Thinking of a dog after all

Happened again, some creeps with masks, 11:30 AM no less, tried to get in our shed. I was alone, saw a head poke around the corner looking into the back room I was in then disappeared. I was calm (yeah can't believe it myself) and wondering which exit to take. Instead I went into the kitchen and saw tow of them with a shovel trying to break the lock. After the last incident Dan put an air gun top of the valance over the sliding glass door.
I got it, opened the door, pointed it at them and said, "get the hell out of here NOW" They bumped into each other trying to scramble away. They went off in two directions. This time we had a video to show the police.
Watching the video after the description I gave was truly embarrassing. I would never be a witness.
They did have weird masks, gloves and lots of cloths, it was warm that day too, Wed.
Damn I'm tired of staying up half the night watching monitors. Lot's of people offered us pitt bull dogs, don't want one, think a barker will do.
Dan asked me if I shot at them, said no, then they would know the gun wasn't real. So maybe now they are talking about the crazy old lady who has a gun. OR come armed also. Crap. gotta get out of here. :cry

 

Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again
http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/1615/imagesim8.jpg should be posted outside your house You can get a SKS cheap and just the look of that gun would run people off

That reminds me i need to get another gun seeing as my last one blown up in my face. Remember cheap ammo is not a good thing lol (Not the guns fault it was the ammo's because it turned out the ammo was double packed.)

 

There is so much crime in this county it's unreal, I'm surprised they came at all. We were in Los Angeles for 9 months and a neighbor had her car stolen, this place is worse.

Love that sign, don't have real guns anymore.

Dan bought the house then the real estate took a dump, heard a house the end of this street sold for $60,000, haven't heard of prices like that since the 70's. Just have to stick it out til it recovers. fingers crossed it does :confused

 

That's terrible, great, and funny all at the same time, Darlene.
It's terrible that this has happened twice to you in such a short time. It's a shame that these guys seem to think your house or maybe it's your neighborhood is easy pickings.
Wished I lived near by, so I could sit in your yard, at night, to keep an eye out for you.
(You would have to provide snacks and an internet connection) LOL
It's funny that these guys, who probably would have acted very tough, if they found you alone and helpless, ran scared from an air gun.
And it's great because you showed the piece of mind and strength to not just be a helpless victim.

A dog certainly would help. A small one would give you a warning before anyone could get in and a big one would offer protection and help you feel safer.
(unless you got a sissy female boxer, like I have, who acts tough, barks, and then runs and hides) LOL

Have you thought about one of those alarm companies?

 

I think these were kids or close to it, late teens early 20's covered up. this time was 11 am before noon and I think they saw me through he window and did not care til I showed up with a gun. Good grief next I'll be going after them bare handed. :-D A guy in the same neighborhood got robbed about the same time. Almost caught him but he got away on a bike. Was claiming the tv belonged to his cousin, nice try huh? rolleyes
Your funny, stand guard for snacks,:-D

 

Thank you, I was thinking of the local SPCA. I'm home all the time, retired, recent surgery, Dan (my man) also home most of the time retired/disabled. we're just a couple of old fogies with family in other towns and states. Have cats. Good lord sounds sad when I put it in writing.

 

Darlene, don't be down on yourself.

We had a home broken into here in Humboldt County last week. It was WHILE the residents were in the home asleep. No one has respect for anyone or anything anymore. As bad as if they think this is GTA and anything is up for grabs!

:tas

 

Dang, that was one of the areas we were considering moving to when we get out of this place. I don't imagine there is anywhere 100% crime free.

PS GTA?

 

How about a Fila? (Brazilian Mastiff)

Source

My friend had one of these, and it was amazing. If it had something, and didn't want you to have it, say a toy or something.. you were not getting it..

I read somewhere too that these dogs will let you in to the house, but you're not getting out.. they'll chase if you run.. My friends tipped the scale at 190.

At a dog show...

You'll be able to keep on watching tv while your new dog says Hello Mr. Bad Guy... :wave bye bye...

 

@ Paxton007, that scared me watching it. It's like almost 100 more then I weigh.
One of my daughters suggested a Mastiff, told her we couldn't feed it.

 

One burglar should last a week or two... LOL

 

:-D like feeding a snake huh

 

The guy who used to live here said the same thing. Either some bad people moved in close by or the kids in the neighborhood got big enough to scale fences.
Went out one day to get in my car and papers all over the seat, thought at first it was me but then next door had the same thing. Wonder what that was about.:confused

 

GTA = Grand Theft Auto.


How about a Great Pyrenees? I have one of them hes only like 6-7months old and hes already bigger then the 2year old Black Lab and already bigger then the 6year old St. Bernard i use to have.
http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/2323/0423081911vx2.jpg

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/greatpyrenees.htm

 

Thats a beautiful dog, think I seen them in a dog show. Need something I can handle not ride :-D and afford to feed.
Thanks for showing it tho.

