Got Dogs?
BY Herschel Smith
7 years ago
CENTRAL TEXAS — A Killeen woman has shared disturbing video of an attempted burglary in an effort to warn other residents to be on alert and to keep the would-be thieves from targeting anyone else.
The footage was captured on a Vivint home security system around 1:08 a.m. Nov. 18 in the 2200 block of Fieldstone Drive off of Willow Spring Road in Killeen.
The victim said she heard glass break toward the front of her house. When she went into her living room, she realize someone had broken her window. So, she called 911.
While the woman was on the phone with 911, a guy in a jersey knocked on her door and asked if she was okay. But, the woman claimed the male in the jersey was only a distraction to allow the other guys to approach with guns.
She said the trio was going to rob her but saw she had four dogs and ran away.
When police arrived, officers said they found the guy in the jersey in front of the house claiming to be a concerned neighbor. As the victim suspected, police later determined he was involved, so they arrested him. Investigators also located two suspicious vehicles nearby. They determined the occupants in the vehicles were the other suspects in the incident and arrested the occupants in both.
In total, four adults were arrested and one juvenile was taken into custody. All five were charged with burglary of a habitation. The four adults were identified as Gjavion Smith-Williams, 17, Davieon Reed, 22, Jamal Marbury Jr., 18, and Daquan Lavant, 18.
It brought a smile to my face to see the hoodlums run away in that video.
Next up, news from Canada.
It is an amazing tale of survival.
Dog walker Annette Poitras spent more than two days lost in the backcountry of Eagle Mountain in Coquitlam with three dogs.
They were all rescued alive and safe Wednesday afternoon, and now more details are coming to light about how they survived the rain and the elements.
Marcel, Annette’s husband, told Global News on Thursday that the dogs helped his wife stay alive.
“One of them was cuddling [her] and one of them was on guard and the other one was looking for food,” he said.
Annette was with a collie named Chloe, a boxer named Roxy and a puggle named Bubba. They didn’t leave her side, even though one of them initially wandered off when Annette fell and hurt herself.
But luckily, that dog came back and then all four of them stayed together until they were rescued.
Despite having no water or food, it appears the group took care of each other as best they could.
“[At] one point, the last night — when it was torrential rain — the short-haired boxer, [Roxy], was cold, so [Annette] took off one of her rain jackets to put over the boxer,” said Marcel. “To keep it warm.”
Annette also learned a survival tip from the dogs.
“She happened to notice one of the dogs was digging a hole to sleep in,” explained Marcel. “[The undergrowth], it’s very spongy, it soaks up a lot of water. So she started sweeping away all the brush and everything to get down into the dirt and kind of made herself a little well to sleep in. She learned from the dogs.”
I don’t think it was “lucky” that the one dog came back to her, but then, I don’t believe in luck or chance. I doubt that the dog who hunted for food came back with anything for her that could be eaten unprepared, but I also doubt that she had much of a chance for survival without the dogs.
Got dogs? If you want companionship, faithful, loyal and loved family members, and committed partners for your protection, you can’t do any better than dogs.
On November 27, 2017 at 10:17 am, MamaLiberty said:
Very lucky lady, dogs or not. I simply can’t imagine going out into the woods that poorly prepared. At 71, and disabled, I can’t go out in the woods anymore, but when I did I always had a small pack of essentials with me. And that included a firearm on my belt. I have a feeling those little couch potato dogs would not have been able to defend her from much of anything.
The other very lucky circumstance for this lady is location. She would not have done as well in NE Wyoming as she did in Texas. It’s already approaching zero during some nights here.
On November 27, 2017 at 11:02 am, moe mensale said:
“While the woman was on the phone with 911, a guy in a jersey knocked on her door and asked if she was okay. But, the woman claimed the male in the jersey was only a distraction to allow the other guys to approach with guns.”
So at 1 AM she decides it’s a great idea to open her door and go outside and have tea & crumpets with a guy who just happens to be hanging around her house which just had one of its windows broken? This lady is severely lacking in critical thinking skills.
On November 27, 2017 at 11:29 am, Fred said:
But Moe, they look like such nice boys!
On November 27, 2017 at 11:53 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Fred,
The dogs certainly had better sense than she did.
On November 27, 2017 at 4:04 pm, ExpatNJ said:
I have said previously, “the bad guys don’t want to be shot by anything”.
I would like to amend that to: “the bad guys don’t want to be shot – or bit – by anything”.
Years ago, my spouse and I were victims of an armed home-invasion in the middle of the night. At that time, we had guns, but no dogs. Since then, we have always kept dogs. Dogs have incredible hearing, and are VERY territorial and protective of their homes. I can’t help but believe our home has since been passed-by simply because of our dogs.
