Heroic dog found trying to shield owner from house fire

An extraordinarily loyal boxer is fighting to stay alive after firefighters say she tried to save her owner’s life from a deadly house fire last week.

Carmen, a nine-year-old boxer, suffered severe lung damage as a result of a fire at her owner Benjamin Ledford’s house last Thursday.

Upon arriving at the scene of the fire at Ledford’s home in Goshen Township, Ohio, firefighters say they discovered Carmen along with Ledford in the basement of the house.

And according to firefighters, Carmen was lying across Ledford’s face, trying to shield him from the heavy smoke and fumes.

“A lot of dogs instinctively know when there’s a crisis going on and so a lot of them do go try to protect their owners,” Veterinarian Dr. Marlo Anderson at the Cincinnati Care Center told KTLA-5 News.

“When the fire department did get to Ben, his dog was laying over his face protecting him,” Ledford’s neighbour Ron Mitchell likewise told WCPO News in Cincinnati.

Tragically, Carmen’s efforts were ultimately in vain: the 33-year-old Ledford was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at a local hospital.

Now the focus turns to trying to save Carmen’s life.

“She was very red around the gums and the eyes which is consistent with smoke inhalation, damage from the heat and the chemicals,” Dr. Anderson told WKRC News, also in Cincinnati.

On Friday, the chocolate-coloured boxer was put on a ventilator as her damaged lungs struggled to function.

“She is breathing hard, a lot of that is damage to the lungs. She is not getting oxygen very well to the lungs. She is working very hard to breathe at this point,” Dr. Anderson said.

Carmen is also attached to an IV and telemetry to monitor her heart. She remains inside a specialized kennel that allows doctors to precisely monitor oxygen levels, and she is still heavily sedated.

“Keeping her in this kennel enables us to get the oxygen levels a little bit higher than we normally would in that case, as well as minimizing any stress for her movements,” Anderson said.

Doctors had hoped to remove the ventilator by Sunday night, however there was not enough of a change in her condition and as of Monday she remains on the ventilator.

And despite her terrible ordeal, veterinarians maintain Carmen is still friendly and responsive.

“She seems to be very social, so anytime we are over here with her she’s kind of up and trying to interact with us as best she can,” Anderson said.