A loyal dog named Duke is being credited with saving his family in Ontario, Canada, after alerting his owner to a fire while she slept.
What happened?
According to a report from CTV News, before dawn one morning in late May, Nancy Ellis was asleep in her Kitchener home when Duke realized something was wrong.
"I woke up to Duke waking me up, pulling my hair, barking in my face, and shaking uncontrollably. He knew something was wrong," Ellis told CTV News.
She initially assumed someone was at the door. After checking and going back to the bedroom, she looked outside and saw the front porch burning.
"I just yelled for my husband. I said, 'The porch is on fire!'" Ellis told the outlet. "I grabbed my cellphone, and then we went out and called 911. I didn't realize how big of a fire it was. So, it was just minutes that the whole porch was engulfed."
According to Kitchener Fire, crews were called around 1:50 a.m. At the time Duke woke up Ellis, five people were in the home.
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Ellis' 11-year-old nephew, Silas Larin, told CTV News the family quickly realized their main exit was blocked.
"I woke up my mom, and she tried going downstairs to open the door, but there was just too much smoke and fire. So, we went back up and closed the door, and I opened the window and broke the screen, and we escaped out onto the roof," he said.
All five people made it out alive, along with four dogs and two cats, but the fire destroyed the home and three vehicles, CTV News reported.
Ellis said: "If it wasn't for [Duke] waking me up, we would not be here today."
Authorities believe the fire started on the covered porch, and the damage estimate is $400,000.
"Our memories and antiques. My husband's grandfather's things and belongings that he was saving — it's all gone," Ellis told CTV News.
As of the report, the family was getting help from the Red Cross, community donations, and an online fundraiser.
Ellis called the ordeal "a nightmare that I want to wake up from."
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