They say that a dog is a man’s best friend. A brave black Lab named Ziggy proved that adage and then some when intruders broke into his owners' home in a suburb of Pittsburgh last week. Ziggy charged the intruders and paid the ultimate price for his courage and loyalty.
Detective Sgt. Tom Klawinski is quoted as telling reporters:
Their dog actually got up to defend the homeowner, and the dog was shot. They shot the dog several times. Right there, it died.
The detective was referring to a basement living area, where the unidentified homeowner and his wife were accosted at gunpoint by two men who entered an unlocked side door. The break-in occurred around 1 a.m. on June 15.
As though the story were not already tragic enough, the gunmen in all likelihood had targeted the wrong house. Says Klawinski:
They kept telling the people, 'Where is it, where is it?' And they [the victims] kept telling them they didn't know what they were talking about, so they shot and killed the dog and ran.
Seeming to confirm a case of mistaken identity, police made a search of the home and were unable to turn up anything of value that the robbers might have been looking for.
Meanwhile, Ziggy’s human caretakers are left to mourn.
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