Scared myself........Now I use what I have.

[Guest TNBrat]

We've got the Pitt, a Boston, & the one I call Sir-Barks-A-Lot!! He's a miniature Wiener. They do a good job alerting us to anything. But that makes it hard to hear other noises. Still, I'm glad to have them.

TNBrat Hiding in the woods…

[kwe45919]

Dogs are great. I have one. Shepard/Lab mix. Wouldn't trade her 85lb butt for nothing. She's a sweetie and gets along with the cat just fine. She's strutted her stuff a time or two though. Had to buy a new front door when someone came a knockin' at 11:30 at night. Who ever it was she clawed at the door wanting to get to them. When the police arrived, she paced the yard intensivly sniffing for a trail. Took her a few days to get back to "normal" but who ever it was, she did not like them. Tore at the door scratcing and would not heal when comanded. First and only time she's not listen and obey'd comands. She's one of kind but she's gettin old. Going to get a puppy with in a few years. With a 6 year old, a puppy ain't to far away. Plan on trying to convince the wife to let us buy a "security" type dog and not a purse rat. I plan to get the proper training for it as a puppy too.

[Guest The Dude]

I dont worry about intruders either with all 8 of my dogs.

[Guest FIST]

I have a dog. It is an effective house clearing tool in conjunction with an armed home owner. They can hear, see and smell stuff that you can't.

I have two, big ones. Only difference is mine are trained to strategically position themselves through the home. Once in position they will begin conducting operation sleep. Once operational they are mission first, period. The op is 2 fold, the first part is rest and recuperation and the final step is me tripping over them. .

They are stupid and lazy, but they would alert us in the event of an intruder. One I know for a fact will place herself between the intruder and the family. I returned one night after a 2 month school and entered through the front instead of the back. She sounded the alarm and when I moved toward her she retreated to the bedrooms but continued making noise. I believe if forced she would defend us.

The other? I don't think things would go well for the bad guy.

I honestly couldn't imagine not having a dog in the home. Way better at warning and deterring than my cat, not sure what he does for the home?

[TMF]

I have two, big ones. Only difference is mine are trained to strategically position themselves through the home.

And mine is specially trained to break out of kennels.... ugh.

[Guest Taurus4Me]

