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Font ResizeBenson, from Binghamton, N.Y., barked and alerted his owners to a fire across the street, giving them time to run to their neighbor's home and awaken the family before flames consumed the house.
Calamity Jane, from Aledo, Texas, ferociously barked and growled outside a home where a family and their guests had been held at gunpoint for nearly an hour. When the intruders heard Calamity Jane, they yelled to one another that there were people outside and quickly left the home.
Jackson, from Rahway, N.J., cried and ran through the house, alerting his owner to a 90-year-old neighbor who was trapped by a door that had fallen, knocking her to the ground.
Jobe, from Omaha, Neb., ran through the home and howled, awakening the family to alert them that their son, who has life-threatening allergies, was in respiratory distress.
Kenai, from Erie, awakened her owner and alerted him to a carbon monoxide leak in the vacation home where he, six other adults, two children and four dogs were sleeping.
Max, from Little Neck, N.Y., barked incessantly, leading his owner to investigate and discover his neighbor's 89-year-old mother collapsed in the garden on a sweltering, 91-degree day.
Milky Way, from Rushford, Minn., scratched feverishly at a closed bedroom door and alerted a woman that her sister had suffered a stroke and collapsed in another room.
Porkchop, from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., bayed and barked until he got a neighbor's attention, leading her to find his 71-year-old owner who was unconscious after collapsing and accidentally detaching the tube from an oxygen tank that she needed to breathe.
Prozac, from Sanford, N.C., barked and alerted a family when a 94-year-old woman began having difficulty breathing. Two months later, in a separate situation, Prozac awakened his pet sitter and her granddaughter, alerting them to a fire in their attic.
RaeLee, from Tampa, Fla., barked and ran down the hall, leading his owner to her son who was purple and seizing with blood streaming from his nose and mouth.
Source: Humane Society of the United States
To vote for the "people's hero," visit humanesociety.org
Todd Smarr/Courtesy photo
On a national list of doggy heroes acclaimed for such gallant actions as rescuing a family from a fire, saving an elderly woman from a hot day and warning parents about a seizing son is a 14-year-old Bernese mountain dog mix from Erie with a keen sense for carbon monoxide.
Kenai, who saved the lives of nine people and four other dogs last year by alerting his owners about a carbon monoxide buildup in a mountain home where they were staying, is among 10 canine finalists for the Humane Society of the United States' third annual Dogs of Valor Awards.
"Our purpose is to spread the message of the importance of getting a carbon monoxide detector," said Kenai's owner Todd Smarr, 40, of Erie. "That's our focus, rather than just getting the attention."
The valor awards honor dogs who have "exhibited an extraordinary sense of courage
The awards will be chosen by a panel of celebrities, including Kristen Bell from the show "Heroes." Winners will be announced Sunday. One of the canine finalists also will be chosen as the "people's hero" through an online voting contest, which ends Friday.
Kenai's story began March 7, 2009, during a family-and-friends getaway in a Western Slope home. Kenai's owners and their friends cooked in the oven that evening, which caused a carbon monoxide leak. Around 2 to 3 a.m., Kenai started to whimper and moan, awaking Smarr.
"She's older, and I expect that she's going to have some senior moments," he said. "But I got up to see what was going on."
Kenai was disoriented and appeared to be in some trauma, Smarr said. She was wobbling on her feet and even lost control of her bowels in the room, he said. When a few more people awoke, Smarr said, they realized that they also weren't feeling well.
Smarr awoke his wife, Michelle Sewald, who collapsed into his arms.
They rushed upstairs, awoke the rest of their friends and realized there was a carbon monoxide leak. The seven adults, two children and four dogs escaped the home. Smarr was treated at a local hospital, and his wife and a friend were flown to a Denver hospital and treated in a hyperbaric chamber.
Authorities later determined the leak was coming from the stove.
Smarr said he doesn't know whether Kenai smelled the carbon monoxide or was first to feel the effects.
"But we are fortunate that she was able to determine something was wrong, whether she could smell it or not," Smarr said.
Robyn Read, a veterinarian for the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, said it's difficult to know whether dogs can smell carbon monoxide.
"But dogs do have so many more receptors in the nose than we do," Read said. "It's in the realm of possibility that they could."
She said a dog in Minnesota works with environmental agents as a mercury sniffer.
"Dogs see the world through their nose," Read said.
Regardless of whether Kenai meant to warn her owners, she saved the lives of numerous people that early morning, Read said.
"It's such a great story," she said.
