Stories of wonder dogs, from "Dog Tales: Hundreds of Heartwarming, Face-Licking, Tail-Wagging Tales About Dogs," by Hundreds of Heads Books.

AT ABOUT 2 A.M., Mickey woke us up during a storm. He doesn’t like bad weather anyway, but this time he was really acting wild; pacing, crying, and jumping onto the bed and back down again. One of my sons offered to take him outside, and when he opened the door, he realized our house was on fire! My husband, both our sons, and I managed to get out and run to a safe distance from the house. A few minutes later, our garage exploded. Very quickly, the fire completely consumed the entire house and it burned to the ground. I don’t know what would have happened had Mickey not sensed the danger and gotten us out of the house. He saved our lives.
—ALLYN HEFFNER
CHESTERFIELD, MISSOURI

AT SEVEN YEARS OLD, Kaycee became a therapy dog. She visits cancer patients at UCI Medical Center. I knew that therapy work would be good for her because she loves people. We were visiting a patient who was going to chemotherapy for the first time and did not want to go at all, but Kaycee came to visit and encouraged her to follow through.
—ROBIN WINDLINGER
FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA

WHEN I WAS GROWING UP in Connecticut, my family had a dog named Binx. In fourth grade I had a big falling-out with my parents, and to get back at them I decided to run away. I packed up my sleeping bag and headed off with a box of chocolate granola bars and a six-pack of juice. Binx was on the outskirts of the property as I left. I said goodbye to her and walked maybe one street over and into the woods, where I proceeded to set up camp. I was out there for more than a day; meanwhile, my parents were freaking out and had called the cops to look for me. I was scared myself, especially sleeping alone in the woods at night. Early the next morning, I heard the noise of something coming through the woods, and suddenly my dog was there. Our property had an electric fence, but she’d run through it to find me. This was like a wake-up call; I realized I needed to go home immediately. I packed up camp and went back to my house, where my parents were happy to see me.
—CRIS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Hunter does therapy work at a convalescent home. There is a man there who doesn’t have any legs. Hunter climbs up onto the man’s lap and I push the two of them around in the wheelchair.
—SUSIE BROWN
FILLMORE, CALIFORNIA

I AM A THERAPIST and Maggie sits in with me on every session. It’s amazing how she helps calm so many people. If someone is upset, she notices; when they notice that she notices, they apologize and I have to say its OK. My patients love to pet her because it’s really calming for them.
—JOAN BALLON
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

LUCKY’S A VERY CALM DOG. The only time I’ve seen him get excited is when he wants more food: He does this little tap dance, hopping quickly from foot to foot. We joke that he escaped from the circus. One day, I was in my basement apartment on the phone. He was out in the yard and I could see him going from window to window, looking in. He was extremely fussy, which is completely out of character. This must have gone on for at least 10 minutes. I thought he would stop, but he didn’t give up. He kept stepping toward me, leading with his head, looking toward the yard, then looking at me and then looking back to the yard. Then he ran toward the fence. I started following him, and that’s when I saw that my cat was hanging upside down, crying weakly, his left leg sandwiched in the fence slot! I don’t know what would have happened if Lucky hadn’t alerted me. After that, I started calling him Lassie.
—KATHY GERMANA
F, N Y

WE WERE SOUND ASLEEP. It was between two and three in the morning, and Duncan started pestering me. He usually sleeps in bed with us, but he got up and was sticking his snout under my arm to make me get up. So I got up and told my husband I was taking the dog outside. But when we got outside, it was clear he didn’t have to do anything. He was just staring at the house next door, which had been empty for a while. I looked up and in my foggy mind, I thought, “Hey, look at all the steam coming out from under that roof.” Then I noticed the flames shooting up through the second-floor windows, illuminating everything. I ran back in the house, called 911, and the firefighters came out and put the fire out. I really think it saved our house and the other houses nearby, because we’re quite close together. A few days later, one of the neighbors sent Duncan a bunch of pretty yellow tulips with a card that said, “Thanks for saving the neighborhood.” And just last week a fireman at the nearby station saw me walking Duncan and said, “Is that the dog that detected the fire?”
—DEBORAH GIRARD
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA

ONE NIGHT IN OUR APARTMENT, our dog was going crazy; barking, running up and down the stairs, and coming in to try to wake me. I had been sound asleep, but I got up to see why she was barking. I looked out the window and saw the shadow of a person. I called the police, who came, looked around, and left. But Hannah was still going crazy. Then I noticed that the window was open behind the curtains. I called the police again, and we went outside, and found the contents of my purse scattered all over. Someone had opened the window, reached in with a garden rake, and lifted out my purse, along with a wedding present that had been sitting on the table. Hannah had scared this guy away, but the sad part is that he went on that night to break into another woman’s apartment. He attacked her and stole her car. The police caught him in her car, with my purse. When they caught him, he started cursing out “that big black dog” for alerting everyone. I’ve always thought that if it hadn’t been for Hannah, I would have been that other woman.
—STACEY
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA