SALT LAKE CITY -- A family who adopted a rescue dog ended up getting rescued by the canine just four days after they brought him home.
Gilligan is a black labrador retriever, and after he was adopted he growled and barked to alert his new owners to someone hiding in their garage—and that someone turned out to be a violent kidnapping suspect.
Jenine Green said she saw Gilligan for the first time at a Saturday afternoon adoption event, and she said she was immediately brought to tears.
“I can’t imagine someone ever putting them to sleep or mistreating them, so I'm really thankful that I've had them," she said.
Now Green is emotional for a different reason. Last Wednesday Green was out celebrating Pioneer Day with her family when she stopped back home to let Gilligan and her other dog, Cash, out for a break. It was then she said the dogs alerted her to trouble.
“They were very alert and all of sudden they ran to the back of my garage and were being very upset and barking like I've never seen them bark before,” she said. “There were a lot of policemen in the general area, and I knew something was really wrong.”
Green brought the dogs inside and locked the door, and out of her garage came Jeremy Storm. Police said they had pursued Storm in a high-speed chase that spanned two counties before catching him near Green’s home.
Green said the thought of a dangerous suspect hiding in her home is less frightening now that she knows her two rescue dogs are ready and watching out for her.
“It surprised me that they knew so well what to do because they knew to be aggressive and they knew to come and be protective,” she said.
For more information about fostering a pet or helping the CAWS organization, click here.
