Hero dog: Pet husky saves his neighbourhood by alerting owner to huge gas leak

An American dog has potentially saved his neighbourhood, after his persistent hole-digging led to his owner discovering a huge gas leak in their front yard.

Kobe, a four-year-old husky, was able to alert his owner about the leak by repeatedly digging a large hole in their Philadelphia yard - as inside the house, owner Chanell Bell was plagued by ongoing issues with her gas heater. Ms Bell told SWNS she initially didn't think much of it, but as the hole got bigger she figured Kobe was trying to tell her something.

"I trust his judgment because that isn’t his typical behaviour and he is usually right," she said. "He has great senses and he never digs holes unless he is helping me dig... so I knew something was up."

Ms Bell had a gas leak in the house earlier in December, so she decided to take out her gas detection device. But tests inside the house turned up nothing, she said. "[Kobe's] hole looked ominous. It was very big and you could see that it showed under the sidewalk... When saw the hole and realized it was odd behaviour for my dog, my intuition told me to check it."

Immediately, the reading detected gas. She alerted the authorities, who informed her that if Kobe hadn't detected the leak when he did on 21 December, the consequences could have been catastrophic.

"If it wasn't detected and the gas continued to leak into our homes, we were told it could've caused serious health effects like respiratory issues, brain damage and even death," Ms Bell continued. "They told me that something as simple as a light switch turning on could've caused an explosion too."

The gas foreman and crew immediately turned off her gas and got to work, discovering that the old, rusty pipes had caused three main gas leaks across the neighbourhood. It took engineers three-and-a-half days straight to resolves the leaks, and fit new pipes.

"When they [the engineers] arrived, they were so impressed with Kobe and mentioned what a good dog he was," she added, saying it just went to show you should always listen to your animals and their senses. "It feels amazing to know Kobe saved our block, I am very thankful to have him... I hope that this spreads awareness to others about the dangers and severity of gas leaks and to pay attention to your fur babies."