Newly-adopted rescue pup alerts family to gas leak

A Michigan family is crediting their new puppy with saving their lives.

Around midnight on March 5, Hunter, a three-month-old rescue puppy who had been adopted only two weeks earlier, woke his new owners with a nonstop whine.

Jill McLarty assumed her new puppy just needed to be let out. When she led the Husky mix outside, he simply sat down and continued to cry.

She brought Hunter to the bedroom where her husband, Tim, was still sleeping. The dog kept whining, eventually running in circles before leading Jill to the kitchen.

"When she turned the light on, she saw Hunter sitting next to the stove, and noticed that one of the gas stove burners was on low, without a flame, causing gas to leak into the house," Michigan Humane Society staffers wrote in a press release.

The McLartys believe the gas had been on since they cooked dinner, nearly six hours earlier.

"Somehow the flame went out, but no one noticed the knob was still turned on," Tim told the Detroit Free Press.

Tim believes his family's decision to adopt Hunter saved their lives.

"He is the first dog we ever adopted (from MHS) and I would recommend it to anybody," he said. "And as cliché as it sounds, the life you save may save yours."