SCHUYLER FALLS, N.Y. — A couple in upstate New York were fast asleep on Saturday night when their home caught fire, an accident they may not have escaped if not for Silver, their five-year-old labrador retriever.

The fire started in the dining room of Samantha Warner’s and her fiancé, Jeffrey Dashnaw’s two story home. Smoke was creeping into their bedroom when Dashnaw was awoken by Silver climbing on top of him.

“If it wasn’t for Silver, three, four more minutes, and we wouldn’t be here,” Warner said.

The house was totaled by the blaze, but Warner and Dashnaw survived and were able to safely get their 11 dogs and three cats out of the burning home.

Dashnaw, she said, dragged the kennel, which was home to nine young puppies, through their burning home to the dining room and thrust it through a window, where Warner was waiting to grab it.

“There was definitely someone watching over us that night,” Warner said.

Thankfully, Warner said, her three-year-old son was not home that night.

And their pets — cats, dogs and the nine playful pups — are just fine, thanks to Silver.

“He’s our hero,” Warner said. “That’s for sure.”

Breen writes for the Plattsburgh, New York Press Republican. News editor Suzanne Moore contributed to this report.