Puppy saves five-year-old girl from fire in GenSan

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 25) — Not all heroes wear capes and that was proven by Princess, a four-month-old Belgian Malinois.

In a viral post of veterinarian Jacquiline Rufino Madi, Princess and her owner’s family were awakened by a fire in their house in General Santos on April 20.

While everyone rushed out of the house, Madi said Princess kept barking at her owner.

“For some reason, Princess wouldn't stop barking at her owner as if she is telling them something. When this puppy finally caught her owner's attention, she immediately ran back inside the burning house,” said Madi.

“Her owner was shocked but straight away followed the dog inside the burning and almost collapsing house. Only to find out that the owner's daughter, a five-year-old child, was still inside, deeply asleep.”

While everyone survived the fire, Princess suffered burns.

“Presently, Princess is safe and recovering from the burns she got during the incident. Her face and four legs, particularly her pads, were severely affected,” the veterinarian said.

Madi noted that it was the A Heart for Paws GenSan, a nongovernment organization, which rescued and brought Princess to the veterinary clinic.

The NGO recently shared that Princess went through her first laser therapy session as part of her recovery.

A fundraising project is ongoing for Princess’ treatment.

A study released in 2022 showed that there’s scientific evidence to show that dogs can smell if a human is stressed or calm. Dogs have over 200 million olfactory receptors compared to humans’ 50 million, which gives them the ability to effectively differentiate and identify scents.