Strange happenings last night. How did I react?

[alemonkey]

First off, let me say that this whole thing is going to sound a little paranoid. But considering what I know about the situation, I think something really may have been going down.

Until last night, I thought my dog (a 3 year old yellow lab) was the most worthless watch dog ever. We've had people stay the night at our house who were getting into town at 1 AM after we went to bed, and they've come in and walked right past his bed without him even waking up.

I've never heard him bark at anything since we've had him. That includes stray dogs, rabbits, squirrels, possums, etc that have wandered into our back yard. So, I figured he'd respond to a threatening human by wagging his tail and rolling over for a tummy rub. He's just a big doofy baby.

Last night, about 10:30 we were getting ready for bed, when the dog went absolutely apescat. Barking, growling, whining, wanting to get outside. I got a really bad vibe and looked out the back door and thought I saw something. Couldn't be sure. Then the motion light in our backyard came on. It wasn't windy, so I doubt it was blowing leaves or anything like that.

At that point I yelled to my wife to grab our daughter and get to the basement. I can't explain it, but something just didn't feel right. I stuck them in the bedroom in the corner of the basement. I grabbed my shotgun, then dialed the police and waited in the basement with lights off until the police came. It felt like 30 minutes but it was more likely 10. The dog stayed upstairs, barking and growling the entire time.

Of course, they didn't find anyone on our property. They did see a guy walking down the street a couple of blocks away. Naturally, they didn't ask him any questions since he wasn't doing anything illegal. This is in a neighborhood where pretty much everyone but us is over 70, so no one goes for late night walks around here. Crime seems to have gotten worse in the area the last few years, with a guy getting stabbed a few months ago. Thank God we're moving in a few weeks. My thought is this guy was probably walking down the alley behind our house and decided to sneak around the garage to see what he could find.

Some may say I overreacted, but my intuition was telling me something was wrong. I'm not the type to jump when the floor creaks at night, and based on past experience with my dog I know he's never paid any attention to animals.

What should I have done different? My first thought was to get my wife and kid to the most secure place in the house. I made a concious decision to arm myself before calling for help. The windows in that room are covered by a deck (it's a non-conforming bedroom) so there was no way to them except through me.

One thing I am glad of is that I've thought this scenario through in my mind beforehand. I had already decided the point where we would retreat to, and my shotgun was ready to go. Normally I keep a handgun in the bedroom as a primary defense, with the shotgun in the safe in case I have time to retrieve it. In this situation I felt I had time to grab the shotgun, so I felt that plan worked well.

Any comments are welcome, even if you think I was being a paranoid freak

 

[critter]

Sounds good to me. NEVER ignore your spidey senses! Dog dun good too!

So-nothing 'happened' so no harm, no foul. You were ready just in case. Who knows-you MAY have prevented something from happening.

 

[alemonkey]

Well, if anyone prevented anything I think it was my dog. I'm thinking the BG (if he existed) heard the barking and decided to move on.

Good Dog. I'm never going to complain about his gas again

 

[Thernlund]

Well, first you should have armed yourself. Then you should have moved everyone to the basement WHILE calling the police, and stayed there until they showed up.

What were you thinking??

Oh... wait a minute.

Sounds like a you did fine. Purely text book from what I can tell. Kudos.


-T.

 

[conw]

Awesome. Intuition is #1, logic comes second in this kind of situation. "What will people on THR think" should be off the page. And if they think you did anything besides your duty, they don't know what they're talking about.

 

[lee n. field]

Dog who never gets spooked, got spooked. You got spooked.

I wouldn't ignore it.

 

[Pat-inCO]

You did fine!

If it happens again, I would go to Sam's Club and get one of the infrared cameras and displays (around $250) and set that up. At least that way you have video to show the police (they like that).

If it doesn't happen again in the next few months, take pleasure that you handled the isolated incident correctly.

 

[GRB]

I have to say that I don't think you did terrible, but I do not agree with the other posters so far. I think you over reacted, mostly because all you did was react to:

your dog barking an growling

a light coming on

a thought that maybe you saw something

and an intuitive feeling something was wrong

Now those three things alone are great to get you moving, and to have you further check out the situation. Grabbing a home defense gun a good move, securing the family a great move, calling the police based on that stuff - rather far fetched. Imagine the police get another false alarm call from you like this next week, and another in a month. What do you think will happen to their response time, the next time after those false alarms?

