Here’s a feel-good story to start your weekend!
Niles is a city of 11,600 in southeastern Michigan, bordering South Bend, Indiana.
There, a dog named Hector woke up his owners and alerted them to a fire raging in their next door neighbor’s home. Hector then woke up the neighbors and led their four children to safety.
From LifeWithDogs, April 23, 2013:
A fire in Niles, Michigan could have been a lot worse if a dog named Hector hadn’t come to the rescue. Not only did his barking alert his neighbors to the fire in their home, but he led their four children to safety.
Meagan Shell and her husband woke in the middle of the night when they heard Hector barking. It was unusual for Hector to be barking in the middle of the night, so Shell knew something must be wrong: “We knew something was going on, that something was wrong because he never barks in the middle of the night.”
Shell went outside to see what had alarmed Hector. The dog immediately ran over to the neighbor’s home and Shell followed. “All of a sudden we came around the corner and we saw smoke coming from the house next door,” said Shell, who immediately called 911 as Hector continued to bark at the neighbor’s home.
Then four children came running out of the home and Hector stopped barking. The children had been sound asleep until Hector’s barking woke them up.
Shell told the children to grab onto Hector’s collar and then she told Hector to go home. Hector immediately led all the children to the safety of Shell’s home.
“I have never seen him react like that,” said Shell. “He was on a mission, he wasn’t trying to hurt anybody, he was trying to help.”
H/t FOTM’s CSM
~Eowyn
