Hero Dog Saves Owner From Wildfire She Couldn't Smell

Donna Carberry would be dead if not for her three-year-old German Shepherd, Shadow. When wildfire reached her Spokane, Washington home, she couldn't smell the smoke because COVID-19 had taken her sense of smell years earlier.

Shadow tried politely at first, but Carberry didn't understand what he was trying to tell her. So he changed tactics and began throwing his body against her back door.

"By the time I got there and I opened the door up, my barn had already burned down," Carberry said. Fire was already climbing the back steps and burning the side of her house.

She knew she had to leave immediately. But her cat Socksy wouldn't come to her, and precious seconds were ticking away.

Shadow stepped in again. He gently placed his paw on the cat so Carberry could pick him up and carry him to safety.

Outside, the scene was devastating. Her truck and horse trailer had already burned in the driveway.

Neighbors saw them struggling and helped move them to safer ground on a nearby road. Carberry sat there with her pets, surrounded by chaos, and waited.

She waited so long that she lost track of time. When another evacuee stopped to check on her, Carberry said she'd been there since noon Saturday.

"Honey, it's 8:00 on Sunday night," the stranger told her. The woman immediately loaded Carberry and her pets into her truck and drove them to a Red Cross relief center.

Carberry had fallen during the evacuation and needed medical care. Recovering in a wheelchair, she couldn't take care of Shadow herself.

Sunny's Take

The nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society was already at the relief center coordinating animal rescue for the Washington State Pet Task Force. They immediately stepped in to care for Shadow, providing veterinary care and helping relocate both him and Carberry to safe housing.

A neighbor took in Socksy while Carberry heals. The Old Trails Fire is now 100% contained.

"By taking care of him, you're taking care of me," Carberry said in a video for Best Friends. "I don't care about my stuff. I just care about Shadow."

The dog who saved her life is getting exactly the care he deserves.