Jaxon the dog earned a “Hometown Hero” award in Meridian, Idaho, after he saved his owners from a fire.
Jaxon came to the rescue after his owners, Mikaela Sebree and Todd Lavoie, failed to notice sparks coming from an outlet inside their home, CNN reported. The couple’s 11-year-old dog took action immediately.
“Dogs have different kinds of barks, so he has his ‘somebody’s at the door’ bark and then he has his ‘holy crap something’s happening’ bark,” Sebree told CNN affiliate KBOI.
It was Jaxon’s bark that alerted Lavoie that something was wrong, leading him to rush to the outlet bursting with sparks that ended up turning into flames. Lavoie defused the flames with a fire extinguisher, CNN noted.
Jaxon was credited with saving the couple’s home.
“Certainly his actions and the actions of this dog saved that house from potentially igniting and catching on fire and going up into walls and up into the attic and caused significant damage,” said Meridian Fire chief Mark Neimeyer, according to KBOI.
The four-legged hero is the town’s first animal to receive the Hometown Hero Award, KBOI noted.
“I’ve never seen anything quite like this in Meridian,” Neimeyer said.
According to SpreadIt, the pug also earned an official probationary firefighter badge from the Meridian Fire Department.
“Jaxon is definitely a super pug; he deserves the hometown hero. He saved our house; he saved our lives, and he saved our memories,” Lavoie said.