When a family pet starts to behave oddly, it can be concerning. Are they sick? Did they get into something they shouldn’t have? Are they trying to tell you something?
The latter turned out to be true for a Siberian husky/coonhound mix named Roxy from Ankeny, Iowa.
Owner Brad Harbert told WOWK-TV that Roxy is usually “mild-mannered,” but on Dec. 13 she was going berserk in the middle of the night.
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“I could tell something was up with Roxy,” Harbert recalled. “She just was jumping off my bed, jumping back up on the bed.”
Once Harbert really woke up, he realized something was wrong.
“When I started to kinda come to, I was hearing an alarm, and it wasn’t the smoke alarm,” he said. “So I jumped out of bed. Right when I did, Roxy came out to the hallway, and she scratched Jaxon’s door to see if he was okay, and his door was closed.
“But I grabbed the [carbon monoxide] detector and found out, sure enough, on the front, it says that if it chirps four times … there’s active carbon monoxide in the house.”
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Harbert quickly woke his son, Jaxon, and his father, and all four immediately went outside. Harbert called 911, and the fire department was soon there.
After the house was assessed by MidAmerican Energy, they found that the home’s gas and electric fireplace was leaking, which caused the dangerous carbon monoxide levels.
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With that confirmation, Harbert knows the family is indebted to their pup and her keen senses.
“I could tell something was wrong that night that she woke me up and just her actions, she was kind of shivering and just really concerned that we were gonna get outside,” he said. “Very, very happy to have a dog and very, very happy to have her.”
The proud owner posted about the incident on his Facebook page, too, using the opportunity to recommend everyone purchase a carbon monoxide detector if they don’t already have one and recognizing his pup as a hero.
“Look for Jax, and I and Roxy on WHO TV news tonight at 10,” Harbert shared on Facebook on Dec. 18. “Roxy saved our lives the other night with our carbon monoxide detector. PSA get one if u don’t have one. May save your life as we had a leaky fireplace.”
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In a comment, Harbert added that reporters were “fighting” over who would get to cover the heartwarming story.
“We’re proud of our Roxy and the Ankeny Fire Dept.,” Harbert commented. “Thank you!”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.