Dante Rowley said his golden retriever, Nash, walked up to a man breaking into their San Diego home with toys in his mouth. The dog never barked him out, and the intruder stayed inside for more than an hour before San Diego police arrested him.
Dante Rowley and Stephanie Calderon
Rowley and Stephanie Calderon were out of town during one of the most brutal heat waves of the year when the break-in happened. Rowley said they watched almost the entire incident in real time from their security cameras while traveling back from Chicago, and he kept asking, “We were just like, ‘What is going on right now?’”
The man first hopped over the fence, then retrieved a ladder so he could get in through an open upstairs window. Once inside, Nash repeatedly approached him with toys in his mouth and his tail wagging, while Rowley said, “Our dog tried to play with him.”
Nash in the San Diego home
Rowley said Nash is usually the opposite with new visitors. “He’s super friendly,” he said, but “he just thinks it’s time to play” once people are inside. During the break-in, Nash stayed calm the entire time and never engaged with the man.
The intruder appeared to take a nap, eat food from the fridge, rest, snack and talk to himself for more than an hour. Police circled the home, called for him to exit and sent a drone inside to search for him before the arrest about an hour later.
After the arrest
Rowley said, “We just think he was trying to get out of the heat.” The couple tried to speak through the security system and encourage Nash to go outside, but he stayed put, and Rowley said, “We were just concerned about the dog, really.”
Nothing was stolen, and there was no damage to the home aside from eaten snacks and some outdoor pots that broke during the burglar’s attempted escape. Rowley said afterward, “We were just really happy that the dog was safe afterward.”
