Clancy saves his owner Anges Larson from home intruders. Photo by: Brian Basham/Record
Agnes Larson of Park Rapids, MN took some medication one evening and fell into a deep sleep. On the foot of her bed, resting with her, was her trusted companion Clancy, a 7-year-old Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier. "He smells really well but doesn't see very well because he has so much hair that goes right over his eyes," laughed Larson. Adopted at the age of 11-weeks, Larson says that Clancy has always been less of a terror and more of a shaggy-dog lover.
But the normally lovable dog fooled everyone that evening when two men broke into Larson's home. "He started growling, and even though he never does that, I still didn't think too much at first," said Larson, "but then he stood up, started to bark and then took a big leap. It must have been eight feet before he even reached the ground." Still groggy from her medication, Larson was unaware that two men were standing only 12 feet from her bed, one with a crowbar.
The next morning, Larson went into her kitchen and found a wet floor. Blaming it on Clancy, she then saw the crowbar laying there and that the deck door was ajar. She immediately called the police.
The police arrived and followed the foot prints from the deck to a local hardware store where upon looking at the store's surveillance camera, saw the men arriving and leaving. They arrested the two men who admitted to breaking into the house to search for money. "They confessed to police that when the dog started barking at them, they grabbed a small butcher knife from the kitchen and were going to kill the dog first and then use their weapon on Agnes if she didn't shut up and stay in her room," said Park Rapids Police Chief Terry Eilers. But Clancy was apparently just enough of a threat to make the duo change their minds and leave.
"Things could have turned really bad really fast," said Eilers. "That dog really was a hero."
"My kids never really liked Clancy because they thought he just needed too much attention, but they like him now," Larson said proudly, adding that the neighbors brought over a big sack of well-deserved doggie biscuits. "I know he's spoiled rotten, but it obviously doesn't hurt to spoil your dog -- not one bit!"