{"id":468085,"date":"2026-09-18T16:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468085\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T16:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T16:44:10","slug":"inside-the-viral-video-of-the-burglar-and-the-san-diego-dog-who-just-wanted-to-play-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/468085\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside the viral video of the burglar and the San Diego dog who just wanted to play \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dante Rowley had all the elements of a viral video.<\/p>\n

Surveillance cameras captured a man breaking into his Sherman Heights home, then making himself right at home. Rowley\u2019s golden retriever sweetly wagged his tail, trying repeatedly to get the burglar to throw a toy. A police drone chased the man inside the home. Officers came in the front door with guns drawn.<\/p>\n

The drama had unfolded a few weeks earlier, but Rowley\u2019s friends encouraged him to post the video online.<\/p>\n

By the time Rowley and his fianc\u00e9e, Stephanie Calderon, got home from a short walk on Monday afternoon, the Instagram reel<\/a> showed 10,000 likes. By the next day, millions had viewed it. The news show \u201cInside Edition\u201d showed up at the house to film a spot, and soon the video appeared on local and national news, as well as outside the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to make it as funny as possible,\u201d said Rowley, who is head of business and product development at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in La Jolla. \u201cI got a good response.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SanNash the golden retriever\u2019s home on Thursday. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

The incident began Sept. 5 when Rowley and Calderon were boarding a flight home from Chicago, and Calderon got an alert on her Ring app indicating someone was in their backyard. They looked at the video and saw that a man had pulled up a ladder next to the house.<\/p>\n

After checking with his brother to make sure he hadn\u2019t hired someone to work at the home while they were out of town, the couple realized someone was breaking in.<\/p>\n

Calderon called 911 from her cellphone but reached Chicago authorities, so they had relatives in San Diego contact San Diego police about the intruder. From the plane, Rowley texted with a police officer and gave them live access to footage from his six Ring cameras. His brother, who lives down the street, gave police the code for the door.<\/p>\n

Videos showed the intruder taking off his shirt and shoes, helping himself to food in the refrigerator and trying to take a nap on a dog blanket left on the floor by the front door.<\/p>\n

The couple\u2019s other two dogs had run out a doggy door and into the yard after the man entered, but Nash, a 4-year-old golden retriever, kept trying to get the stranger to play.<\/p>\n

On the plane, Rowley and Calderon were \u201cfreaking out\u201d mainly over Nash\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The intruder) seemed like he was not interested in, like, stealing anything, but we were just worried about the dog, honestly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For his part, Nash seemed unperturbed. At one point, he brought the man a toy, sat and wagged his tail as he waited in vain for him to throw it. Rowley included the clip with the caption: \u201cNash is the worst guard dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe actually brought multiple toys to him,\u201d Rowley told the Union-Tribune. \u201cHe brought one, there was like a reindeer, and the guy didn\u2019t pay attention to him and then when the guy went upstairs, he actually put the reindeer on the bed where the guy was lying, and then he went and got another toy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowley said Nash is usually \u201cthe friendliest dog ever\u201d and very high energy, and will jump at people to get their attention. He seemed much better behaved on the security footage.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we think he was actually, like, scared. He was thinking, \u2018Hey, are you a friend?\u2019\u201d Rowley said.<\/p>\n

Police arrived within minutes, and officers flew a drone inside the open upstairs window. The man ran from it and eventually climbed out a bathroom window.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy runs past the camera, basically high-stepping it,\u201d Rowley said. \u201cIt looked very (much) like a comedy sketch, really. This drone is flying behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowley scored his video montage to \u201cBad Boys,\u201d the song associated with the early reality TV show \u201cCops.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 57-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of first-degree burglary, battery on a peace officer, vandalism and possession of a controlled narcotic substance, according to San Diego police.<\/p>\n

\"SanNash the golden retriever runs through the front yard of his home. (Luke Johnson \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

After the suspect was in custody, officers entered the home with guns drawn \u2014 Rowley thinks they were checking to make sure no one else was inside \u2014 and Nash ran to the door with a toy in his mouth, his tail wagging. After they opened the door, one of the officers patted Nash on his head as he bounded outside.<\/p>\n

Rowley said officers put Nash on a leash and gave him to his brother, who was outside and assisting the officers.<\/p>\n

The couple has lived in the home for more than 15 years and plans to make some security upgrades as a result of the intrusion, including replacing their front fence with a taller one and installing window locks.<\/p>\n

Rowley said Ring camera company officials have reached out to him about possibly using the video.<\/p>\n

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