Dog gets praise for protecting her owner
Normally, Anna would have been punished with a squirt from the hose for running out the front door.
Marie Creech's Siberian husky, Anna, attacked an intruder and chased him away after the intruder grabbed Creech and tried to pull her out of the house. The man escaped, leaving Creech and Anna with minor injuries.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
But this time, the 5-year-old Siberian husky is being praised by her owner for dashing out that door and possibly saving her life.
"She's my hero," Martinez resident Marie Creech said a week after she told police Anna had saved her from a man attempting to force his way into their home.
Creech, who has two other dogs, told police that in the early hours of Dec. 31, her husband, Raymond, left the home with no vehicles in the driveway to take dinner to their son, who is a Richmond County sheriff's deputy and was working a special shift..
When someone knocked on the door just after 2 a.m., Creech said she immediately opened it, expecting to see her husband returning. Instead, she said, a man with panty hose over his face grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out the front door.
"Before he got me out of the door good, (Anna) lunged and almost knocked me off my feet," Creech said. "She didn't go for his feet. She went for his face.
"When they were tussling around, he went over the railing."
Creech said her 85-pound pet continued to attack the intruder at the base of the porch, across the yard and over a fence.
"I believe that if he didn't get over the fence, she would have hurt him," said Creech, who insists the man must have received at least a few injuries from the struggle.
Creech immediately called police, who combed the area but found no signs of the man she described as 5-feet-8 inches tall and weighing 220 to 250 pounds with long, stringy, dark blonde or light brown hair.
Creech said police told her the man might have been checking to make sure no one was home before kicking the door in.
"I think I shocked him as much as he shocked me," Creech said. "Anna must have sensed my fear, because she's never done anything like that."
Creech said Anna is normally a very easygoing and playful dog that looks more like a wolf than a loving pet.
Creech said she has tried for five years to get Anna to sleep on the bed, but Anna never would.
Since the attack, Anna has spent every night curled at the foot of her owner's bed.
Creech said it scares her to think about what could have happened if Anna's protective instincts hadn't kicked in.
Police are still looking for the man, but they have made no arrests, sheriff's Capt. Steve Morris said.
All that remains of the attack is a few healed scratches on Creech's arm, a bandage on her chin, a scratch on Anna's cheek and a bent fence rail where the intruder hopped over.
"She will not let me out of her sight now," Creech said. "She is my special dog. She has always been my special dog."