One of the participants in this year's Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show has a very exciting backstory. See, apart from being a cute, athletic ball of energy, Tomi, the Shiba Inu, is also credited with saving her masters' lives, according to the Associated Press.

The 4-year-old Shiba's master, Julia Haight, said that Tomi was largely responsible for keeping her and her family safe from harm last October when an electrical fire broke out in their Long Island home.

When Tomi noticed that the house was filling up with smoke, he started doing all he could to wake his master. He jumped all over the bed and pounced on his master from head to toe. Noticing her dog's behavior, Haight soon woke up, reported The Canada Journal.

"He's normally catlike, very graceful. But he was violently shaking. It wasn't like him at all," she said.

Eventually, Haight, her husband, her brother, her brother's girlfriend and a close family friend were all able to escape the burning house. Firefighters soon arrived, though the interior of the house was already uninhabitable due to the damage.

Despite the damage to the house, Haight knew that had it not been for Tomi, the family would probably not have escaped the fire without any harm, reported The Denver Post.

"It could've been so, so different," she said.

This year marks Tomi's third attempt at winning the prestigious Westminster dog show. With his one-of-a-kind feat in mind, however, it would not be much of a surprise if he finally comes out on top this time.  

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