Norman Woman Says Puppy Saved Her From Natural Gas Leak

A woman in Norman found herself in a scary situation when she discovered her gas stove was left on. She says it was her puppy that saved her. 

“It didn't surprise me because he's very smart,” said Kate Kelly.

Kelly has two service dogs, Yoda and Obi, named after the beloved Star Wars characters. But the two dogs have another thing in common, they serve the same master. “There's just some things they do naturally, and each dog is different,” she said. Yoda is the older and wiser one and Obi, the 4-month-old, well, let’s just say he’s still in training. “No eating microphones,” Kelly scolds him. 

Kelly has cerebral palsy, and she suffered a stroke several years ago. She said her dogs help her with different needs. “He knows what time I take my medication,” she said about Yoda. “If I’ve forgotten, he'll kind of bug me.” 

However, Obi’s true talent took a while to come to light. “I knew he had something in there, I just didn't know exactly what,” she said.  She found out last week what that talent was when Obi woke her up in the middle of the night by grabbing her hand. “He wouldn't let go, he wouldn't let me pull my hand away,” she remembers. “I sat up and the minute I did my head hurt really bad and I could smell the gas.”

She said she saw the knob on the stove was on, so she shut it off and they got out. “What surprised me was, that he picked up on it and Yoda did not,” Kelly said. “Obi just happened to be the one that said, ‘Uh oh there's a problem.’”

The experience left Kelly worried about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning, so we called on the Norman Fire Department for assistance. “Because of the colorless odorless nature of it you don't always know when those levels go high,” said Toby Kerby, a fire inspector with the Norman Fire Department.

Kerby showed up at Kelly’s home and showed her the different options when it comes to detectors from battery operated, wired, or ones you simply plug in. He said it doesn’t matter which one you pick; they all are equal in the ability to detect. “Number one thing that saves lives in fires is smoke detectors so it's an easy one for carbon monoxide detectors, they go off easily whenever you can't see can't smell and you know to get out of the house,” he said. Kerby helped install one for Kelly and now she has a backup to her little Obi. “All you have to do is love your dog and you’re a part of the pack,” she said. “They're going to protect you in any way they can.”

Kerby reminds people to check the batteries in smoke and carbon monoxide detectors twice a year when the time change happens. You also need to replace the units after 7-10 years.