Three-legged dog saves owners during home invasion in Wisconsin

JANESVILLE, WI (KTRK) -- A couple is crediting their dog with saving them from an armed robber who broke into their Wisconsin home.

The dog even took a bullet from the intruder.

The home invasion happened last week, but Bob Stenzel and his girlfriend, Darcy Cherry, are still recovering from the shock.

"I was just praying and praying and praying for us all to be safe," says Cherry.

That answered prayer came from Darcy Cherry and her boyfriend Bob's 15-year-old pitbull Levi after a would-be robber broke into their home last week when the couple forgot to lock their door.

"He had his gun drawn on us and demanded us to the ground and repeatedly asked us, 'Where's the safe?' and 'Where is the money?'"

The couple was sitting at their table when the man broke in.

With no safe and no money to give him, three-legged Levi began to bark at the intruder urging him to leave.

"Not more than a minute after that, the person fired on Levi, right in the head," Stenzel says.

The bullet grazed his head and lodged into his shoulder.

The intruder ran off without physically stealing anything but still taking something valuable away

"It is fearsome," Cherry says. "I'm afraid to sit here and the ice maker makes noise...its every little thing."

It's not the first time Levi has become the family hero.

In 2014, he took a fall off the edge of a trail, shattering his leg while protecting Cherry's son. As a result, Levi needed his leg amputated.

The dog also survived being dog-napped years ago.

"It's a feeling you can't really express in words," Stenzel says. "I mean, thank God he was here."

Levi is currently on medication but is expected to make a full recovery.

Police are still looking for the suspect who broke into the couple's home.

They describe him as a blue-eyed, white male in his 20's or 30's.