Got a little scared last night

[S&WM&P40]

Yesterday the landlord to our home brought his two dogs and cat over for us to watch them while he went away for the weekend. We normally help him out by feeding his horses and watching his two dogs and cat. The dogs are great and we love having them in our home. One is a golden retriever and the other is a lab. They have two large pine chip stuff beds that they lay on to sleep. Normally we bring their beds upstairs and let them sleep in the bedroom with us. There was a few times when we let them sleep downstairs without any problems. We keep my 40 s&w m&p beside the bed and she has her .38 special tauras snubby on her side of the bed. This night we let them sleep downstairs on their pine beds because they were both sleeping soundly and snoring when we went upstairs to bed.


I am normally a heavy sleeper and don't wake up in the middle of the nite unless I have to really go to the bathroom or she pushes me back over on my side of the bed. I am a bed hog and do a thing where I stretch across the bed long ways when I am sleeping all the while pulling all the covers over top of me. Anyway's I was sleeping in a nice deep sleep when I suddenly woke up. I immediately heard a loud banging noise coming from either the door leading up into our bedroom or the front door which is right beside it. In my still half sleep state I started hitting the area of the bed where my fiancee would be sleeping to verify that she was indeed in bed with me and wasn't downstairs making any noise. She was there and woke up I guess from me hitting her and the banging sound. The banging sound continued and seemed to intensify. Before I could react I saw out of the corner of my eye her reach down and I heard the familar sound of her snub nose sliding out of it's holster. I went for mine which was in a shoulder holster beside the bed. I grabbed the gun and unholstered it but in my semi awake state forgot there was an additional magazine in the side opposite of the holster with 15 rounds in it. It dropped to the floor making quite a racket. Great I thought now if someone is in here they know we are awake. She stayed in the bed holding her .38 as I instructed her to do in the case of an emergency. I always figured if something happened to me she could have the element of suprise and pick off the bad guy as he comes up the stairs. I slowly made my way to the stairway leading down. The banging sounds continued for a little while as I progressed towards the stairs and then they immediately stopped. All was quiet now except for my footsteps. It is hard to be quiet in a home that was built in 1912 and has the original hardwood floors in it that squeek and crack if you look at them wrong. I got to the stairs and procceeded down them. Still silence. I remember thinking that the bad guy would have to hear me coming and pretty much had an idea where I was because of the floor boards. I also thought how the bangs sounded like someone pulling and pushing on a door with a lot of force almost like they were trying to force a door open. I got to the bottom of the steps and stood as far back away from the door frame as possible in case for some reason the bad guy decided to open fire on the door repeatedly trying to hit the unseen owner behind it. I waited a few seconds which felt like hours. I listened for any footsteps or sounds coming from behind the door. All was quite. I figured they could be in the kitchen or bathroom, since these are the only remaining rooms without loud squeeky hardwood floors. Since the home is older, there is no light switch for me to turn the lights on downstairs from upstairs which is what I would have done in order to see if that made the perp freak out and run. I would have to open the door and proceed through the home in darkness. I brought my gun up into the ready position and made sure my trigger finger was straight out and nowhere near the trigger. I opened the door a crack and tried to peak out. I saw the silleout of the tv but mainly just blackness. I opened the door more and as I was opening it, I heard a thump straight across the room from me and something started running towards me. I could see the outline of a dark object coming towards me at a good clip. I raised the gun up and took aim. I have always stressed about keeping my finger away from the trigger unless I intended to fire to kill and was sure of what I was shooting at and behind it. Everything felt like slow motion and I thought my heart was going to explode. I waited for what seemed like eternity as it got closer so I could identify it. I noticed as it got closer it seemed shorter than I expected so I adjusted my aim down lower while keeping my finger away from the trigger. As it got right in front of the door a little light coming in the door lit part of it's body up. I saw brown furn and a paw. I kinda laughed at the entire experience but knew I still had to check the rest of the house for all I know someone still was in there. I went throught the rest of the house checking all the good hiding spots. I realized everything was good. The door wasn't busted, all the windows were intact. Nothing out of place. I than looked at the door leading upstairs to our bedroom. There was claw marks on the door from the dog scratching it. Turns out the dog caused all the ruckus. I breathed a sigh of relief.

