Guard dog sleeps through burglary
One of the best things about being a dog owner is the security they offer you. While most dogs won’t necessarily defend your property when you’re away, they all have the pack instinct and will defend you – or alert you to danger – should you be faced with a fire or burglary attempt while you are in the house.
Guard dogs however are different. They are, or should be, specially trained to fend off intruders and to defend your property. Dogs have great hearing, and should be alerted to any potential dangers that threaten either you or your property.
Of course, the keyword there is ‘should’ as not all dogs, even guard dogs, are the highly trained machines they’re sometimes mistaken for. One guard dog in particular, from Devon, recently slept through a burglary where he lived – the first burglary in 12 years.
The guard dog’s name is Taz and he’s a Doberman Alsatian cross. He works at the Dartmouth Arms, a pub in Devon. Taz has successfully guarded the Dartmouth Arms since he was bought in 1998 – of course, there haven’t been any attempts to burgle the pub in that time, until now.
While Taz slept upstairs, dreaming of juicy bones and slow postmen, thieves broke into the pub and raided the downstairs of alcohol supplies, and cash from the charity boxes and the quiz machine.
When Mark Keel, the landlord, opened the pub the next morning he found the pub had been robbed and the ‘alert’ guard dog snoring in his basket.
Mark explained:
Taz just didn’t wake up. He should have been straight down the stairs, and he would have been if he’d woken up.
He’s 11 years old now and he’s getting on – getting blind and deaf.
When he was younger, he’d wake up at anything, even people walking along the street outside. We’re now putting in a burglar alarm.
The thieves made off with large bottles of spirits, and even the jar of tips for the staff. The thieves were also very clean and tidy with their burglary because the pub’s cleaner had been in the next morning and hadn’t noticed any signs of theft.
