An Auckland retiree says he wouldn't "have stood a chance" if his dog hadn't forced him to return home from their nightly walk just moments before a tornado struck.
At about 9:30pm on Sunday, a tornado ripped through parts of Auckland's eastern suburbs, lifting roofs off homes and bringing down trees.
East Tamaki resident Ron Stewart was out walking his dog Shiloh at about 8:30pm when "she stopped and just turned and wanted to go home".
Stewart told The Project the sudden mood change was "very, very out of character for her".
But it wasn't until Stewart's wife took the dogs for a walk on Easter Monday morning that he released Shiloh's impulsive urge to go home could've been her sensing the incoming tornado.
"She came back and said, 'There's been a tornado down there, trees blown over and fences blown over and tiles everywhere'. And it was only about 70 or 80 metres from my house."
The suspected life-saving move is something animal behaviourist Mark Vette said wouldn't be "unusual" and "in this case, [it's] most likely".
Stewart said if he hadn't returned home following Sihlo's staunch request, their walk could've ended in disaster.
"I would probably would've been saying to the dogs, 'Well, we're not in East Tamaki anymore'."
Watch the full interview above.
