Great Dane Saves Little Girl from Attack in Chicago

Several people have sent me this story over the last couple of weeks:

Scooby the Great Dane and Larry Smith the thug: My money is on Scooby

Great Dane rescues little girl:

A man walking his Great Dane, Scooby, rescued a 14-year-old girl who was being attacked in the Logan Square neighborhood Thursday afternoon and then held the attacker at bay until police arrived.

The alleged attacker, Larry E. Smith, 28, of the 3700 block of South Wells, was ordered held on $200,000 bond on Friday.

The attack happened at 4:44 p.m. in the 2800 block of North Whipple Street, according to Shakespeare District police Capt. Marc Buslik.

The girl had just gotten off the Diversey Avenue bus and was walking home when she noticed a man beginning to follow her, police said. Smith allegedly ran towards the girl and lunged at her as she ran up a set of stairs to her building, authorities said.

“He grabbed her and threw her to the ground,’’ Buslik said.

The building’s owner said Friday afternoon she heard the girl scream, and saw the man try to kiss her, before he ran away when confronted by the neighbor and his dog.

The neighbor “is very brave,” the building owner said.

The man and his dog cornered Smith in an alley and held him until police arrived, authorities said. The girl was not seriously injured.

Smith was charged with one count of attempted criminal sexual assault.

Smith has three drug felony convictions and was convicted in 2009 of public indecency for which he spent nine days in Cook County Jail, authorities said.

There is a common stereotype about black people and their fear of large dogs. As the owner of Great Danes, I can tell you that this stereotype is grounded in some truth, based on my experiences of having our dogs out in public. So I can also imagine how easily it would be for one of these giant Danes to back somebody into a corner and keep them at bay.

Not many people want to tangle with a 160+ lb giant dog with jaws designed to snap the neck of a wild boar.

Also, I can attest to the amazing guard dog/protection dog that these magnificent animals are. I have little doubt what our dogs would do to someone who either 1) broke into our home, or 2) tried to hurt either one of us. They would be shredded. I can’t even pretend fight or wrestle with my lovely wife without our Dane getting between us and trying to protect her from even me…

I often times joke with my wife that if someone breaks into our house at night while we’re home, they will never even see our giant black Dane lunging through the dark at their jugular vein. But they’ll hear ‘em coming. And I’ll have enough time while our dogs are chewing and gnawing on the burglar to pick out exactly which .45 ACP cartridge that I’m planning on putting center mass to stop the threat. Maybe polish the casing for a few minutes first while I listen to the screams of agony from the would-be crook. Then I’d saunter out, call of the dogs, and terminally end the threat who has made the poor decision to invade my home.