Coming from a veteran with a family and an extensive tactical training background, i can tell you that the answer is not so obvious. First, you need to consider most of the time this even happens at night. So if you WERE asleep and some a hole woke you up so he can steal your lamp, then you need to understand the first thing... You cannot kill him! You cannot attack him! We do have the castle doctrine, but it still applies, only if we are in an iminent threat of fatal injury. With that bull aside, waving your gun in his face might change the iminent threat factor. But, what I was trained was that the flashlight is a tactical tool for blinding subjects for my clarity and their unclarity. It doubles their reaction time, and causes some inaccurate shots usually. So, we usually cleared buildings with NVG's and laser sights only. But we used to take our whole trip to the mission location with our NVG's on so our eyes have adjusted to the NVG's. Oh, you dont have NVG's? The best you got is what I have currently at my home. You know those surge protectors where the switch is red and illuminates when it is on? Strategically place these in your rooms. These illuminate well at night, and once you memorize where they are and how the rooms look at night with them, you can quickly find something in a room out of place and point and shoot.
Believe me, it seems simple and stupid, but it works. Now, for the big cluttered areas like garages, smoke detectors with the halogen bulb with a red lens, not the onces with the single small red bulb, usually help as well. You should mount these on the ceiling for overhead lighting. You also have to understand that most of the time, you are heard long before you are seen. Regaurdless of how sneaky you think you are, that burglar has his ears perked for you. House slippers help this a lttile. I have used my wife's, they dont fit, but they work the best for clearing a house because the sole area is pillowed on the inside and outside, causing an evenly distributed step, reducing structural noise, as well as keepning my skin from making that sticky sound on the linoleum/hard wood flooring. I know this sounds crazy as hell, but it never hurts to leave a TV on at night in the living room on mute or low volume. This makes an intruder outside your home maybe think you are awake. It also provides pretty clear lighting in the living room, deterring this burglar from wanting to be in there. Most Kitchens have an over the sink light, if not, you can find one cheap and install it. I would leave that on at night. All other rooms, use the surge protector/fire alarm lighting scenario.
On a slightly different direction, you also need to make sure your rooms are secretly tactically orientated. You need to design your own "Path of least resistance" as we in the military call it, which is an area of the room at which can be traveled through expeditiously, as well as efficiently. No obsticles. For example, for me I have the foot of my bed facing the doorway of my bedroom, and as far away as possible. Well, I cant explain this too well, but I couldnt place the bed this way without exposing one side of the bed to the doorway as well, instead of the foot area. So I sleep on the side that the door faces, my wife sleeps on the other. I also have the window of the bedroom on my side. This way, if someone walks in shooting, they get me instead of my wife, and maybe my wife can return fire upon reaction. The living room has only 2 walls, paralell to each other. My foyer and dining area are open to the living room. So I have surge protectors on each paralell wall, and a clear path in the middle all the way across. Nowhere to hide. No lighting necessary. Even with the TV off.
Now, I want everyone to understand that bullets definitely do travel through sheetrock, and remain deadly beyond.So you need to pay attention to directions you do not want to be shooting whether the intruder is standing there or not. So my tactic is to remain very low when clearing my home, so that I shoot upward. Makes the headshot easier, and it makes the bullet go up in the ceiling if I miss. But you say "Upward? Why not downward into the floor?" Well for one, you cant get taller, and two, I dont shoot at legs.
An alert system is also nice to have too. I use a very backwoods method because alarm systems are expensive and I dont have that kind of money. I use the plywood/nails method. This is very easy. Outside your target windows of your home, lay a piece of plywood with a considerable amount of nails sticking upward in it, on the ground. Camoflauge it in. Explain to kids that are old enough to not ever walk in that area because of what is there. You can also just plant shrubbery, but that tends to take a while to grow. And for your doors, go here:[url="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=door+stop+alarm&_sacat=0&_from=R40"]http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=door+stop+alarm&_sacat=0&_from=R40[/url].
Now you have a very loud audible alarm system that costed you very little and requires no monthly payments. One is the burglar's actual voice, and the other is the door stop alarm. I like the windows one, because it also hurts the burglar in the process. So its like we are already getting this party started if he continues to come in, and if he killed anybody in my home, they would atleast have his blood for DNA on the nails outside.
You also need to be aware of what kind of burglar you would have. Is this some sort of professional thief after some collectible in your home? Probablly not. This is going to be a hoodlum, probably a drug addict. These people are real despirate. They usually dont even have a gun, usually a knife or a blunt object. In this case, try to be the noble person and just pistol whip them until the cops get there. You dont need the unnecessary attention from the DA.

Also for those of you that keep saying go wth the lightswitch method, that doesnt always apply. Some of us have poorly placed light switches witch tactically would get us killed. Or, in my case, a wife that likes to pull the cord on the fans, so I have to go to the middle of the room to turn the light on. Hell, any of us that need to have a fan on at night, might as well throw the lightswitch out the window.

[personDJ]

I finnaly bought a good light I think it is a g2 130 lumans with a photo battery. I have never used a light like so what did I do. Yes I did, I looked right into bright. WOW I couldn't see the TV for half hour. I have a dog and he has given me 14 years of great care but he is blind now so I clear the room for him now if needed. I now have my 2nd gun hidden in a different location. I have also installed a light switch so the kitchen light can be turned on without going into the room first. The next time something goes bump in the night I feel I will be better able to deal with it. Their is a better feeling of self that goes along with practice for what you may need to do.

Thanks again for the remarks.

[TMF]

[quote name='BrettB' timestamp='1352607782' post='843579'] But, what I was trained was that the flashlight is a tactical tool for blinding subjects for my clarity and their unclarity. It doubles their reaction time, and causes some inaccurate shots usually. So, we usually cleared buildings with NVG's and laser sights only. But we used to take our whole trip to the mission location with our NVG's on so our eyes have adjusted to the NVG's. [/quote]

I thought you said you were in the 160th. Last I checked that was an Air Regiment. I didn't know they were in the door kicking business. Someone needs to tell their cargo that they're out of a job.

[Guest Taurus4Me]

[quote name='TMF' timestamp='1352612681' post='843615']
I thought you said you were in the 160th. Last I checked that was an Air Regiment. I didn't know they were in the door kicking business. Someone needs to tell their cargo that they're out of a job.
[/quote]

You are pretty much correct, 160th is a Special Operations Aviation Regiment. But because of the nature of the missions we had to be a part of, we had to have additional training in urban ground operations, which is pretty much summarized training provided by 5th SFG and Viking Tactical. Because on any mission, if we lose our guys or too many guys on the ground, we may/have to join the ground effort. Usually these missions are ones that are a Ranger/Civilian effort. Basically look at us as backup in the sky. My job #1 on a mission was .50 cal support from air. But there were a few times I had to hit the rope for the betterment of the mission. But I had a lot more ground training than I did ground action, if that fills you in.

