Story highlights Carmen, a 9-year-old boxer, tried to save her owner last week during a house fire

Her owner died, and Carmen is now fighting for her life at a critical care hospital

(CNN) Deadly flames licked all around her, but a heroic dog in a suburban Cincinnati basement refused to leave her owner. Now that dog, a 9-year-old boxer named Carmen, has a team of vets fighting around the clock to save her life.

Carmen was injured Thursday when a fire broke out in the basement of the home where she lived with her owner, Ben Ledford, in Goshen Township, Ohio.

First responders on the scene found Carmen, a 9-year-old boxer, on top of Ledford, trying to shelter his face from the heat, smoke and flame, according to CNN affiliate WCPO

Ledford, 33, was taken to a hospital where he later died. Carmen ended up at Cincinnati's Care Center, a critical care veterinary hospital, where the vets there have placed her on a ventilator.

"She's doing OK. Considering what Carmen has been through we think she's doing as well as can be expected," Dr. Daniel Carey, a vet at the hospital, told WCPO.

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