SALINAS, Calif. - A Salinas dog is all barked out. Her owners call her a hero and say she saved their daughters life. A 12-year-old girl was home alone, when a robber forced himself inside her house. But the small dog forced him out.
"Your helpless and angry at the same time," says Arturo Cortez. "Wow in broad daylight at 3 p.m. That's pretty bad."
On Friday afternoon, Arturo Cortez was at work, when he got a frantic call from his daughter Jaclynn, no father wants to get. She was home alone and scared, an intruder just busted through the front door.
"I don't know what this person had in mind really," says Cortez. "I'm assuming all he wanted to do was rob the place but you never know."
The sixth grader just got home from school, when she heard someone pounding on the door. Arturo showed Central Coast News, where the suspect kicked the door of his home on Tyler Street open. The suspect's footprint was still there.
The suspect walked about 20 feet inside the house and through the kitchen. That's when he came just short of the master bedroom where Jaclynn was hiding.
"I'm about to die," says Jaclynn Cortez. "God save me, help me."
But, little did he know Daisy, the family's half poodle, half chihuahua mix wasn't going to let him near her.
"They sense things, they got this great sense of who's not supposed to be here," says Arturo Cortez.
The tiny dog started barking and wouldn't stop until Jaclynn was safe.
"Luckily, the dog just barked and barked to death," says Arturo Cortez. "Maybe it startled him and got fed up with it. He freaked out and ran out the door."
Jaclynn even got teary-eyed, and said, "she saved my life."
Jaclynn always loved Daisy, and while Arturo didn't, he does now.
"Honestly, people that know me know I'm not too crazy about that dog," says Arturo Cortez. "But I tell you I love that dog now."
Police don't have a good description of the suspect. The 12-year-old girl is okay, just a little shaken up.
Submitted by Azenith Smith, Central Coast News
