Howllo Fellow Hound and sniffing out trouble for others hound lovers!
Do you smell that? Buddy the Basset Hound did
Dog sniffs out natural gas leak and helps owner warn Middlesex neighbors.
By Joseph Cress, Sentinel reporter, October 23, 2008
Buddy the Basset Hound can expect to be spoiled this Christmas … and not just by his owner, June Pullis.
“The neighbors are all going to buy him special toys and treats,” the Middlesex Township woman says. “Buddy deserves it. He saved a lot of people.”
Pullis, 64, was sitting in her home Monday afternoon when her dog started to act strangely. Human and canine share a home in the 300 block of Pin Oak Lane in the Country Manor West mobile home park.
At first, Pullis thought Buddy needed to do his business but his show of urgency seemed a bit extreme.
“Usually, he would just nudge me with his paw to go out,” Pullis says. “He’s never acted like that Buddy knew something was wrong.”
Figuring it was the call of nature, Pullis got Buddy ready for a walk. But when she opened the door, the dog took off dragging her down the stairs by his leash.
Pullis, who was inside and has sinus problems, did not notice the natural gas smell at first. It took the nose of a natural tracking dog to sniff out trouble and warn her of danger.
“He walked me right up to the gas line,” Pullis says. “No one had noticed at first. Kids mowing the lawn had bumped the line. Gas was pouring out of the hole. I could hear it hissing.”The leaky line was located just above ground in a large adjoining lot.
Pullis went back inside to phone her close friend and neighbor Tammy Perez, who lives four doors down, and asked Perez to come right over.
Meanwhile, 7-year-old Buddy continued to bark and raise a fuss as the women talked briefly on the phone. As Perez got closer, she could smell the gas heavy in the chilly air and called 911 from the Pullis home.
“I knew it was bad,” Perez said.
Both women then fled, with Buddy in tow. They knocked on several doors to alert neighbors to the danger and evacuate residents to a safe distance. No one was hurt or overcome by fumes.
Volunteers with the New Kingstown Fire Company received the dispatch about 6:30 p.m., Deputy Fire Chief Robert Horning said. Upon arrival, he detected a strong odor of natural gas.
“We cordoned off the area, plugged the line and notified UGI,” Horning said. He added firefighters opened windows and used a fan to ventilate the house. They also tested the home next to Pullis for natural gas and confirmed there was no major threat inside the house.
Deborah Leuffen is manager of marketing and communications for UGI Utilities, Inc. She confirmed that a UGI technician, responding to the scene, detected a strong smell of gas in the air and could hear a hissing where gas was escaping a damaged pipe.
Leuffen said the damaged section of pipe was below the meter, so UGI staff shut off the flow at the meter. If the damaged pipe had been the property of the utility, UGI would have repaired or replaced it.
However, in this case, the damaged section served the mobile home downstream of the meter so the property owner is responsible, Leuffen said.
She explained that UGI owns and maintains the gas distribution system piping up to and including the gas meter. Any piping or equipment after the gas meter is the responsibility of the property owner for its repair and maintenance.
Perez said the line has since been repaired and gas restored to the home next to Pullis. There was no disruption of service to residents in other homes along the block, Perez said.
Meanwhile, Buddy is being hailed as a hero by both Pullis and Perez.
“He is an awesome basset hound,” said Perez, who is 50. “I feel as though he saved the entire mobile home park. If it wasn’t for him acting up, God only knows what would have happened.”
In celebration Wednesday night, Buddy enjoyed a whole steak compared to his usual diet of dog food, water and a doggie treat, Pullis said.
Pullis said she cooks for Buddy occasionally but has to be careful of giving him people food, because the dog has a heart condition.
Buddy is particularly fond of her chicken and beef stew.
Perez gave Buddy to Pullis about a year ago. The dog once belonged to her future daughter-in-law Trina Garcia, who had to give Buddy up when she became pregnant.
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What a good Buddy! A real hero hound!
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