Photo by Ken Odor
Joe Ring at the grave of Shadow, the family dog that saved his wife and him when a fire broke out at their home earlier this month.

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An elderly Mechanicsville couple owes their lives to their pet of 15 years, said Joe and Margaret Ring last week.
While they slept soundly in their home in the 9400 block of Cool Spring Road on the night of September 1, a fire broke out about 1 a.m. in the home where they have lived the past 43 years.
It might have been the last night for both, if not for Shadow, their black Labrador retriever, who sounded the alarm.
“When the dog started hollering it woke me up,” said Joe, 81, a retired Safeway store meat manager.
Sitting in the shade of an awning attached to a camper trailer that one of his six children brought for them to stay in while they decide what to do next, he described the fire.
“I went to check on him. The family room was filled with smoke and flame,” said Ring, who said he doesn’t recall hearing the smoke alarm go off.
Margaret, sleeping in another room, said she was awakened by the noise of something falling.
“I saw smoke and fire coming up the steps,” she said.
Margaret came out the back door. Joe escaped through the downstairs utility room back door.
Shadow didn’t make it.
“Oh sure, he saved our lives,” said Joe. “We might still be in there now.”
Fire Marshall Charlie Pavie said the cause of the blaze is still under investigation, as is the question of whether any working smoke detectors were in the house.
“I was frantic,” said Joe, “her in her nightgown and me with no shoes.”
With no access to a phone, Joe drove to the nearby Ashcake Rescue Squad building, but no one was in the building. Then he drove to a nearby gas station to call the fire department.
Joe praised the work of Hanover firefighters and the Sheriff’s Office, both during and after the fire.
“Company 6 and the Sheriff’s Department have been wonderful,” he said.
As has been the response of family, friends, neighbors and people the couple has never met, they said.
“I couldn’t believe the people who care about you,” said Joe.
Company 6 firefighters found Shadow’s remains in the rubble two days later, and son-in-law Harry Rice and nephew Stan Thorne built a grave site on the property for Shadow.
The grave site bears a cross donated by a member from New Highland Baptist Church.
Joe, a Marine infantryman on his way to Guam when the atomic bomb ended WW II, had to walk away for a minute as Thorne talked about burying the dog.
Earlier he described the bond between pet and master.
“Everywhere I went he was right there with me. They understand you – it’s an unspoken communication,” said Joe. “He was spoiled rotten,” Ring admitted, “He had his own couch to sleep on.”
The Rings plan to build a new home on the site as soon as they can.