 

Holy ****ing shit.

You REALLY need to move to a different neighborhood. After all, you have no way of knowing if the next trespassers have guns or not, and will shoot you if you threaten them.

In the mean time, any big dog will do the job. Reason: Dogs live to please you. Doberman Pincher, Rottweiler or Golden Retriever doesn't matter. That dog will kill itself protecting you, because as long as you treat a dog well, you're their reason for living, you literally are the only world they know. And they will bark their lungs out and die protecting you if that's what it takes to keep you alive.

Honestly and in all seriousness, I would start looking for an apartment somewhere else. It doesn't matter that it's smaller than what you have now, as long as it's safer.

 

I know, we hate the whole town but are in debt until property values go up again. Not looking to make anything just enough to pay what we owe.
Monday going to go to the SPCA and see what they have.

 

I hear you on property values... we just bought a house we'd NEVER have been able to afford if not for market conditions right now. It has a fuly fenced yard, and if it wasn't such a good neighborhood we would be visiting the local humane society this weekend for a dog with good lungs and a mean streak...

My better half is very fond of telling the story of when his parents' dogs kept a burglar out. There's three of them: the Rottweiler mix, the Greyhound-Black lab mix, and the pure Golden Retriever... It was Christmas season, so he was home from college and sleeping in the guest room, and everyone woke up around 2:30 AM from the dogs barking their heads off... they naturally went down to see what was going on, and discovered that the dogs had been so eager to get into the backyard that they had literally broken down the entire laundry room door instead of using the dog door. In the backyard they found scrambling footprints and a jacket that no one recognized.

The family called the police, for obvious reasons, and gave the three dogs a royal VIP treatment for protecting the house, up to and including feeding them prime rib and letting them sleep in the family beds.

Dogs are amazing creatures, if nothing else because they give you PLENTY of warning to get ready for burglars and that in itself is often enough to make the burglars go somewhere else.

Good luck! Seriously, good luck and blessings of whichever god you believe in be on your house from now on.

 

That is scary Darlene! Be careful with that air rifle... People usually bring their best weapon to a confrontation, and if they know you only have an air rifle, things could get worse quickly!

For a dog, look for a lab or shepperd mix. Mutts are fun! And as Mimsy said, very loyal. But dogs are loyal, that is there nature. Mutt puppies are like the grab bag, you never know exactly what you will get, but you know it will be a great friend.

E

 

Mutts are loyal. See my previous post

 

I got burgled several years ago when sharing a house with freinds. We were asleep at the time (scary stuff). Here in the uk if you hurt a burgler you would either get sued or arrested. The law seems to favour the 'bad people'.

 

The air gun is a pistol looks real from a distance doesn't have that red tip plus wasn't close.
And a lab seems like a good choice to me, got to be little so the cats don't freak they're already spooky, then we have an outside wild one, well she went wild after someone abandoned her.

 

They havn't gone that far yet, knock wood. That's my worse fear, I wake all durning the night looking at the hallway for shadows, I'm a wreck

 

Actually think I do want a pup, being I'm scared of dogs anyway, bring one home and have it growl or snap at me, then I'd have two fears rolleyes
They grow fast

 

So sorry to hear of yet another intrusion, Darlene. You're probably sleeping with one eye open, and startling at every little noise. I know it aint fair.

Lab, Lab/mix is probably a good combination of being big enough to deter, good family temperament, and not too expensive to keep, (though they can be big eaters if you let them).

Had one close encounter with a prowler years ago. Saw some villan was trying to break into my garage, so I grabbed a pair of garden shears and chased the punk down the street and over a few fences with them. As said, unfortunately I couldn't really use them on him, without getting into more trouble than he would. But it was definitely 'brown trouser' time for the hood. LOL

 

Darlene you can get fake alarm boxes and fake cctv cameras, that would be a cheap option. If a burglar saw them on your house they would target another 'easier' house.

 

Other then Pitt Bulls (which I wouldn't even consider) are a few Labs on the SPCA web site. I'll check it out tomorrow.
Garden shears (ouch) I have a visual of you chasing him and haven't a clue as to what you look like. LOL Thanks

 

We have all the real stuff,cameras, lights, got them on video but they were so well covered and masked can't tell much about them, other then the fact they got to be young the way they got over the fences once I brandished a gun

 

They targeted a new complex of homes and then entered UNLOCKED homes. It is kind of what you make of it. It is different to live in a small town. It is nice to know EVERYONE in town, but you sometimes forget to be on guard. I have yet to lock my vehicle in 3 yrs here. I have started being more careful after reading about this happenning here.

