Remember the Aesop fable about the dog and rooster who stuck together and ended up outwitting the wily fox, who wanted to have the rooster for dinner?

The fable played out in real life in Dover, Florida this week — only the fox’s role was played by a fire. Here’s the tale.

Once upon a time, not long ago, there was a rooster who slept by the freezer on his people’s porch. He liked the warmth from its motor. It felt like the early days in the nest with his brothers and sisters.

One night, something went terribly wrong in his cozy hideaway. Flames started shooting out of a corner where a broken fan stood. As the fire grew, the rooster began to crow, even though it was nowhere near dawn. Whether he crowed because he was scared or because he wanted to alert the family that had let him have a nice place to sleep no one will ever know, because he’s not talking.

But his crowing got the family dog, Buddy, interested in the goings-on, and Buddy took to barking. He barked louder than he ever had in his life. Whether it was because the rooster was crowing at such an odd hour or because he wanted to alert the family no one will ever know, because like the rooster, he’s also silent on the issue.

Their cacophony woke up various family members, who helped each other escape. There was a bed-ridden grandfather in a queen-sized hospital bed, and the fire was getting out of control. The apple of his eye, grandson Parker McIntosh, raced to the bed and pulled it out the back door with his grandfather still in it.

All six people escaped as the fire tore through the roof right above them, thanks to the unlikely team of a rooster and a dog (who are also safe). “I’m not sad about it at all because we’re all living,” said Brian McIntosh, who was smiling even though the family had no homeowners’ insurance.

The moral of this story is that by sticking together, great things can happen.

And as a postscript, that’s just what the community is doing for the McIntoshes, who have to start over because their home is lost. Friends, family, and church members are pitching in to lend a hand, and the Red Cross is helping them get emergency housing (by the looks of things, they’ll definitely be with Buddy, although their roosters may have to stay with neighbors).

We at Dogster wish them a happy ending.