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Fact Check: Don't fall for tale of 'guardian angel' dog rescuing girl los in Texas floods

Claim: A story authentically recounts the experience of a dog saving a 3-year-old girl from the July 2025 Texas flash floods. Rating: A rumor that circulated online in July 2025 claimed a dog rescued a 3-year-old girl from deadly Texas flash floods. The floods during the Fourth of July weekend killed at least 132 people and left rescuers searching for around 170 missing people. For example, on July 9, a Facebook page named My Dogs posted (archived) the story, receiving more than 205,000 reactions, 17,000 comments and 31,000 shares. The post displayed two pictures, each showing a dog protecting a young girl in the aftermath of flooding. (My Dogs/Facebook) The story read as follows: Everyone thought she was gone. A 3-year-old girl vanished just hours before historic floods slammed into Texas — but when rescuers finally found her, she wasn't alone. Curled beside her, covered in mud and shaking, was a dog no one recognized. What this animal had done in the hours before the storm hit is now being called a miracle of instinct and loyalty — and the photos have the entire internet in tears. But the real twist? It wasn't even her dog. One Snopes reader emailed, "Trying to find authenticity with a story circulating on Facebook about a 3-year old girl rescued by a dog from the Texas floods." Another user asked, "Is this story true?" At least three other Facebook posts received high numbers of engagement from users, including reaction counts of 38,000 (archived), 119,000 (archived) and 496,000 (archived). Some of the Facebook posts featured links, either in the posts or in comments, leading to advertisement-filled blog articles. For example, the My Dogs post showed a link to an ad-filled article on an unreliable blog. That blog, as well as several others, lacked trust signals such as author names, legal documentation and other standard information. Other users also shared the same claim on Instagram (archived), TikTok (archived), X (archived) and YouTube (archived). However, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo found no news media outlets reporting about rescuers finding a dog comforting a lost 3-year-old girl following the Texas floods. Prominent news media outlets would have widely reported this rumor, if true. Rather, whoever authored the story fabricated the entire matter as one of at least dozens of fictional, inspirational tales about the Texas floods. The artificial intelligence-detection websites and all detected at least some AI usage with the writing of the blog articles. Also, a AI-detection scan of the pictures of the girl and dog concluded with a 99% score that someone generated the images with an AI tool. The completely fake pictures showed two different-looking girls and two dogs, as well as inconsistent blood or dirt spots on the girl's shirt. The user or users who knowingly created the fictional story and fake photos about the dog and girl aimed to use the tragedy to earn advertising revenue on the blogs linked from the aforementioned Facebook posts. Snopes contacted a manager of the My Dogs Facebook page to ask about the fictional stories displayed on their feed, and will update this story if we receive more information. More about the false rumor An examination of the My Dogs page, possibly the first account to publish the false story, found its page transparency tab showing its lone manager as residing in Vietnam. Vietnam is one of several countries often appearing as participants in the online world of fabricated, AI-driven misinformation involving celebrities and athletes. The My Dogs Facebook page displayed numerous other fabricated stories — also showing AI-generated photos — about dogs saving children from the Texas floods. For example, one of those stories claimed a dog named Shadow rescued a 6-year-old girl (archived). The post showed a fake image containing signs of AI usage, including a woman much older than 6, as well as displaying two snouts for one dog. It received more than 122,000 reactions, 7,000 comments and 18,000 shares. (My Dogs/Facebook) Other fabricated stories on the My Dogs page included a dog named Rani saving a newborn (archived), a dog named Ramu saving two sisters (archived), an unnamed K9 saving two 10-year-old girls who went missing from a summer camp (archived) and another unnamed dog rescuing a 10-year-old girl named Eli (archived). These stories all very much resembled glurge, which defines as "stories, often sent by email, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental." Users initially inspired by such fictional tales very often become defensive upon learning the stories aren't true. Instead of admitting the fabrication, they edit their posts or submit new comments, asserting the tale remains inspiring "whether true or not." True stories of pets surviving Texas floods In the aftermath of the Texas floods, there were true heartwarming stories about animals. reported the story of a dog that found a unique way to survive the flooding, with the headline "Dog Reunited with Family After Miraculously Surviving Texas Floods by Hiding in a Washing Machine." Also, NPR published information about volunteers helping to reunite pets with their owners. For further reading, Snopes previously reported on other stories involving the usage of AI following the Texas floods, including rumors claiming WNBA star Caitlin Clark and singer Jelly Roll each donated millions of dollars and traveled to the state to rescue victims. Another AI-powered story — unrelated to the floods — told the fabricated story of 14-year-old Madison Taylor Brooks, who briefly died and received a warning from Jesus Christ about the dangers of a life spent looking at screens. "AI Detector - Free AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT-4, Gemini & More." "AI Detector - Trusted AI Checker for ChatGPT, GPT4 & Gemini." "AI Detector: Identify AI-Generated Text." "AI Image Detector. Detect AI-Generated Media at Scale." Sightengine, Angueira, Gabriela Aoun. "The Search for Those Missing in Catastrophic Texas Floods Resumes in Some Areas after Pause for Rain." The Associated Press, 14 Jul. 2025, "Glurge." Huberman, Bond, and David Emery. "Snopestionary: What Does 'Glurge' Mean?" Snopes, 21 Aug. 2021, Lonsdorf, Kat. "In the Texas Flood Zone, Volunteers Help Reunite Lost Pets with Their Owners." NPR, 12 Jul. 2025. NPR, Phillipp, Charlotte. "Dog Reunited with Family After Miraculously Surviving Texas Floods by Hiding in a Washing Machine." 12 Jul. 2025, Solve the daily Crossword