Silvia Reyes and her family adopted a 1-year-old Pit Bull mix named Candi on Saturday during an event held by Miami-Dade County Animal Services.
Just two days later, Candi returned the favor by saving the lives of her new forever family.
Monday night, as Reyes, her husband and their 13-year-old son were sleeping in their Pinecrest, Fla., townhouse, Candi started barking downstairs and wouldn’t stop.
“We heard a lot of barking and howling,” Reyes told Local 10. “To my surprise, at one in the morning, I came down and our kitchen was engulfed in smoke.”
The smoke was pouring out of the refrigerator. “The compressor was making some kind of bad connection,” Reyes said.
Everyone was able to get out of the house safely, although the hero dog began vomiting and having breathing difficulties.
The Reyes family rushed her to an animal hospital, where X-rays revealed she had suffered a collapsed lung due to smoke inhalation. She spent the day there yesterday, receiving oxygen and IV fluids.
Candi is now back at home with her grateful family, and is expected to make a full recovery.
“She rescued us. She saved our lives, I promise you,” Reyes told Local 10. “I mean, we were sleeping. We wouldn’t have known otherwise.”
Photo via Twitter