[Patton]

I am not the first to mention it but turn on the lights. I have trained as a soldier and a police officer and in your home there is no reason not to just flip on the lights.

[Dolomite_supafly]

If someone is in my house in the middle of the night after breaking in I will err on the side of caution and remove that threat. By the time I come into the equation the bad guy will have to have removed my dogs and that shows the intentions of the bad guy are to injure or kill me as well.

If an intruder makes it into your home far enough in and starts shooting you, your wife will have ZERO time to react and will be killed right next to you. I mean if the bad guy catches you in the bed he will also catch your wife in bed and shoot her too. You, as well as your wife, will not have the time to react or return fire if the bad guy wakes you with gunshots. Do a test, have your wife sit in bed as if reading a book with her gun in its normal "hidden" spot. Then tell her that when she sees you walk in the room to find her gun, touch her gun then point her finger at you and go bang. I would be willing to bet your wife would not be able to do this in under 5 seconds. And that is with her wide awake and waiting for it. And when she is asleep I am sure she will not be able to find, draw her weapon and accurately fire in under 10 seconds. And a bad guy isn't going to wait. The reason I say this is not to show that you or your wife are not proficient or capable, just to show that it is possible to be outgunned from the word go no matter how well prepared you might be.

You may have great intentions of getting a head shot but in reality if you are shooting to save your life the odds of getting a first round head shot is very remote. It gets easier the closer you get to the bad guy but I want to be as far away from the threat as possible. Staying small is important but making a hit to the smallest part of the human body that will stop the fight is going to be difficult in the dark, under stress and while the bad guy is moving. I would rather take my chance on several body shots that actually connect than rely on a single shot to the head. A shot to the pelvic girdle is very effective at stopping a person. Think about it. If you hit someone in the pelvic girdle they are not going to be able to move on you. And it is a much larger target than the head. There is also the femoral artery in the region and although it being severed may not end the fight immediately a severed femoral artery will ensure there is only one story to tell.

You do realize that by planting items that are there to intentionally hurt someone you can be charged criminally as well as sued in civil court. This has been played out dozens of times in court and in nearly every single case the person who was injured won even if they were breaking the law at the time. A person who is walking outside your home is, at worst, only trespassing. Until they make entry into your home they have not commited any other crimes.

Alarms are great at making bad guys leave the area. Be it a dog barking or some other loud alarm a bad guy will try to avoid a home with them.

As far as being afraid of a bad guy getting your second gun I don't think it will happen providing the gun is out of sight. It is possible to have a gun easily accessible and still remain out of sight. Something I have done for a very long time is place something, like a rag or shirt, over a gun as it sits on something. No one has noticed it as a gun so far. The same can be done with a washcloth or towel in the bathroom or a folded tshirt on top of the dresser in the bedroom. A bad guy will not be concerned with a rag or tshirt in plain view but he will be rifling through drawers where he will find a gun if it is in there.

