A PET Jack Russell has saved a Deloraine woman and her 11-year-old son from a fire that destroyed their apartment early yesterday morning. The frightened but unhurt owner, Trish Greaves, then returned the favour after the pup became lost in the smoke. Ms Greaves and her son Zack Upston were woken by their new two-year-old dog, Odie, about 3.30am to find the first-floor apartment filled with smoke and the shop below well alight. The rented apartment was not fitted with smoke alarms and the sleeping occupants were already engulfed in smoke when Odie woke them. "I am kicking myself about that now, we could have died in there," Ms Greaves said. As the floor below burned, the frightened dog went into Ms Greaves bedroom and woke her by barking and jumping on the bed. "The way she was carrying on made me realise she was really trying to wake me up, she jumped literally on my face and was really screaming at me," Ms Greaves said. "It took me a while to realise what was going on, I was half- dazed by the smoke."

An investigation yesterday revealed the blaze, which caused about $750,000 damage, started in the wall cavity at the rear of the The Flashing Chook take-away shop, and spread to the single entry apartment above. "It is a good thing Odie woke me when she did because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to get out the door, we would have had to get out the window which is quite high," Ms Greaves said. Two-year-old, Odie, was given to Ms Greaves just four days ago and she said she already owed the little dog her life and had a chance to return the favour. "When the man from the bakery next door was leading me out of the building I realised Odie was not there, she had gone back inside," Ms Greaves said. "The guy said to me just leave her and get myself out – I said `no way mate, she just saved my life’."

Ms Greaves ran back into her bedroom to retrieve the dog. Observing the blackened building later yesterday morning, Zack said he couldn’t believe their home was gone as well as the shop below.

"But it is pretty amazing, we would be dead if it wasn’t for Odie, she is a hero."  The fire was believed to have been caused by a faulty electrical conductor in the shop.