Some time ago, a stray, emaciated dog named Pal limped up to the front door of the Harmon family residence in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. Affected by the suffering of an obviously neglected animal, the Harmons took the needy dog in and nursed it back to health.
That act of kindness would eventually lead to a heartwarming rescue story of another kind: this week, Pal returned the favor when he saved the family who saved him, barking and clawing at them to warn them of a fire spreading through their home while they slept.
Susan Harmon was dozing in front of the television when Pal came to her bedroom and attempted to get her attention: Harmon said that she tried to ignore the dog, but his persistence and insistence eventually struck her as unusual.
“He kept pawing at my arm and wouldn’t stop. Then he started whining and looking at the bedroom door,” she said.
Harmon opened that door and found her home engulfed in fire. She and her family managed to escape the inferno after a brief scramble, and they say that if it weren’t for Pal, they would have been dead in a matter of minutes.
“We probably would have died without him,” said Susan Harmon. “We don’t know where he came from, maybe heaven.”
