A house across the street from a school was on fire.

Firefighters were on the scene, but the house was burning so badly that it was too dangerous for them to enter. As transfixed school kids watched the scene, a man suddenly ran out of the house fully engulfed in flames. Paramedics and firefighters quickly extinguished the flames, but the man died. The kids who saw this were traumatized, and many had trouble sleeping and eating.

This is where “Hooper,” a Dalmatian, enters the story. When Hooper’s owner, Kevin, a fireman himself (and whose younger brother, also a fireman, died on 9/11), heard about this, he visited the school and told the kids that Hooper was going to teach them what do do in case they were ever caught in a fire. Upon the command, Hooper stood up and started to walk. Suddenly, he stopped, dropped to the floor, and rolled around demonstrating the “Stop, Drop and Roll” exercise that’s standard procedure in firefighting practice.

It was a trick Kevin had taught Hooper when he was a pup, but word of this classroom demonstration spread and Hooper and Kevin found themselves famous. They appeared on television, including the David Letterman show. A book was even written about them: “Firehouse Dog” sold over 400,000 copies and Mayor Giuliani even read the book aloud when he visited local schools.

Hooper performed his firehouse dog duties until 1997. At nine years old, he lived in retirement at his owner’s home until 2002 when he passed away of natural causes at the age of twelve.

“Hooper,” a Dalmatian, had made a difference.