Local Community Advertising
We all know that dogs are a person’s best friend, but they can be life-saving creatures, too.
Peter Sands woke up extra early on Saturday morning to his dog Kobuk up in his face. That’s not normal for Kobuk, who usually sleeps through the night.
"Last night just before 3 a.m. he started whining and whining and put his nose right on my face. Basically, wouldn't stop until I got up," Sands told KelownaNow.
Sands got up with Kobuk and took him outside to use the washroom. When Sands was outside he noticed a distant orange glow.
Kobuk didn’t use the washroom when he was outside, instead, he started to look around. Sands quickly realized that the distant orange glow was, in fact, a fire on Beach Avenue in Kelowna.
Sands ran inside his Lake Avenue home and grabbed his phone to call 9-1-1. With his phone in his hand, he started to run towards the flames.
"I was concerned because there were so many embers coming from it. I was concerned it was going to start others fires nearby," Sands said.
When he arrived on Beach Avenue he saw that 40 cedar hedges were on fire. Within two minutes of being at the fire, firefighters arrived and knocked down the fire, which was 10 feet away from a residential building.
It’s an article that has been written many times — “Pet saves human from possible fire,” but what is interesting about this story is Sands adopted Kobuk just four weeks ago.
Before Sands took Kobuk home, he was at Paws it Forward Dog Rescue for a year. Kobuk, previously named Dozer, was unable to find a home because he suffers from epilepsy.
When KelownaNow first wrote an article about Dozer, Sands came forward and decided to adopt the two-year-old Shepard mix.
"He's been an amazing dog since day one. I can't believe it took a year to find him a home. From the very first time I met him I felt a great connection with him," Sands said.
Kobuk and Sands may not have been the first 9-1-1 call about the fire, but that’s not the important part Sands said.
"He drew my attention to it early on and I got the call into 9-1-1 as quick as possible. I hope it helped because it was a pretty rapidly spreading fire. I'm pretty sure he sensed something or could smell the smoke and made a point of making sure I was up.”
Local Community Advertising