DES MOINES, Wash. (WSVN) — A “hero” dog who got shot while protecting his 16-year-old owner during a home invasion robbery is finally heading home after undergoing surgery.
The German Shepherd named Rex was shot multiple times as he tried to protect Javier Mercado, who was home at the time when armed burglars broke into his house. He says his pet saved his life.
Javier called 911 when he heard burglars breaking into the house, and decided to hide in a closet. He said he tried to get Rex to hide in the closet with him, but the dog instead ran downstairs and confronted the burglars at the front door.
“I started hearing barking, a lot of barking, and then one of the guys screamed, ‘The dog bit me, the dog bit me!’” Javier recalled.
That’s when he heard gunfire, and the sound of his four-legged friend yelping in pain.
But despite being wounded, Rex didn’t give up. When the burglars started heading toward the room where Javier was hiding, the injured dog once again attacked the suspects.
[protected-iframe id=”a01a775147a672c08c8d806ddbf7770f-110336915-112670968″ info=”//z.cdn.turner.com/cnn/van/resources/2.1/scripts/van-widgets.js” ]
“They didn’t hesitate shooting Rex, they didn’t hold back on anything,” said Javier. “If Rex wasn’t there, they would have opened that door and they would have saw me in there.”
The burglars took off when they heard police sirens approaching the house.
The Mercados rushed Rex to an animal hospital, where they found out he’d been shot in his neck and both hind legs.
“I just want to thank my dog,” Javier said. “If it wasn’t for him, I feel like I wouldn’t be standing here right now.”
The Mercados said Rex is expected to make a full recovery after the surgery, which repaired his broken tibia on his left hind leg.
Javier says Rex is a bit more skittish now, so he plans on devoting plenty of time to his beloved dog.
“That’s my little guy right there. That’s my best friend,” Javier told KCPQ. “He’s really traumatized now fast reactions will scare him and kind of like he’ll jump but I think we will get through it just work on it slowly.”
Copyright 2024 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.