A heroic dog has rescued a family in the US state of Iowa from CO poisoning. The alert animal smelled danger and woke its owners, who could leave the house in time and notify the emergency services.
Brad Harbert, 37, of Ankeny, Iowa, realized something was wrong when his dog – a cross between a husky and a coonhound – started jumping up and down his bed in the middle of the night. “Normally, Roxy never does such a thing. She is very gentle and rarely barks,” the man told local media.
Herbert got up and followed Roxy. She went into the hall and scratched the door of Herbert’s son Jackson. “She wanted to make sure he was okay.”
Then Harbert heard an alarm – “but not the smoke detector” – going off in the house. Instead, the CO detector beeps four times, signalling that the toxic gas is present in the home. Herbert immediately got his son, father, and dog out of the house and called emergency services. A few minutes later, the fire brigade arrived but could not immediately determine where the gas came from.
Later, the help of a specialized energy company was called in, which determined that the problem was situated in the gas fireplace. “I am very, very happy to have a dog. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t be here now.”
In the United States, more than 400 people die each year from CO poisoning.