Without an intruder having been seen, without something concrete, then these calls whether actually justified by the presence of an intruder or not, will be looked at as false alarms by the police. Why - because you cannot show anything evidentiary to support otherwise.

I think you would have been better waiting to call police until you knew there was an actual threat. You called them on a hunch. Imagine police stopping you on a hunch, questioning you on intuition, searching your car based on a feeling, arresting you based on the same. Enough calls like this to the police and they will figure you are the boy who cried wolf and who continues to do so. They may not come fast when you really need them if they figure it just you calling in another false alarm based on intuition.

Another side of this is that when you call in police on an intuition, or on an actual sighting of a bad guy, you are in essence firing up the officers. They are responding to a possible felony in progress. They are looking for a bad guy. They are anticipating a confrontation that could wind up in an arrest, or worse in an armed confrontation - all because you had a hunch or gut feeling or used your intuition. On the way to your location an officer could have an accident in which people are injured and that he otherwise would have avoided. The officers may also arrive on the scene and stop a total innocent passerby because of your hunch, and that could turn out bad if they are fired up enough and the guy they try to stop makes a bonehead move that looks threatening. What I am saying is that your response to your emotions running amok, your calling 911 based upon intuition, could very easily result in terrible unexpected consequences all over something that turns out to be nothing. So I figure if I am going to call police, I am going to do so when I have a more solid reason to have them respond to my home. Such things would be if: I saw an intruder on my property, I heard an intruder on my property, I looked outside and saw someone had opened my garage, I saw a window ajar that should not have been, I hear noises in my garage, things more concrete that just a hunch, and even more concrete than a dog barking, a light coming on, and my thinking I may have seen something. Just my 02 cents.

All the best,
Glenn B

 

[Loomis]

I think putting wife/kids in a dead end room that has no escape is not a good idea. What are they supposed to do if (god forbid) the BG got the best of you?

You are their plan A. They need a plan B and an escape route. Depending on your home, maybe there is no other better option. I don't know.

My idea would've been more like...grab shotgun, make sure it's loaded, give wife a handgun and car keys and cellphone, escort her out the front door, instruct her to get the he11 out of there if she hears even one gunshot. Then turn dog loose, go back inside, then out the back door, if dog finds anything, call 911, and get prepared for a ****storm.

That's maybe overkill. But it's better than trapping yourself. REmember, the dog is expendable. The dog is very good at finding things in the dark. Turn him loose and let him do his job. That's what he's there for.

I agree with you turning all the inside lights out. Most people just don't get that. Most people think they are safer with every inside light on...the idiots. That really drives me nuts.

 

[Thernlund]

I think putting wife/kids in a dead end room that has no escape is not a good idea. What are they supposed to do if (god forbid) the BG got the best of you?

Open fire seems like the logical answer.


-T.

 

[Picard]

I think you did fine. You came out alright and your family is safe. You followed your gut and hunkered down in a position where you could control the situation. If a bad guy had come to you, there is an extremely high probability that he would be dead, with you having a shotgun aimed at the area he would be coming from.

I don't know that you could have done anything better. What you can do now is prepare. I would get those video cameras installed.

 

[Loomis]

IF bad guy gets you, he now has a shotgun. Trapped in a dead end room against a shotgun weilding BG is a dumb idea.

 

[alemonkey]

My wife and I discussed the idea of escaping out the front door. Personally, unless I know the BG is actually in the house, I don't want to go outside. I don't know where outside he is, and we'd be vulnerable coming out the front door.

I can see wanting an escape route, but to me an escape route is also a way for the BG to come at me from behind. Out the bedroom door, I have a clear shot at the stairs, so I'd see his legs coming before he ever saw me.

I'm not saying I'm 100% right, but that's how I felt safest.

And I agree, I probably was a little premature in calling the Police. A better option might have been to hunker down and wait & see.

As far as cameras, if I were staying here I'd think about it. But, we're moving in a couple of weeks.

