HAMPSTEAD Friday, Jan 24, 2003- A collie pushed his owner away from beneath his snow-covered roof down a stairway seconds before the roof collapsed onto the deck.
"If I was under it I would have been crushed," said David Levesque. "The way I was leaning over the rail I would have been cut in half. I would have been killed."
The weight of the 12-by-14-foot roof was later estimated at nearly 4,000 pounds.
Levesque, disabled by severe arthritis and spinal problems, said he was leaning against a railing and reaching up with one of his arm crutches to remove some snow when his dog, Jarrod started pushing him with all his might off the deck and down the stairs.
Levesque, 61, says he believes the 11/2-year-old collie, who is trained to help him get around in his wheelchair, knew exactly what it was doing and saved his life the morning of Jan. 6.
"He heard or sensed something," Levesque said. "He started getting all panicky. He pushed his way out through the door and he came between my legs and the railing and he started pushing me and he started looking up at me. He just knew I was in danger and he got me out of there. It felt like a 300-pound guy was pushing me."
Levesque said as soon as he got to the stairs, 'Boom, it (the roof) came down.' It was loud. It was a big thump, and the pressure took me and knocked me off the stairs and knocked me on my back on the ground. I was shaking."
He said Jarrod stayed across Levesque's lap for a while. Levesque gave Jarrod a big hug and treated him to big steak.
Roger Wells, a veterinarian, said it's quite possible Jarrod sensed something just before the roof collapsed.
"Dogs and other animals have heightened senses that allow them to hear things we can't hear," Wells said. "He may have heard the rafters creaking or the timbers starting the break in the roof before it collapsed."
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That's incredible...what a good dog!
- and good owner, David, for treating him to a steak! 
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