Waterloo Fire Department and Monroe County EMS personnel responded with Waterloo police about 10 p.m. Sunday to the report of smoke in a residence at 222 W. Third Street. A 14-year-old male — the son of Lydia Ulmer — and his dog were able to safely exit the house, but the dog, a young boxer, was treated for severe smoke inhalation.

The fire originated in a clothes dryer, and was discovered by the young male who had returned home well after the fire had smoldered and filled the residence with smoke. He went inside and pulled the dog from the smoking home, an EMS official confirmed.

“The fire was contained to the clothes dryer and there was smoke throughout the home,” Waterloo Fire Chief Brett Wiegand said. “We vented the house with a positive pressure fan the best we could and removed the dryer from the house, but there didn’t appear to be any structural damage, only smoke.”

EMS treated the boxer, named Charlie, with oxygen while waiting for an emergency veterinarian to respond from Waterloo Animal Hospital; an observer on the scene reported that Charlie’s labored breathing seemed to improve and a veterinarian administered an injection to further help him.

“He’s doing better, but he’s still weak,” Ryan Weber of Monroe County EMS reported Monday on the dog’s condition.

Following treatment at a Collinsville animal hospital, Charlie is now in the care of Waterloo Animal Hospital. EMS delivered more oxygen for the dog at the vet clinic on Monday.

“It’s not known how long he’d been in there with the smoke, but judging by the condition he was in, it was probably a long time,” Weber said.

The Waterloo Police Department has an envelope for donations in support of the boxer, who is looking at a one-to-two-week stay at the animal hospital, located inside the police station lobby. The goal is to raise $1,500.

Call 939-3377 for more information.