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- A dog was shot during an armed robbery on Tuesday while trying to protect her owner.
- Lood De Jager was followed from the bank - where he withdrew his salary in cash - to outside his home in Brakpan.
- Armed attackers stole his cash and his cellphone before firing three shots, one hitting Niki, De Jager's four-year-old Dobermann.
- De Jager's friend started a BackaBuddy campaign to help raise the funds for his lost salary.
Niki, a four-year-old Dobermann, was shot outside her home on Tuesday while trying to protect her owner, who was under attack. She survived the shot and was recovering at home with the family.
Lood De Jager, 58, was followed home from the bank at the Mall@Carnival in Brakpan, where he drew his salary in cash. He was confronted by armed attackers outside the gate leading to his property.
"I first noticed them when they parked behind me in my driveway. They came to the window and told me to open up, so I did. They took my car keys and I just thought, they must take my car and go, it's insured," De Jager told News24.
"But then he started asking me, where's the money; I know you have money," he said.
De Jager's granddaughter, who had come to open the gate with the two dogs, saw the altercation and the dogs ran out in their owner's defence. His daughter was also outside when three shots were fired.
"He shot the dog and the second shot went off through the gate and through my daughter's pants and into the wall behind. The third shot was fired into the air," he said.
De Jager's daughter thought she had been shot in the leg because she felt the heat from the bullet, but realised there was no blood and that it had just torn through her pants, he said.
According to De Jager, Niki was shot from the top, through her back, but after being rushed to the vet, they managed to save her life.
"She is brave, she has been trained like that. She saved my life, they would have shot me, they told me they were going to shoot me," said De Jager.
"Niki's fine now, but she's very mad."
De Jager said the whole family was in shock and his granddaughter kept repeating what happened over and over again.
"I'm scared, really I'm scared, when I see a car with tinted windows, I'm scared," said De Jager.
Riaan Viviers a friend of De Jager's, created a BackaBuddy campaign after the suspects made off with his entire salary.
"He's an awesome person. He has a heart of gold; where he can, he'll always help someone," Viviers said.
He said creating the campaign was his way of helping De Jager for a change.
De Jager said that he recovered only R200 of his salary off the side of the road. He said he'd be grateful with any amount of money raised, as long as he could pay his bond and buy some food.
The suspects fled the scene in a VW Golf.
The Brakpan SAPS were investigating a case of armed robbery, attempted murder and malicious damage to property.
