HECTOR, Ark. – A 10-year-old deaf blue heeler was called a hero Monday morning after saving its owners and their three kids from a house fire in Arkansas.
Mike and Jennifer Geurian are both Hector Volunteer Firefighters. They said they never thought they would fall victim to a fire themselves.
When asked if this story may have been different had their dog, Dakota, not been there, Hector Fire Chief Jake Jones stated, “Yes, I believe so; I believe Dakota is the difference between them being alive and them not being.”
“I remember waking up, and I remember I was shaken. We were all scared, and I didn’t quite register what was all going on until we had gotten out,” Jennifer Geurian said. “My kids, you know, were all crying, and in the end, we were thankful that it was him (Dakota) who woke us up and got us out.”
When the Geurians got Dakota, he was only six months old. Ear mites infested his ears. Once treated, they discovered it was too late; Dakota was deaf.
While Dakota couldn’t hear the flames, he could see and smell them, alerting his owners as the house was engulfed in flames.
Jennifer said she and her husband fell asleep in the living room, but had they fallen asleep in their bedroom, it could have been a different story as the master bedroom was the first room to catch fire.
“Well, one, I learned exactly how fast it can turn and just being a helping hand to those who need it and just try to give back what the community has given to me,” Jennifer Geurian said when asked how it’s changed her as a firefighter.