Tango the dog doesn’t think of himself as a hero. He was just doing his job.

The 1-year-old German shepherd, who lives in Dobbins with owner Laurie Richardson, is credited with sniffing out a felony vandalism suspect who, according to authorities, had just heaved a rock through the window of a neighbor’s house.

Richardson said she was about to leave home Thursday evening when a stranger walked across her property on Yuba-Nevada Road. Asked what he was doing, the man replied that he had run out of gas and was taking a shortcut for help, she said.

Suspicious, Richardson went inside and asked her grandparents to call 911, then got in her car and left. The grandparents, as they usually do when Richardson leaves, let Tango out into the yard, she said.

About five minutes later, a Yuba County Sheriff’s Department deputy pulled into the driveway and began searching. The vandalism incident had been reported at 6:35 p.m. from another home on Yuba-Nevada Road.

Tango began following the deputy around the property. A few moments later the dog “alerted” to a brushy area and began barking, said Lt. Shaun Smith of the sheriff’s department.

The suspect, whose name was not immediately available, was found lying on his stomach in the brush. He’s facing a felony vandalism charge, said Smith.

Smith confirmed that Tango deserves credit for finding the bad guy.

Richardson said Tango only recently began search and protection training at the Schutzhund Club on Highway 20 outside of Marysville, where owner Thomas Sauerhoefer specializes in German shepherds.

Tango had not even learned yet to search on command, she said.

“I didn’t know what he could do,” said Richardson. “But dogs have a sense of when someone doesn’t belong on their property.”

“The dog was just protecting his domain, I think,” said Smith.

Although some dogs from the Schutzhund Club go on to become police K-9s, Richardson said she and Tango aren’t planning on it.

Laurie Richardson of Dobbins is greeted by her dog Tango, a German shepherd who assisted a Yuba County sheriff’s deputy in finding a vandalism suspect hiding in bushes on Thursday.