Chihuahuas are well known as bold family defenders with no comprehension of how small they are.

In July of 2007, one-year-old Booker West was in the backyard with his grandpa Monty and four and one-half pound Zoey, a ten month old chihuahua.

This was in the foothills west of Loveland, in northern Coloradao. Little Booker was splashing his hands in a shallow birdbath when a nearby rattlesnake raised its head and fiercely rattled.

Zoey ran forth to intercept the strike. She was bitten on her head saving Booker. She gave a yipe, ran a little ways off, then hurried back to confront the snake again.

Grampa Monty rushed forth with a length of pipe and bashed the snake to a bloody pulp. Zoey was rushed to the vet and it was a close call, with her apple-sized head swollen to the size of a grapefruit. But happily she survived her heroic intervention, becoming an international sensation thanks to the news wire service then the internet.

The intarsia portrait of Zoey at the right, done in three colors of carved and polished wood, created by Jan and Will Wyles (such portraits can be commissioned through their website).

"Petheads Heroes" by Jan and Will Wyles