Puppy saves boy asleep in burning blanket

A smart little dog in Australia may have prevented a Coalfields house from catching fire. After putting a blanket over her three-year-old nephew Kayden when he fell asleep watching television on Saturday, Belinda Metcalfe went outside briefly to finish some work.

But Ms Metcalfe said she was amazed when her eight-month-old dachshund pup Jimmy came after her minutes later with a clear purpose. ‘‘He grabbed onto my ankle and just started pulling,’’ she said. ‘‘He was acting really weird, just doing everything he could to get my attention.’’



Following her insistent dog inside, Ms Metcalfe found the blanket had become entangled in the heater and had caught fire. ‘‘It wasn’t a huge fire, but there was a flame to it,’’ she said. ‘‘I put [the fire] out myself, but from then on I’ve been kicking myself.’’

Ms Metcalfe said Kayden slept through the entire incident. She said the close call was a scary reminder of the dangers of winter heating. ‘‘I thought the heater was off,’’ she said. ‘‘That would have been a matter of minutes that I was out of the room.’’