Dolomite

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

[quote name='BrettB' timestamp='1352607782' post='843579']
Coming from a veteran with a family and an extensive tactical training background, i can tell you that the answer is not so obvious. First, you need to consider most of the time this even happens at night. So if you WERE asleep and some a hole woke you up so he can steal your lamp, then you need to understand the first thing... You cannot kill him! You cannot attack him! We do have the castle doctrine, but it still applies, only if we are in an iminent threat of fatal injury. With that bull aside, waving your gun in his face might change the iminent threat factor. But, what I was trained was that the flashlight is a tactical tool for blinding subjects for my clarity and their unclarity. It doubles their reaction time, and causes some inaccurate shots usually. So, we usually cleared buildings with NVG's and laser sights only. But we used to take our whole trip to the mission location with our NVG's on so our eyes have adjusted to the NVG's. Oh, you dont have NVG's? The best you got is what I have currently at my home. You know those surge protectors where the switch is red and illuminates when it is on? Strategically place these in your rooms. These illuminate well at night, and once you memorize where they are and how the rooms look at night with them, you can quickly find something in a room out of place and point and shoot.
Believe me, it seems simple and stupid, but it works. Now, for the big cluttered areas like garages, smoke detectors with the halogen bulb with a red lens, not the onces with the single small red bulb, usually help as well. You should mount these on the ceiling for overhead lighting. You also have to understand that most of the time, you are heard long before you are seen. Regaurdless of how sneaky you think you are, that burglar has his ears perked for you. House slippers help this a lttile. I have used my wife's, they dont fit, but they work the best for clearing a house because the sole area is pillowed on the inside and outside, causing an evenly distributed step, reducing structural noise, as well as keepning my skin from making that sticky sound on the linoleum/hard wood flooring. I know this sounds crazy as hell, but it never hurts to leave a TV on at night in the living room on mute or low volume. This makes an intruder outside your home maybe think you are awake. It also provides pretty clear lighting in the living room, deterring this burglar from wanting to be in there. Most Kitchens have an over the sink light, if not, you can find one cheap and install it. I would leave that on at night. All other rooms, use the surge protector/fire alarm lighting scenario.
On a slightly different direction, you also need to make sure your rooms are secretly tactically orientated. You need to design your own "Path of least resistance" as we in the military call it, which is an area of the room at which can be traveled through expeditiously, as well as efficiently. No obsticles. For example, for me I have the foot of my bed facing the doorway of my bedroom, and as far away as possible. Well, I cant explain this too well, but I couldnt place the bed this way without exposing one side of the bed to the doorway as well, instead of the foot area. So I sleep on the side that the door faces, my wife sleeps on the other. I also have the window of the bedroom on my side. This way, if someone walks in shooting, they get me instead of my wife, and maybe my wife can return fire upon reaction. The living room has only 2 walls, paralell to each other. My foyer and dining area are open to the living room. So I have surge protectors on each paralell wall, and a clear path in the middle all the way across. Nowhere to hide. No lighting necessary. Even with the TV off.
Now, I want everyone to understand that bullets definitely do travel through sheetrock, and remain deadly beyond.So you need to pay attention to directions you do not want to be shooting whether the intruder is standing there or not. So my tactic is to remain very low when clearing my home, so that I shoot upward. Makes the headshot easier, and it makes the bullet go up in the ceiling if I miss. But you say "Upward? Why not downward into the floor?" Well for one, you cant get taller, and two, I dont shoot at legs.
An alert system is also nice to have too. I use a very backwoods method because alarm systems are expensive and I dont have that kind of money. I use the plywood/nails method. This is very easy. Outside your target windows of your home, lay a piece of plywood with a considerable amount of nails sticking upward in it, on the ground. Camoflauge it in. Explain to kids that are old enough to not ever walk in that area because of what is there. You can also just plant shrubbery, but that tends to take a while to grow. And for your doors, go here:[url="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=door+stop+alarm&_sacat=0&_from=R40"]http://www.ebay.com/...cat=0&_from=R40[/url].
Now you have a very loud audible alarm system that costed you very little and requires no monthly payments. One is the burglar's actual voice, and the other is the door stop alarm. I like the windows one, because it also hurts the burglar in the process. So its like we are already getting this party started if he continues to come in, and if he killed anybody in my home, they would atleast have his blood for DNA on the nails outside.
You also need to be aware of what kind of burglar you would have. Is this some sort of professional thief after some collectible in your home? Probablly not. This is going to be a hoodlum, probably a drug addict. These people are real despirate. They usually dont even have a gun, usually a knife or a blunt object. In this case, try to be the noble person and just pistol whip them until the cops get there. You dont need the unnecessary attention from the DA.

Also for those of you that keep saying go wth the lightswitch method, that doesnt always apply. Some of us have poorly placed light switches witch tactically would get us killed. Or, in my case, a wife that likes to pull the cord on the fans, so I have to go to the middle of the room to turn the light on. Hell, any of us that need to have a fan on at night, might as well throw the lightswitch out the window.
[/quote]

[TMF]

[quote name='BrettB' timestamp='1352639545' post='843664']

You are pretty much correct, 160th is a Special Operations Aviation Regiment. But because of the nature of the missions we had to be a part of, we had to have additional training in urban ground operations, which is pretty much summarized training provided by 5th SFG and Viking Tactical. Because on any mission, if we lose our guys or too many guys on the ground, we may/have to join the ground effort. Usually these missions are ones that are a Ranger/Civilian effort. Basically look at us as backup in the sky. My job #1 on a mission was .50 cal support from air. But there were a few times I had to hit the rope for the betterment of the mission. But I had a lot more ground training than I did ground action, if that fills you in.[/quote]

Oh, I guess I just figured that those color coded task forces that make a career outa direct action would do things like incorporate an aerial reaction force into their plan. Ya know, a reserve of door kickers in the air ready to land in support of or quickly flex to another part of the target area as opposed to pinning their hopes of mission success to the guy sitting on the tailgate of the Chinook.

