Here’s the first entry in DNV’s Amazing Pet Contest. This one was sent to us by Stella from Augusta, Maine. Send your amazing pet story now and get a chance to win some cash and other fabulous prizes!!!

Dear DNV,

I’d like to tell you about my amazing pet, Fifi. Fifi is our 4-year-old Toy Poodle who saved mine and my family’s lives last Christmas.

There were only a few days to go before Christmas and as is tradition in our house (and many other households, I’m sure), we had gotten a beautiful Christmas tree and my whole family had gathered around it after to dinner to decorate it. We hung up our favorite Christmas decor that we had collected over the years and of course, strew lights all around it. My 5-year old daughter named Grace then insisted that we keep the lights on the whole night. “In case Santa comes,” she said. And so we did.

To our surprise, we were woken up in the middle of the night by Fifi barking incessantly. First, she was barking by the foot of our bed and when we still didn’t get up, she jumped on our bed and wouldn’t stop barking until we finally woke up. She then led us outside our bedroom door and down the stairs where we found that the Christmas lights had short circuited and were catching fire on the tree. Thankfully, my husband Rod was able to quickly grab hold of a fire extinguisher and put out the fire before it caused any major damage. Had it not been for Fifi, who knows what could’ve happened?! She not only saved our house, she saved our lives. Thanks to her, we were still able to have a very merry Christmas!