7:00am Monday 12th January 2009
By Chris Wilkin
A PINT-SIZED pooch foiled a burglar by waking her deaf owner as she slept through a raid.
Student April Porter was asleep when a crook targeted her Colchester home in the early hours of the morning.
She had no chance of hearing the intruder after taking out her hearing aid when she went to bed.
But plucky westie terrier Angel, who sleeps at the bottom of April’s bed, was determined to raise the alarm.
“Nothing wakes me up – I slept right through the hurricane in 1987,” said April, 41.
“But Angel just kept whining and whining until I finally did wake up.
“I wondered what she was whining at. I thought it might be a fox so I looked out of the bedroom window and saw the garage door was open.
“Then a bloke came out with a bag of stuff.”
She bravely banged on the window to startle the thief.
“I shouted ‘Oi! you!’ but he ran, jumped over the gate and legged it,” said April, who is a trainee occupational therapist at Colchester Institute.
Angel is now being hailed a hero by her proud owner.
The burglar escaped with just a remote-controlled car belonging to April’s disabled son Blake, 15, who goes to Lexden Springs School.
“Angel saved the day by waking me up so I could disturb him,” said April, of Littlebury Gardens, Old Heath.
“Some people might be thinking of getting rid of their dogs because of the credit crunch but they do look after you.”
Police are investigating the break-in, which happened in the early hours of Saturday.
“Angel is getting an extra bone today,” April added.
“She really is my guardian angel.”
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