In February of 2007 we had a fire in our house – actually in our son’s room – while everyone was sleeping. my son had attempted to light some incense in his room and when it didn’t work he threw away the long-necked lighter in the trash can in his room. about an hour later, our english mastiff, sydney, started whining and insisted that jesse let her sleep with him – her normal sleeping position is on the landing outside all the bedrooms on the 2nd floor of the house. he let her in and she kept knocking over the trashcan and he kept picking it up. finally he brought her into bed with him and made her leave the can alone. about three hours later there was a full fledged fire in the room – sydney physically pulled jesse out of the bed to wake him and saved his life.

As it turns out, the 100+ year-old house has such thick, tight-sealing doors that that smoke detectors in the landing and in the hallway didn’t get hit with smoke from his bedroom so they were useless. thanks to sydney all were safe, and able to get out of the house in time.

$80,000+ in damages and we lost our cat (smoke inhalation) but all are well. i believe sydney somehow KNEW that the lighter in the trashcan was a problem and she sought to protect the family, and especially jesse, from the danger.

We love her for who she is, but also for how much she loves us.

Heidianne from MO