Mom Of 9 Shouts For Barking Dog To “Shut Up,” Then Realizes He’s Trying To Warn Them.

A dog who was rescued off the side of a busy Iowa highway in 2015 got the chance to return the favor recently, when he alerted his family to a house fire before the alarms even sounded.

Homeowner Angela Fullmer had heated up a snack in the microwave before turning in for the night, but was awoken in the early morning of March 15 by the sound of incessant barking.

Fullmer– who is a mother to 9 children– was exhausted. Her trucker husband was out of town, and she had her hands full with the 9 kids (including a 3-month-old) and 2 dogs.  But the family’s 2 ½-year-old mixed breed dog, Capone, wouldn’t let her rest. He simply wouldn’t quit barking.

“Capone,” she screamed, “Shut up! You’re going to wake the baby.”

But Capone’s barking continued. Then the dog led Fullmer to the kitchen, where she discovered the microwave’s plug was on fire.


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“Within five minutes, the whole downstairs was gone, and four of us were sleeping downstairs. So if he hadn’t barked, (all of us) probably wouldn’t have made it out,”she said.


USA Today

Fullmer immediately gathered her 3-month-old infant and young toddler. She then yelled for her eldest, a 12-year-old son, to round up the remaining children, whose ages range from 10 to 3.


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Once safely outside, she did a roll call.

“We always do a roll call every time we get in the van,”said Fullmer.

Fortunately, Capone also safely made it out of the home, although he stayed with friends of the family while they relocated to temporary housing. But on May 24, the Fullmers will be moving into a five-bedroom home with a large, fenced-in yard for their canine hero to enjoy.


USA Today

Capone has been entered into the annual American Humane Hero Dog Awards, whose winner will be announced today, May 17. Even if he doesn’t win, he could be one of eight winners featured in a Hallmark Channel special and help win a $5,000 award for charity.

Props to this brave and heroic pupster!

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