Police Show Up To Catch Loose Pit Bull, Soon Realize It’s Saving Owner from Gas Leak
Whoever said you can’t teach an old dog new tricks clearly never met a dog like Sadie. The sensible, 11-year-old pit bull is now being called a hero after detecting a gas leak — but at first, she was being written up for bad behavior.
Police in Tuckahoe, New York, were notified on Feb. 6 that pit bull was loose. When they went to deal with the situation, the dog turned and ran, eventually leading them back to a home they assumed must be hers.
“At approximately 3:45pm yesterday, we received a call of a loose, barking dog on Fairview Avenue,” the Tuckahoe Police Department posted on Facebook. “As officers managed to return the dog (Sadie) to the backyard, they noticed the sliding glass door was open, and the fence was broken.”
“At first it appeared that Sadie was being a bad girl. However, as officers were walking the perimeter of the house, they smelled an odor of gas coming from an open basement window. Eastchester FD and Con Ed were called to the scene and determined there was a gas leak coming from the basement,” the police department explained.
The state of the home and the gas odor told authorities all they needed to know. There were chew marks and blood smears on some of the inside doors and windows, proving that Sadie had really been making an effort to get out of the house.
By opening the sliding glass door and then leading the cops back to the home, Sadie helped prevent what could have been a disaster.
“The dog saved the house from a potential gas explosion and gas leak,” police lieutenant Lawrence Rotta told WABC.
The dog’s owner, Serena Costello, claims her pup is mild-mannered and generally a good girl, and that she’d never tried to run away before. This was a very unusual situation, and once Costello heard the whole story, she was proud of her dog.
“This is my contraption I built so she never got out, which always worked since I been here,” she said. “But she nestled through here and escaped through the fence.”
“She went from being in time out to being my girl. It looks like she was trying to get out this window … She was determined to get out.”
At first Costello was written a summons for having an unleashed dog, but once the gas leak and unusual circumstances were discovered, authorities chucked the summons, realizing Sadie was just doing her best to stay safe and was not actually a derelict dog out on the prowl.
“Did Sadie sense danger?” the department’s post continued. “Did she smell the gas in the house, and force her way outside to the street to draw attention?”
“Sadie — Great work sniffing out danger and getting help! If we are ever in need of a K9, we will put you at the top of our list!”
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