A Marietta man is grieving his 3 ½ -year-old boxer — the “best dog in the world” — who saved him from his burning home but perished in the fire early Tuesday.

Scott Dunn’s home in the Blackwell community near the intersection of Chastain and Canton roads caught fire around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday. When Cobb firefighters arrived, the brick ranch-style house was already engulfed in flames.

Dunn said he wasn’t feeling well Monday night and fell asleep on his sofa after watching the kickoff of the Monday night football game, his dog, Duncan, fast by his side.

“Duncan was covered up with me, and I fell asleep, and the next thing I knew, he was poking at me and barking,” Dunn told the AJC. “Normally, that means he needs to go out, but when I woke up, I couldn’t see because there was smoke.”

Dunn said he put on his pants and boots, found his truck keys and cell phone and grabbed Duncan by the collar, then ran out of the burning house.

“When I got out the front door, the flames went everywhere,” he said. “I got in my truck, started it and backed it out of the carport and realized I had collar and he wasn’t there.”

Dunn said he started to run back into his house, but neighbors who had come over after seeing the flames “told me not to, and I said I had to get Duncan. When I got in the door, it was too hot and I couldn’t go in. I tried to go in, but I couldn’t.”

Fire officials haven’t determined what caused the fire, which destroyed Dunn’s house on Joel Drive.

Dunn, a subcontractor who does remodeling, said he has been going through some tough times, and his gas had been cut off about a month ago.

He said he had been sleeping in the living room of his home and using a space heater during the recent cold snap.

But he said the space heater was the only thing plugged into that circuit and was on a ceramic pad with nothing within four feet that could catch fire.

Despite having lost everything but the clothes on his back, Dunn was most distraught over the loss of his beloved Duncan.

“Anyone that knows me and has ever met Duncan knew he was the best dog in the world, and he didn’t deserve that,” Duncan said. “I should be there, he shouldn’t, but he saved my life.”

Firefighters later brought Duncan’s remains out of the house and buried them in the yard, Dunn said.

“They weren’t going to let me watch, but I refused that,” a tearful Dunn recounted several hours later. “I said, ‘that’s my dog and I want to say the final goodbye.’”

Dunn said Duncan had been badly burned in the inferno.

“You wouldn’t recognize him, but I still leaned down, gave him a hug and gave him a kiss, and four or five of the fire department guys started crying, but I wasn’t going to let my boy go out like that,” Dunn said. “That’s my boy.”