‘She saved my life:’ Man thanks dog for early-morning alarm

By Nigel Maxwell

A six-month-old German Shepherd and Labrador cross named Princess is being hailed as a hero.

According to Ross McKenzie, he and three friends would never have escaped a house fire in Prince Albert’s midtown area last weekend had it not been for the dog’s efforts to wake them up.

McKenzie and the three others spent the day renovating the house, and according to McKenzie, they all fell asleep Saturday around 2 a.m. About three hours later, he woke up to sounds coming from the front porch area where Princess slept.

“Princess was scratching away on the door and barking and that’s when my cousin woke me up and said, ‘There’s something wrong,’ ” he said.

McKenzie said when he tried to stand up, he could instantly feel the heat from the fire. The men instantly ran for the front door and rushed outside.

Moments later, McKenzie realized one of his friends was missing, but when McKenzie turned to go back inside the house, the thick smoke overcame him.

“I started crawling, scraping my arms and elbows and everything like that, and I grabbed him and dragged him out,” he said.

The cause of Saturday’s early-morning house fire remains under investigation but McKenzie said there wasn’t any power in the home, only a natural gas fireplace to keep them warm.

McKenzie, who has been left homeless by the fire, has been staying at Our House. Princess was also temporarily relocated and is staying with a local family.

McKenzie recalled the moment six months ago when he first laid eyes on the small puppy who was a gift for his daughter. He said he noticed how the oddly coloured puppy was rejected by its mother. Princess has only one functioning eye after her mother attacked her at birth.

“I saved her from that litter, and she saved my life, so we are even now,” he said.