We all know that dogs are extremely loyal and protective animals, especially when it comes to small children.
This is one of many instances when children have gone missing from their homes, only to be rescued with their devoted canines right by their side.
A 5-year-old toddler who had gone missing was found safe and sound owing to his guardian German shepherd.
It all started one day when Houston police officers responded to a report about a little child who was alone with his dog while strolling along railroad tracks.
The 5-year-old was about a half-mile from his home when the department’s Sgt. Ricardo Salas discovered he had Down syndrome.
He also understood that Alejandro, the German shepherd, had been following him to make sure he was safe.
“Witnesses told me the dog was with the little boy when they found him. As I walked away with the boy, the dog followed,” Sgt. Salas wrote on Twitter. “This dog was his protector and his angel.”
“It seems like to us that the dog knew something was up. He knew that the child wasn’t supposed to be wandering off, and he ended up following him,” he told the Houston Chronicle. “He was very protective and would not take his eyes off the child.”
Alejandro stayed vigilant, never letting his little human out of his sight, even with the officers eventually arrived to help him.
“The dog was following basically everywhere I went. It wasn’t barking, it wasn’t intimidated,” Salas added, saying that when he put the boy in the car the dog “jumped inside the driver’s seat with him.”
When the police received a second call shortly after, they learned that the boy was Jose, a missing child.
According to his mother, Jasmine Martinez, she and her 5-year-old son had a nap together, and she woke up to find that her son Jose had disappeared.
Fortunately, everything turned out well, and the youngster only sustained some minor scrapes.
The family is appreciative but not shocked that their devoted dog stepped up to defend Jose when he was in danger.
“Alejandro has always been a very overprotective dog since we got him, we got him when he was a baby. I was not surprised when they said he was walking with him the whole entire time,” Jose’s sister, Samantha Muñoz, told Click 2 Houston.
Jasmine Martinez is now installing child protective locks in her house to ensure that something like this never happens again.
TSgt. Salas says he was moved by the “level of loyalty this dog had to this little boy” and says it was important that the dog was looking after him because the railroad tracks are normally very busy.
“Thank you God for looking over this child,” he wrote.