Strange thing is though the dog never acted like this before when we left her down stairs. The last time we watched both the dogs the other dog not involved in the above story walked over to the upstairs bedroom door and was growling at it when I was on the computer. He stared at it for a while growling and then turned and came back to me by the computer like nothing was wrong. He did this twice that night and noone else was in the house. I even asked the landlord about it and he told me he never saw him do that before. I think it's funny how both dogs reacted strangely with the same door.

Either way it was quite a night last night and I did have a hard time going back to sleep. I wonders what would have happened if it wasn't a dog running at me but a bad gun with a knief. By the time the dog got close enough for me to see what it was I would have been stabbed already by a bad guy with enough. I really need to get a white light to keep upstairs or even one for my firearm. Either way I am glad I was able to keep my cool and remember the basics for gun safety and target acquisition. I could have easily have shot the landlords dog if it wasn't for me having the keep your finger off the trigger until you are sure of the target drilled into my brain. I think that is one of the best rules for handgun ownership and I now have a reason to follow it even more.

[xd40_jim]

Glad everything turned out ok. Maybe your house is haunted!! lol

[4XLT]

yup you got a ghost !!

[ehidle]

Phew! I was reading that on the edge of my seat. I'm glad it came out okay.

[unloved]

I'm glad everything worked out all right, but I have one question.

Is there anyone living in the house other than you and your fiancee? If not, and there's no need to see to the safety of children, stay in your bedroom next time. 'Clearing' your house is a dangerous process, best not undertaken if not absolutely necessary.

[jcabin]

flash lighttttttt

[granuale]

I'm glad everything worked out all right, but I have one question.

Is there anyone living in the house other than you and your fiancee? If not, and there's no need to see to the safety of children, stay in your bedroom next time. 'Clearing' your house is a dangerous process, best not undertaken if not absolutely necessary.

The problem with that is what do you do? If you have an older creaky house there are times when you just hear stuff that needs checking out. If you call 911 every time, the police will be there twice a year. My policy is if I'm convinced someone is in the house or trying to get in, I would stay in the room and call for help, but if I just hear a noise that needs checking, I do my own clearing.

I also wouldn't turn on any lights because I have the advantage in my dark house as I can easily move around without any light.

[ungawa]

I'm glad everything worked out all right, but I have one question.

Is there anyone living in the house other than you and your fiancee? If not, and there's no need to see to the safety of children, stay in your bedroom next time. 'Clearing' your house is a dangerous process, best not undertaken if not absolutely necessary.

What should he have done? Called 911? Stayed up until dawn? Or gone back to sleep with intruders in his house? Those are the only alternatives to clearing the house.

If you KNOW there are intruders in your house, that is good advice. If you are going to call 911 every time you hear a noise then God bless you.

[unloved]

What should he have done?

I'd recommend calling 911 after seeking cover and covering the bedroom door.

Called 911? Stayed up until dawn? Or gone back to sleep with intruders in his house? Those are the only alternatives to clearing the house.

Go back to sleep with intruders in the house? Way to go absolutely absurd.
Hyperbole is the best thing ever!

The other two "only" alternatives are far superior to getting bludgeoned, shanked, or shot while stumbling around in the dark.

[ungawa]

I'd recommend calling 911 after seeking cover and covering the bedroom door.



Go back to sleep with intruders in the house? Way to go absolutely absurd.
Hyperbole is the best thing ever!

The other two "only" alternatives are far superior to getting bludgeoned, shanked, or shot while stumbling around in the dark.

You missed the point and it is indeed fortunate he did not call 911.