The rescue dog bit him awake before the fire reached him

A 9-month-old rescue dog named Hazel bit her sleeping owner awake last Friday in Whakatāne, New Zealand, as fire tore through the house the two had just begun to share. He escaped with smoke inhalation. The house did not survive. Hazel had been surrendered twice before he adopted her from JDC Rescue, the second time by an owner who, the shelter wrote online, decided to make a lifestyle change. The adoption was barely a week old when the fire started. Firefighters were called early, but locals told Stuff the blaze outran them. "His dog actually bit him and woke him up," property manager Christina Eichler told Stuff. "If his dog wasn't there, he wouldn't be here." Dora Motateanu of JDC Rescue said the man's decision to take Hazel home had saved her life, and that Hazel had now returned the favor inside of a week.