Just got scared out of my wits!

OMG that is soooooooooo scary!! What a good brave kitty. Give him some extra kisses from me!
We have two BIG dogs, misty and nanook. Nanook is an awesome gaurd dog, misty is pretty good. They both bark if there is anything out of the norm going on outside.

Sue, you're a woman after my own heart! I too keep my Renne Faire sword and dagger within arms reach. I've never had anyone try to break in but I was being stalked for about a year. I was nice to a guy walking past my new house and said Hi. He started visiting my house every morning and leaving me "gifts" on my car. The police were no help. Then one morning he rang my doorbell (I guess he wasn't getting the rise out me he needed with the gifts) and tried to get me to walk away from the door to get him a flashlight. Instead I pulled out my hand-and-half sword and told him to get the f*ck off my property and never come back or he'd see the warrior side of me. He never came back.


Sandy

Sweets , that was great and very brave too . I like that , at least that creep stayed away from you

Of course, after he was gone I shook so badly I couldn't even stand. But I got the door closed before I collapsed.

I checked out the local TV station's teletext a few minutes ago, and under "Police Reports" they have a couple of lines for our town. "Three burglaries and one prowler reported this weekend. Police are investigating." I assume the prowler was the one I reported. "The Animal Friends' Society indicates that 16 cats have been reported missing since December 15th. Police are investigating." We saw posters for 9 or 10 different cats, and thought that was an awful lot. Mind you, those are only the cats that have been reported missing. There are plenty of strays, and also people who can't be bothered, so the real number is probably higher. Why isn't this stuff in the newspaper? It looks like we have a burglar and a catnapper on the loose, and the newspaper is busy reporting about how good the 2003 vintage is, and how such and such a street needs new sewage pipes. I realize this has been the holiday season, but the public should be made aware of possible trouble. There is nothing on the town's Web site. I think I'd better sit down tomorrow and write some emails.

My goodness, there are some very brave people here! I'm scared to death of guns. I've never had any problems where I live, but I DO feel safer with the dog. She's a very good watchdog (though I think she'd probably just pee in excitement on an intruder!), and her bark is a lot bigger than she is (although with my upcomming move into an appartment, I don't know that I want her "going off" every 2 minutes!). I remember taking her for a walk a few years ago, and seeing a gang of teenagers heading towards our house. They saw me, saw the dog, turned around and walked away. On my way back home, the same group of kids were heading my way again. And again, they turned around and walked away. I don't think they would have done anything criminal, probably just looking to get into mischief, but I tell you, I was holding that leash pretty tight! This was before she learned to walk on a loose lead, so she might have looked more aggressive by pulling. Good dog!

OMG! That is so scary!! I'm glad you are okay!!

The shotgun thing is a good idea, but most women have no experience with them, and can be flinchy. A little Ruger SP 101 has a big following among many women that carry or target shoot. Point and shoot, just like a little Cannon Snappy camera. Five shots, most women can shoot it with one hand.
Hopefully something like that will never happen again, but better safe than sorry.

Wow that was scary, glad you're okay!

Originally posted by TTMom
Give JC lots of loving. He was a very good boy! That's the good thing about animals, they can help you catch things like that (they can also scare the bejeezus out of you when nothing's there though).

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My mother would agree with the last part of your statement. She and I have argued about this. I say a dog is good protection. She says it scares her MORE to have a dog because they often bark when there is no threat, and she said it would make her a nervous wreck to wake up to false alarms.

You can train most dogs not to bark excessively - only to bark if there's someone approaching. Mine are pretty good (thank goodness!) - they hardly ever bark, so when they do I definitely get up to see what's going on.

A note about guns - anyone thinking of using a gun for home protection should take a firearms safety class (you can find out about these at locations that sell guns) and then go to a gun range and practice, practice, practice. Handling it should be second nature - you don't want to be fumbling around if you're in a dangerous situation.