About 4 years ago, when I first bought my place, I caught 2 jitterbugs trying to steal my car radio. This was before I had a dog. I only stopped them by luck when I went out to get a bag out of my car. I opened my front door and when I did, I saw a bicycle in my driveway. Realizing that there was something wrong, I stepped back inside and grabbed my pistol (keltec 9mm) which was next to my keys on the bookshelf by the door.
I stepped outside again and as I did so I chambered a round and "cut the pie" to round the corner to my carport on the side of my house. I noticed a flash of movement and began clearing the carport, then my car, and then went into my back yard where I was shocked to see two black males that were in the process of jumping my back fence. I instinctively assumed a good firing stance (just in case they turned and fired), but they kept going. I never saw a weapon. I'm certain that they heard my pistol when I chambered a round and that's why they jumped the fence and ran.
I called 911 and brought my bags in. A minute or two later (it was that fast) the police arrived and told me that there had been a rash of car burglaries in the neighborhood and where around the corner investigating one when they were dispatched to my house. The thieves left their bikes in my yard and the cops let me go get them from the station when no one claimed them.
Shortly after that thieves stole my mower from my back yard. a month or two later my girlfriend at the time decided that my $400 bicycle was in her way and she put it out in the carport where it was stolen too. A few months later one of the bicycles I recovered from the thieves was stolen from my back yard.
I got a yellow lab after that I kept on a trolley/runner set up after that. He wasn't quite as athletic or hard headed as my current dog (described in the locked thread below)and didn't he get loose nearly as often. My neighbors behind me had pittbulls and one of their dogs jumped the fence into my yard and attacked my lab. Both dogs were so badly hurt they had to be destroyed. I started thinking about an electric fence then since it would not only keep my dog in and thieves out, it would also keep horny males out when Hershey goes in heat.
Anyhow, it's a real situation that I had to deal with decisively and having a guard dog has prevented any repeat of the incidents described above.
I stepped outside again and as I did so I chambered a round and "cut the pie" to round the corner to my carport on the side of my house. I noticed a flash of movement and began clearing the carport, then my car, and then went into my back yard where I was shocked to see two black males that were in the process of jumping my back fence. I instinctively assumed a good firing stance (just in case they turned and fired), but they kept going. I never saw a weapon. I'm certain that they heard my pistol when I chambered a round and that's why they jumped the fence and ran.
I called 911 and brought my bags in. A minute or two later (it was that fast) the police arrived and told me that there had been a rash of car burglaries in the neighborhood and where around the corner investigating one when they were dispatched to my house. The thieves left their bikes in my yard and the cops let me go get them from the station when no one claimed them.
Shortly after that thieves stole my mower from my back yard. a month or two later my girlfriend at the time decided that my $400 bicycle was in her way and she put it out in the carport where it was stolen too. A few months later one of the bicycles I recovered from the thieves was stolen from my back yard.
I got a yellow lab after that I kept on a trolley/runner set up after that. He wasn't quite as athletic or hard headed as my current dog (described in the locked thread below)and didn't he get loose nearly as often. My neighbors behind me had pittbulls and one of their dogs jumped the fence into my yard and attacked my lab. Both dogs were so badly hurt they had to be destroyed. I started thinking about an electric fence then since it would not only keep my dog in and thieves out, it would also keep horny males out when Hershey goes in heat.
Anyhow, it's a real situation that I had to deal with decisively and having a guard dog has prevented any repeat of the incidents described above.