You can say the dog ate my homework - but it's not often you can say the dog started a fire.
That's exactly what happened to a Windsor couple who went out for dinner and got a call from their security company.
Homeowners Jesse Garant and Jessica Lockhart say their Beagle Henry, hopped up on the counter and stepped on the countertop stove, turning a knob.
Jesse Garant (L) Jessica Lockhart, holding Henry (Centre) Molly Gillanders of Secuirty One (R), April 4, 2018 (Photo courtesy of Rich Garton/CTV Windsor)
Lockhart tells CTV News, it's not something they ever thought would happen.
"We knew that he had gotten up on the counters before and we actually joked about it, saying 'hopefully he doesn't ever turn the stove on one day when he jumps up on the counter,' " says Lockhart.
Molly Gillanders of Security One is the one who got the alert. She says "I saw the alarm, I called the house and nobody answered, I called his cell phone and he said that he was out of town and there wouldn't be a reason why there should be smoke, no one was cooking or anything."
A cutting board caught fire after the homeowners dog turned on the stove when nobody was home. Photo taken April 4, 2018 (Photo by Rich Garton/CTV Windsor)
When Henry the Beagle hopped up on the counter he turned on a burner, which lit a nearby, wood cutting board on fire.
Fire crews arrived on scene before Garant and Lockhart arrived back home and were able to put the fire out.
— with files from CTV's Rich Garton