Herschel is spot-on: dogs make great protectors, companions and family members – especially if they they have character.
On November 27, 2017 at 4:23 pm, Herschel Smith said:
ExpatNJ,
We have two. The girl is big and sweet as she can be, but VERY territorial and would die to protect us. The small dog is a toy breed, but mean as hell. Mean to the bone. Sweet to us, but mean to almost everyone else, everyone besides family.
I wouldn’t want to tangle with either, and good Lord, can they make a racket together.
On November 27, 2017 at 5:34 pm, Pat Hines said:
I have a Plott Hound, about 3 years old, a rescue of sorts. Chipped, but abandoned by her owners.
Our young dog is a 4.5 month old Doberman male, still learning, but shaping up very well.
We hope to never be without dogs. I’ve had them since age 6.
On November 27, 2017 at 5:37 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Dobie is red and rust, or black? Tail docked? Dew claws off? Ears intact and not cropped?
On November 27, 2017 at 6:27 pm, Pat Hines said:
@Hershell,
Burkhard’s alterations, our Dobe’s name, Burk for short is this. The breeder docked his tail, since it’s done early in their lives, and most want that done. They removed his dew claws too, which I would not have done, but that’s also an early surgery. My Deutche Draathaar had a docked tail, but it was rather long, possible 6-7 inches when she was full grown. That was all about reducing the risk of injury during hunting. I had no problem with that reasoning. Burk is a Black and tan Dobe.
We’re not going to crop his ears, because I don’t see the reason for that and a rationale would be the only reason I’d do that. His tail is docked very short, possibly an inch long when he reaches full size. It may be/Users/pathines/Desktop/Burk that the Dobe community thinks this is to prevent “bad people” from using the tail as a handle, I don’t know.
Val: https://media.fotki.com/2vtkUpPxQKds.jpg The rope lead is not attached to anything, it was the only way to keep her steady enough to take the photos.
This is a short video of Burk and Frieda from a couple of days ago, don’t know if you can view it from this link.
On November 27, 2017 at 6:28 pm, Pat Hines said:
I posted this, didn’t show up:
On November 27, 2017 at 6:38 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Pat,
Good all around. The docked tail prevents people from using the extended tail to grab during fights if he ever has to defend you.
No reason to crop the ears. It’s only cosmetic. It’s bloody, it hurts, and sometimes even then it doesn’t work after you’ve spent time getting bandages done to raise the ears to heal.
Our girl doesn’t have cropped ears, but does have a docked tail. Dew claws are removed because I’ve seen what a torn dew claw can do when the dog gets moving and turning outside. It requires surgery to repair, and it’s painful and bloody. Best to get it done early in life before the nerves develop in that claw.
On November 27, 2017 at 6:41 pm, Herschel Smith said:
The link shows up for me. Nice looking dog. I have pictures of Heidi on this web site.
On November 27, 2017 at 8:35 pm, Fred said:
Mr. Smith,
With all due respect sir, these boys are simply misunderstood. I FEEL that with just one more government program and a little more love from the central authorities the next generation of godless and fatherless yuuts will finally excel.
On November 27, 2017 at 8:51 pm, Henry said:
We breed retrievers. We had our first litter’s dewclaws removed. Trust me, the nerves in that claw are fully operational. After hearing our dogs screaming throughout the procedure, we never had this done to another litter.
On November 27, 2017 at 11:22 pm, Herschel Smith said:
@Henry,
I wouldn’t try to convince you to do something you thought wasn’t humane. But my oldest son Josh has a Golden who has had his dew claw torn twice now, and I assure you that it’s an awful thing.
Bloody, painful, difficult to get to heal, painful, more pain, and absolutely huge Vet bills. Vet bills you can’t imagine.
Whenever you sell dogs to people without dew claws being cut, many of them will deal with this later in life.
On November 28, 2017 at 8:33 am, Stacy0311 said:
Were these high capacity assault dogs?
On November 28, 2017 at 9:28 pm, Ned said:
Interesting that Gjavion, Davieon, Jamal, and Daquan were referred to as adults. Thugs with names like these would typically be identified by the MSM as “teens.” Not black, not white, just teens. With the numbers of these “teens” out there causing mayhem, one might typically hope that they all just move past teen-hood to the age of 20.
But seriously, if anyone here gets past the locked gate and the chow dogs, they will meet an armed response. And God only can help them if they hurt one of the wife’s chow chows and she knows about it. So far, no one has ever tried to make it past the dogs.
On November 29, 2017 at 10:55 am, June said:
The Texas woman should not have opened her door to anyone except a LEO and only after confirming that it is actually the LEO at the door.
Some asshats try that in my Texas neighborhood they will be greeted upon entry by my trusty companions Smith & Wesson.