Like the Amish story of the man caught redhanded -

"Sir, I would do thee no ought, but thou standest exactly where I am about to shoot!"

 

We didn't know how to get the video from the hard drive to give to the police so at first Dan held his video cam in front to capture it, later he put it on VHS which came out ok. I don't know why the police want it you can't tell who they are, anyway this is the one who looked in the window where I was on the computer

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/Darlene1029/th_prowlers5-28-081139am003.jpg

This is them trying to break in the shed, the voices are Dan and me

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/Darlene1029/th_prowlers5-28-081139am002.jpg

 

Broad daylight? These guys were desperate.
What did they think they would get from your shed? A lawnmower and some garden tools?
My wife says to hook up your fence up with 440 volts. LOL


Edit: Your cameras should have created an .avi file in their folder. Try looking for something like that. It may look like a picture file.

 

Just looked at the videos, that is crazy. Just had a thought, buy a paintgun that shoots the little paintballs. It should be easy for the police to catch them if there all multicoloured.

 

:cool

We're thinking of that, you can put pepper balls in them too, so paint-pepper so forth :-D

 

It's a box the cameras are plugged into has it's own hard drive. Did get a good clear copy onto the VHS.

 

As an additional bonus, paintball ammo at close range hurts... every little victory counts!

 

This is what I use for that "Just in case" intimidation factor.. I also let it be known It's somewhere here.. LOL Not me in the video...


Also, pepperballs look pretty nasty.. here's a sample.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=m7-JW7Dbaf0

or use a handy little flashlight.. http://youtube.com/watch?v=Rhhu5U-2Gcw&feature=related

 

I like that, but not too close I hope

 

Wow pretty mean stuff, just what I need

 

Or...

http://www.bugspray.com/pictures/traps/cb16.jpg

See it in action...

LOL

 

Your really getting into this huh? :-D Pretty mean equipment there.

 

Holy **** Darlene! So sorry to hear your place has been targeted again. What a worry for you.

What the hell do these guys seem to think you have that can be of any value to them?!

Hopefully they won't target your place again.

Security sensor lighting is pretty effective here (sensors picking up movement turn on lights)...intruders hate lights. A friend also has a German Shepherd recording (varied barking) that roars out whenever sensor picks up outside movement (sensors placed strategically). Sounds great and a good deterrent (cheap too).

 

Dar,

Sorry to hear that you all are having this problem. Just a couple thoughts on the dog... if you can get a puppy, I would recommend it. Simply put, we had a german shepherd we got a few years old from a rescue group, and we had to put him down because he had some serious issues we didn't know about.

Puppies have less chance of having these issues as they are going through their 'childhood' with you.

Also...... If you go the paintball route, keep the paintballs in the freezer. And if you have kids/nieces/nephews etc who use them, they can get you a good one that is easy to use and can be tuned to shoot a little faster (as in higher velocity out of the barrel).

Unfortunately, too many younglings these days seem to think the world is nothing but a big version of GTA.... I see it all the time in my neighborhood... that's when I appreciate being a 'young' guy who is not exactly small in stature

I'm not sure how it works in your area, but I know that if someone broke into my home, if I hurt them, i would likely end up with a lawsuit against me. If I hurt them in a fashion that had an immediately terminal result (they became living impaired quickly) and they had a weapon (how'd that big meat cleaver get in their hand??) then I'm safe.... theorectically.

Wish I could offer you more advice, but the dog is likely your best option... either that or you can set up a geek habitat in your back yard and we can take turns living there to scare them off for you *grin*

~C

 

Hey LS, so good to hear from you, it's this place, kids I think, the same day someone in the same neighborhood had his big screen stolen it ended up in a vacant house next door to him, caught them the day after retrieving it claiming it was his cousin's. Another in the same week around the corner had his door kicked in in broad daylight, the house belongs to some kind of correctional officer.
Anyway how are you?

 

Oh yeah, would have to be a puppy because of our cats. Thanks for the info on paintballs. My kids are all grown half of my grandkids are grown, crap!
Coming here wouldn't be much of a change of pace for you, worse probably, I know you were joking btw

 

Dan bought a paintball gun and balls today. They told him you have to get pepper balls on line, maybe they're not legal in California?

 

Darlene, be careful.
Shooting some one with pepper balls, probably won't hurt them terribly, but it could make them mad enough to come after you.
I still think one of your best bets is to get with one of the alarm companies. That will also help protect your property when you are not there. (Depending on the police response time)



Punji sticks. Use them!!! (just kidding LOL)

 

In fact there was a young man going house to house yesterday setting people up with security companies who would come around later with contracts.
I trust no one, heard many stories of break ins by the people who installed te system.

Havn't seen any puppies either, all the ones on line are over 6 mo. and most pitt bull.