When the family dog started to act aggressively towards one family’s new babysitter, a trap was set to find out why. What it uncovered is every parent’s worst nightmare.

Leaving your kids in someone else’s care is hard for any parent. But when the family dog started acting bizarrely towards her son’s new babysitter, one working mother knew something wasn’t right. So she set up a phone to monitor what was happening in her absence – and then the full horror of the situation was revealed…

When Hope and Benjamin Jordan moved to Charleston, South Carolina, for work, they knew they couldn’t care for their toddler Finn without some outside help. As a result, then, they went in search of a trustworthy babysitter.

Certainly, it’s never easy for parents to leave their children in the care of a stranger. However, for the Jordans, who had arrived in a new area with an infant in tow, finding the right person to look after their son was paramount.

So the couple were relieved to find 22-year-old Alexis Khan, whom they liked immediately. After Khan passed all the necessary background checks without any problems, then, she was hired to look after seven-month-old Finn.

“We felt like Alexis was a good fit at the time,” husband Benjamin recalled to Charleston-based news station WCSC-TV. Indeed, in addition to passing all checks into her history, Khan had had babysitting jobs before.

Five months into the arrangement, however, and things had started to change. As well as caring for baby Finn, Khan had the added company of the Jordans’ dog, Killian. And Killian wasn’t as happy as Hope and Benjamin were with the situation.

Killian, a German shepherd/black Labrador cross, was normally a calm and gentle dog with everyone he came across. But his behavior began to change. In particular, he started to grow very protective of Finn, especially around the babysitter.

“He was very aggressive towards her,” Benjamin told WCSC-TV. “A few times we actually had to physically restrain our dog from going towards her.” So unusual was Killian’s behavior, in fact, that the Jordans put on their Scooby Doo hats and began to investigate.

Something about the babysitter was obviously stressing Killian out. So, one day, the Jordans secretly placed an iPhone underneath the couch to record what went on in their home when they weren’t there.

What they expected to hear when they played the recording back was Khan being hostile toward the dog, which is unacceptable enough. What transpired was worse than that, though, and it was something that the Jordans were not ready for.

First, Khan could be heard losing her temper with the baby: she shouts expletives at him, telling him to shut up. But as the Jordans continued to listen, things got progressively worse.

As the recording continued, the Jordans helplessly listened to their son crying in distress at the situation. But then the cry changed: it turned into a cry of pain as they heard what sounded like Khan slapping the child.

It’s what their dog had been trying to tell them. Killian, who had witnessed what could have potentially been going on for five months, had been warning Hope and Benjamin about what a monster the babysitter was.

“It started with cussing,” Benjamin told WCSC-TV. “Then you hear slap noises and his crying changes from a distress cry to a pain cry. I just wanted to reach through the audio tape, go back in time and just grab him up.”

What’s worse is that the Jordans believed they could also hear Khan violently shaking young Finn. In utter disbelief, the shell-shocked parents immediately took the child to a local hospital to be checked over.

“We just could not believe it,” Benjamin told ABC News. “Who knows how many children she has abused or how many more she would have had it not been for our dog?” Mercifully, though, Finn showed no signs of injury.

Due to the nature of the incident, doctors informed the police. Officers expressed concerns, though, that the recording alone may not have been enough evidence to convict Khan. However, when questioned, Khan admitted to her horrifying abuse.

Khan was jailed for three years and was eligible for parole after serving 12 months of her term. She is also now on the child abuse register, which means she’ll never be able to work with children again.

“Had our dog not alerted us to the trouble, had my wife’s instincts not said we need to make something happen, it could have been that Finn was killed by the babysitter. You never know,” Benjamin told WCSC-TV.

Thankfully, Finn suffered no lasting effects from his abuse. Killian, meanwhile, is still playing Super Dog: his incredible instinct in protecting Finn when the babysitter arrived made him the perfect candidate to become a psychiatric service dog.