 

[NukemJim]

Sounds good to me. NEVER ignore your spidey senses

+1

You have to listen to your gut. Read the book "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker (yes he is an anti but the book is still great)

Remember it was not only your gut but also the dog, and motion detector as well.

As for calling the police unnecasarily (SP?) the LEOs expect that and would rather you call them when not needed then not when they are. It is also building pattern if something occurs again or if a house near you were broken into that night.

IMHO you done good.

NukemJim

 

[Liberty1776]

NEVER ignore your spidey senses! -- But...NEVER ignore your dog's spidey senses, either! Sounds like you handled it, period. Personally I may have waited to call police, but you go with what you got... everyone's fine and that is all that counts...

 

[mgkdrgn]

Sounds like you did just fine.

NEVER ignore the dog. If he says it ain't right, it ain't right. You may never know why, but the dog knows.

 

[orionengnr]

If that's my dog, he gets a steak. And a baked potato. And an ear of corn. And soon

 

[Noxx]

+1 on listening to your dog. My older one will occasionally woof off at a nighttime noise or critter, but if I hear him growling and barking, I'm up in a flash, I've only heard him really growl a few times in his 11 years and he sounds a bit like an Evinrude.

He's your best friend for a good reason

 

[Sean Dempsey]

Calling the cops is farther than I would have gone.

Let the dog out of the house, see where he goes. How do you know it wasn't a skunk or other varmint?

Just sounds like paranoia got the best of you. Sending your family into the panic room because your dog might have seen a raccoon?

I dunno. Spidey Sense is a useful tool sometimes, but don't let it override your "Common Sense"

 

[Mark Evel]

Amen

+1 on listening to your dog. Isn't that one of the reasons we domesticated them?

 

[Geno]

You did well. Next time, have the wife armed as well. Give puppy an extra treat.

Doc2005

 

[D-Day]

Probably just a creature of the damned.

I'd say your wariness was warranted.

 

[Oana]

Let the dog out of the house, see where he goes. How do you know it wasn't a skunk or other varmint?

Just sounds like paranoia got the best of you. Sending your family into the panic room because your dog might have seen a raccoon?

Open the door with a potential BG outside? Silhouetting yourself against the light? Putting yourself in a vulnerable position? No thanks!

The OP said,

I'm not the type to jump when the floor creaks at night, and based on past experience with my dog I know he's never paid any attention to animals.

I'd say he did good, but I agree on the calling the cops part. There might have been a reason to call them, but it really hadn't progressed to that point yet. I'd probably have dialed 911, but not put the call through until I was sure it wasn't an animal, blowing leaves, etc.

Eh, the family probably could've used a test run anyway.

 

[crashresidue]

OK, I'm gonna' tell a story here.

We were in Craig, CO. and one night our dog - half Gold and half Irish, who was the sweetest person you ever met - went OFF. Motel, one gun in the room, wife is going "Smack him, he's just being an a**. I said hand me the gun - "NO". HAND ME THE GUN! NO! I jump up, get the Colt, open the door and me and the dog dash down the hall.

He hits them like a ton of lead - two perps (though they weren't called that then) are breaking in a door two rooms down. Both down. Dog guarding one, I've got the Colt in the others ear.

S.O. shows up - guess what records show up upon booking? Rape, robbery, physical assault, numerous misdemenors(sp?) from juvi!

Wife is P*SSED. "You didn't have to get involved!!!"

She didn't last through that year. Kept the dog/shed the stupid one.

"Spidie senses" are the best!

cr

 

[Ghost Walker]

Will ya get mad at me if I tell you what you did wrong?

The warning signs were sufficient cause for genuine alarm. You did good to dial in early and not wait to absolutely verify before you called the police. That part you did right! So what did you do wrong? I see no mention of a portable cell phone. Hopefully you had one; and, hopefully, it would still be operational in your basement. I see no mention of a quality flashlight. You should definitely have had one!

You were correct to gather your family; however, you were wrong to go into the basement in order to hide in a, 'black hole' with absolutely no means of egress - A locale where it would have, also, been difficult for the arriving police to correspond with you.

