother and four dogs in Peru.
But, before he could even get inside the building, Bendives was called into action once more — to save the life of his beloved dog Mina.
When Bendives, along with his girlfriend, got to the front of his apartment building, their arrival didn’t go unnoticed. High above, in his family’s fourth-story rooftop apartment, Mina and the other pups were peering down over the railing, excited to see him home.
Bendives would be up to greet them in a few seconds. But that was apparently just a bit too long to wait for Mina.
Having either lost her balance and slipped or misjudged the distance and leapt, Mina began falling to the street below. Thankfully, quick-thinking Bendives took notice — and was able to catch her in his arms.
Bendives was able to save Mina from what may have been certain death — to his great relief. And to hers.
“She was OK, unharmed,” Bendives told The Dodo. “Mina was happy and grateful, as you can see in the video. She didn’t stop wagging her tail out of happiness.”
All his pups were thrilled that Bendives was finally home. Mina, clearly, just a bit too much so.
Bendives said this scary incident has the family planning to make some changes: “We are looking at putting up a mesh [barrier] on the roof so that they can continue to sit up there, but without the risk of falling again.”
Now that the unthinkable happened — and disaster narrowly avoided — it’s the least they could do.
“I love my pets very much,” Bendives said. “They always receive me with a lot of love and emotion. The time I spend at home, I try to spend as much time as possible with them.”