The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Edie Cadotte has always loved her dog, Cricket, but it wasn't until Sunday that she truly realized how lucky she is to have the energetic German Shepherd. The Creighton resident owes her life to her pet after the alert pooch forced her to wake up as an unrelenting blaze consumed her trailer home. "I'm just so devastated by everything I've lost that I haven't even contemplated that she did save my life," Cadotte said sombrely. "I would've slept right through (the fire)." As she lay in bed Sunday morning, Cadotte thought Cricket was just being hyper and kept telling her to be quiet and go to sleep. The dog stubbornly refused. "Usually she doesn't get that way," said Cadotte. "Usually she's quiet all night, but she just kept at me and I wanted just to sleep, and she wouldn't stop bothering me until she pounced on my face. "She just really drove me to the pillow the way she jumped." Fully alert, Cadotte made a frightening discovery. "I saw the flames and the smoke, and it was coming towards us," she said. "I shut the door, and there's no way out besides the bedroom window, so I opened the bedroom window and the black smoke was already around us." Cadotte threw Cricket out the window and, wearing nothing but her pajamas, quickly followed. "The black smoke followed us through the window," she said. "It was pretty scary." By the time they arrived on scene, firefighters were unable to salvage Cadotte's home of some 30 years. But Cadotte and her family remained grateful, knowing that while property can be replaced, lives cannot. "We're thanking God for Cricket," said sister Suzette Cadotte, who gave Edie the pet as a gift nearly a year ago. "We were just so happy. I'm sure glad I bought that dog. At first I didn't like her because she was haywire, but I'm telling you, she's a blessing." "I don't know what we would have done if we had have lost our sister," added Betty, another sister. Suzette, who lives in Prince Albert, purchased Cricket from a breeder in Debden, Sask., after reading a newspaper ad. Edie was still mourning the loss of her shitsu, Lobo, who had died of old age. "She had just lost her dog, and I know she loves dogs," said Suzette. With the shock of the fire still sinking for Edie and fianc Rick Harkin, now comes the difficult task of putting their lives back together. "I lost everything. Everything is gone," said Edie, an entrepreneur who owns Edie's Closet, a thrift shop on Main Street. Suzette is hoping the community will pull together to help the couple in their time of need. "She's helped the community a lot," says Suzette, "and I think they should realize this and help her out." Creighton Fire Chief Robert Larocque said Edie's trailer "was fully engulfed" when firefighters arrived on scene. The cause remains under investigation in what was the town's first structural fire since 2007. Larocque said there was no real fear of the blaze spreading due to its distance from other homes.
