Practice when things go bump in the night

Me? I don't leave the bedroom to checkout something that goes, 'bump' in the night. Instead I'll wait until, 'that thing' comes down the hallway to our bedroom. An inside dog is a great idea. We used to keep two Pit Bulldogs, and a Dachshund in the house with us. The small Dachshund was our, 'alarm dog'; and the two Pit Bulls - both exceedingly well-trained guard, search, and rescue dogs - were our, 'grabbers'. In October of 1990 our home was, in fact, suddenly invaded. It was the two Pit Bulldogs that saved us!

The red brindle male was the hardest hitting dog I've ever known; and, prior to this home invasion, I had spent hundreds of hours training him, myself. I was on crutches at the time of the attack; and, as the fellow came walking down the hall towards me, Danzer, who was asleep upstairs, must have smelled him before he saw him; and he immediately awoke and attacked. (Kind 'a funny because he was supposed to wait for me to give the command; but, quite frankly, I was too busy trying NOT to visualize my own death; and my tongue was stuck in my throat! Until it was all over I never said a word.)

My greatest concern wasn't for myself, though. I was most worried about my very beautiful young wife who the guy had walked straight past in order to deal with me, first. (At the time it wouldn't have been hard. All of my guns were upstairs with the dogs. Only 3 days out of major surgery I was as helpless as a newborn baby!)

Normally we sleep with the gun safe, right there, in the bedroom with us; and, today, we no longer keep dogs. Because we're getting older we keep cats, instead. If I were to suspect that someone had entered our home during the night, my wife and I would grab our: guns, cellphone, and a light; and exit the bedroom through the large rear window. (We live in a ranch-style home.) I'm NOT checking the house for anyone, or anything FROM THE INSIDE. 'Glockeroos', 'cowboys', and, 'IGF badasses' do things like that; and I've lived too long to make that sort of an incredibly naïve mistake.

If I couldn't very quickly and easily get out of the house then I'd use a, 'safe room' self-defense technique. After getting ready, I'd loudly call out exactly ONE TIME: 'Stop!' 'The police have been called.' 'I've got a gun; and I know how to use it.' 'Leave now!' 'Leave now, before I start shooting!' Thereafter, I'd go completely silent and wouldn't move at all; and, no matter what, I wouldn't speak again.

I'd be on one side of the room, in the dark, with a gun; and my wife would be on the other side of the room with the light. She's been trained to use a, 'flash-on/flash-off' light technique while holding the light, both, well in front of and well out to the side of her body. It's my responsibility to prevent an intruder from being able to fire in her direction - A self-defense skill set that I'm, historically, very good at.

 

^That was post of the year. So far.

 

I don't call the cops. I have old hardwood and know what every creek in our house sounds like and can navigate it without light.

Also have a dog.

My wife won't go back to bed until I've 'cleared the house' and after 22 years with her I've gotten fairly good at it.

She knows to post up behind the oak water bed with the shotgun and cell phone till I give the all clear.

I also spent many years as part of a simi-pro paintball team and our home course was nothing but urban structures that required room by room clearing so I think that helped (just before all the full autos hit the market and turned the sport into a mag dumping contest).


Maybe I'm a yahoo but it's what is most comfortable for us.

Maybe as I get older that will change but I've never been a fan of relying on the police to show up after calling in my late teens in the suburbs and having them take 2 hours to respond.