Owl vs. Chihuahua earns Chico fame

On one end of the leash was a yelling, flailing man. On the other end was a hungry Great Horned Owl. And a little 4-pound Chihuahua named Chico was hanging in the balance, not knowing if the next moment would return him to his loving owners in Crystal Lake or see him end up as a midnight snack.

Since that unfortunate moment at about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 12 when Chico stepped out for a stroll with owner George Kalomiris and shockingly ended up in the talons of a bird of prey, the little dog has enjoyed a string of luck.

“Chico's doing really good,” says Dana Kalomiris, who is married to George. “The puncture wound is really healed, but he's still got this big bruise on his side.”

Chico's latest good fortune came this week when Veterinary Pet Insurance, the nation's largest and oldest pet health insurance company, selected Chico's story as the “most unusual” of the more than 80,000 insurance claims filed in January. Chico's tug-of-war with the owl beat out claims from a Labrador retriever that ate a marijuana cookie, a Golden retriever that swallowed a 5-inch barbecue skewer, a mutt that got wedged between banister bars and a Boston terrier that collided with a skier.

As the monthly winner, Chico is now in the running for the 2011 VPI Hambone Award, named after a VPI-insured dog that got trapped in a refrigerator and ate an entire Thanksgiving ham before he was discovered. Treated for a mild case of hypothermia, that dog recovered, as did all Hambone nominees. You can read nominations and see photographs at www.VPIHamboneAward.com, where the public will vote in September to pick this year's winner.

Last year's Hambone winner was Ellie, a Labrador retriever from California that went to the emergency room after chowing down an entire beehive. Although the dog was not harmed by the dead bees or the pesticide that killed them, it did leave little piles with hundreds of bees.

Chico, who came very close to becoming owl pellets himself, was rushed to the 24-hour Animal Emergency of McHenry County in Crystal Lake after the attack. The dog received X-rays and a thorough examination by veterinarian Michael Hochman, director of medicine for the clinic. He treated the puncture wound and sent Chico home with pain killers and antibiotics.

“The owl was just doing what comes naturally to it,” says Dana Kalomiris.

Chico's case makes other pet owners aware of the dangers lurking outside even in the quietest of suburban neighborhoods, she says. “Sometimes we are so caught up in the civilization, we forget that outside it's a different game. Civilization versus wild: You don't think about it. We all think about what if one of us had been out there with him instead of my husband. Would Chico still be here?”

In addition to the fervid defense from her husband, it was a touch of suburban comfort that kept the owl from killing Chico. The little doggy coat Chico wore to protect him from the cold acted as a canine bulletproof vest, keeping the owl's deadly talons from piercing Chico's ribcage.

“Thank God he had one on or he wouldn't be here,” Dana Kalomiris says.

While acknowledging that is it normal for dogs to be “scared to death” after an attack, Chico is on track to recover fully, says veterinarian Liz Orsi with Animal Care Clinic in Algonquin, where Chico goes for general care.

As parents of three kids, the Kalomirises have made a few trips to emergency rooms for stitches, broken bones and other mishaps. One of the benefits that come with Dana Kalomiris' job working as a senior inventory manager for Sears Holdings in Hoffman Estates is the opportunity to sign up for pet insurance for their Chihuahuas, Chico and Charlie. Sears Holdings, the parent company for Sears and Kmart, offers the pet insurance as “part of a package of optional insurance” that employees can purchase, says company spokesman Chris Brathwaite.

The insurance covered about 90 percent of Chico's medical costs, Dana Kalomiris says.

She says Chico remains timid about going outside after dark, but has been a wonderful pet. Now that his Hambone Award nomination has turned Chico into a minor celebrity, his owners think he has even more potential as a fast-food spokesdog for late-night dining.

“Maybe,” Dana Kalomiris says, “someone can talk to Taco Bell about putting Chico in a ‘knight owl' commercial.”