Wellesley typically only gets a few viral stories per year, and rescue of Crosby the dog from the icy Charles River last weekend certainly qualifies. The Wellesley Police video of the PETA Award-winning firefighters rescuing the golden retriever had accumulated more than 80,000 page views as of Dec. 26, and the story had been picked up by dozens of publications, including a number that don’t typically have Wellesley on their radar.
Take TeddyPerez, an animal-focused spinoff of celebrity site PerezHilton, which leans more heavily on exclamation points than memos from HR departments and pitches from PR people. The headline:
People Magazine warmed readers’ hearts on Christmas Day, picking up the story, with the relatively tame headline:
USA Today pulled at readers’ heartstrings:
Some started laying on the flattery, no doubt hoping to score an exclusive interview with the dog:
And…