Dog alerts parents Benjamin and Hope Jordan to baby abuser Alexis Khan in Charleston

A COUPLE says their dog alerted them to the fact that their babysitter was abusing their seven month old son.

Child and dog

A COUPLE says their dog alerted them to the fact that their babysitter was abusing their seven month old son.

WCSC reports that Benjamin and Hope Jordan hired 22-year-old Alexis Khan to babysit their son, Finn, after they moved to Charleston, South Carolina.

"About five months into her being our baby sitter, we started to notice that our dog was very protective of our son when she would come in the door," Mr Jordan said. "He was very aggressive towards her and a few times we actually had to physically restrain our dog from going towards her.'

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She decided to place an iPhone under the couch to record what happened while they were at work.

When they played back the recording they confirmed that Finn was being abused.

"It started with cussing," Mr Jordan said. "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."

"To know that five months I had handed my child to a monster, not knowing what was going on in my house for that day," he said.

"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 Finn that was killed by the babysitter. You never know," Mr Jordan said.

Khan confessed to the abuse a few weeks later and has been ordered to serve between one and three years in prison. She has also been placed on a child abuse registry meaning she can never work with children again.

The Jordans say their son is doing fine and has no lingering effects from the abuse.