When you suspected trouble in the backyard the first thing you should have done was to arm yourself, blacken out the main floor of the dwelling, and resorted to brief light flashes from your flashlight(s) in order to move; and, then, only if you really had to. (It's your house!) Next, you should have retreated to an upstairs room where you had a window or door through which to communicate with arriving officers.

(Who might have wanted you and your family to remain barricaded and stationary, and throw out a set of house keys for them to use!)

My family and I lived through a home invasion in October of 1990. It changed me forever! Never lock yourself or your family into a location where you have only one way in or out because this limitation can be used against you. If you must engage inside the home: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADVANCE UPON THE THREAT. INSTEAD, ALWAYS FORCE THE THREAT TO COME AT YOU!

After you've retreated to the safest of your rooms, and barricaded your loved ones, and you discover your home's exterior has been breeched - that you've got an intruder inside - then, simply prepare to engage. Get the 911 operator on the phone and keep him there! Call out, exactly once, in a loud clear voice that the 911 operator can hear; 'STOP!' 'LEAVE NOW!' 'I'VE GOT A GUN; AND, I'M READY TO USE IT!' Thereafter, shut up! Go completely silent; separate yourself at some distance from your loved ones; and prepare to engage.

(At our house, my wife also has a gun; and, she's good with it, too!)

The best places to engage inside your home are at the interior, 'blind spots' and, 'choke points': at doorways, at corners, the bottom of the stairs, midway on the stairs, the top of the stairs, and in hallways. Me? I like to engage on stairs and in hallways. My favorite method is to lie down on the floor at the top of the stairs with most of my body inside an adjacent room with only my head and shoulders protruding out into the hallway.

As the intruder's head and shoulders rise above the top stair .... well, he's now PW3ND! If I can't engage at the top of the stairs, then, any hallway is going to be my second choice. (Because movement is limited; and the vertical walls help you to lineup on the target!) Nothing says that you have to take an intruder head-on, either. You can, also, let him move past you and engage him from behind when he's halfway down the hall, or up the stairs.

Another useful evade and engage technique is to wait until you're positive the intruder has entered your home; and, then, exit out another door. Now, whether you decide to flee or engage anyone else trying to leave the home is entirely up to you.

Personally, I'm not big on the use of gun-mounted lights and lasers. Homeowner, 'search and destroy' missions are not something I recommend. You need to evaluate the necessity to positively identify a target inside your own home. Some homes are like Grand Central Station with different people coming and going all the time. (teenagers!) Other homes (like mine) are relatively quiet; and, there's no reason for anyone to be inside the home other than my wife and me.

What I do NOT recommend is, 'just dropping the hammer' on an intruder. Some kind of initial warning should be given in a loud clear voice BEFORE deadly force becomes a viable option. It is, however, a mistake to wait until events reach this point before you call the police. The sooner you get 911 dispatch on the line, the better! If you have a repeat event like this next month, next week, or tomorrow, you should do exactly the same thing all over again; except, this time, have your: gun, light(s), cell phone, house keys, and a better, 'safe room' ready to go.

Arm yourself and blackout your main floor the moment you suspect trouble. Get your family barricaded and make that 911 call. DO NOT HANG-UP THE PHONE. Leave it on and maintain an open line of communication with emergency dispatch. Then, take up a position opposite your family and wait - Wait!

Don't do anything stupid while you're waiting, either. Do NOT continue to call out, or rack the slide on your blunderbuss as trouble approaches. You may think that racking the slide is going to scare the other guy off; but, when you're up against a hardened gunman, he'll just take the cue to pour fire into what he, now, knows to be your position. (Could happen, right!)

You have a moral obligation to call out and advise; but, this is something that you should only do exactly once! You, also, have a moral responsibility to defend, both, yourself and your family. There is one other thing that I very much like about the way you handled your emergency: Whether you realize it or not you had the tactically savvy NOT to go outside the dwelling in order to investigate the possible threat until AFTER the police had arrived. Very good! That's exactly what you should have done.

One other thing: I have not addressed the possibility of suddenly discovering an intruder inside your home. (And, THAT is what I don't like about your shotgun!) For such events it's always better to be able to pull a small pistol. You've, also, got a dog; and, a dog is the best, 'early warning system' that's ever been invented for home defense.