[DaveTN]

[quote name='Patton' timestamp='1352642940' post='843674']
I am not the first to mention it but turn on the lights. I have trained as a soldier and a police officer and in your home there is no reason not to just flip on the lights.
[/quote]
+1
Make noise. Burglars will run to get out of your house, home invaders will run towards you, be prepared for them to approach and shoot them. Police don’t clear houses or buildings by themselves because it’s stupid; don’t be stupid. If you are trying to clear your house and there is an armed intruder that wants you dead; you are dead meat.

If you think an intruder is still there call 911. If you think they are gone, or you are just hearing things; turn on the lights and look around.

The next day go to the pound and get a dog that needs a home. You will never have to wonder if there is an intruder in your home again. Plus you will have a great friend.

[Dolomite_supafly]

[quote name='DaveTN' timestamp='1352643877' post='843683']

The next day go to the pound and get a dog that needs a home. You will never have to wonder if there is an intruder in your home again. Plus you will have a great friend.
[/quote]

That is the single most important part of my plan and I have signs posted everywhere about having a dog. A barking dog will make most would be burglars go to the next house. They do not want to be bit any more than you or I do.

Dolomite

[TMF]

[quote name='DaveTN' timestamp='1352643877' post='843683']

The next day go to the pound and get a dog that needs a home. You will never have to wonder if there is an intruder in your home again. Plus you will have a great friend.[/quote]

No question, this is the best home security solution out there. Not only will they alert on sight/sound/smell, they deter criminals. Criminals tend to case their jobs. Dogs are a big part of their planning matrix. They are very unlikely to hit a home that has a dog, even if it is just a yapper.

[Guest Fingersoup]

[quote name='BrettB' timestamp='1352607782' post='843579']
So if you WERE asleep and some a hole woke you up so he can steal your lamp, then you need to understand the first thing... You cannot kill him! You cannot attack him! We do have the castle doctrine, but it still applies, only if we are in an iminent threat of fatal injury.
[/quote]

Are you sure about that? Maybe I'm reading this wrong: [b]Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury[/b] within a residence, business, dwelling or vehicle[b] is presumed to have held a reasonable belief of imminent death or serious bodily injury[/b] to self, family, a member of the household or a person visiting as an invited guest, [b]when that force is used against another person, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence[/b], business, dwelling or vehicle, [b]and the person using defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred[/b]..

[Dolomite_supafly]

[quote name='Fingersoup' timestamp='1354056749' post='851586']
Are you sure about that? Maybe I'm reading this wrong: [b]Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily injury[/b] within a residence, business, dwelling or vehicle[b] is presumed to have held a reasonable belief of imminent death or serious bodily injury[/b] to self, family, a member of the household or a person visiting as an invited guest, [b]when that force is used against another person, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence[/b], business, dwelling or vehicle, [b]and the person using defensive force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred[/b]..
[/quote]

Link your source.

Dolomite

[G27]

http://law.justia.com/codes/tennessee/2010/title-39/chapter-11/part-6/39-11-611/

[Dolomite_supafly]

Thanks

Dolomite

[Guest Fingersoup]

[quote name='Dolomite_supafly' timestamp='1354056920' post='851588']
Link your source.

Dolomite
[/quote]
EDIT: Crimsonaudio beat me to it. Edited November 28, 2012 by Fingersoup

[Parrothead]

I agree that dogs are a great idea. However, my 90lb lab did not do what i had expected when we experienced a unexpected guest. Typically, if anyone is outside the house, he will go nuts. Aggressive barking, pacing--the whole deal.

However, when my wife and i finally positioned ourselves for whatever cards were dealt, the lab positioned himself right beside us--laying on the floor--whining. I dont know if he sensed our stress and reacted accordingly or maybe he was simply scared ####less. Regardless, he was not the first line of defense that i had hoped for. Still love him to death and he will still typically alert me of someone outside but--dogs aren't perfect.

To rely on a dog for protection, i would consider some specialized training. For a noise maker, ours is typically pretty good--til it mattered most.

[TMF]

[quote name='Parrothead' timestamp='1354073542' post='851743']

To rely on a dog for protection, i would consider some specialized training. For a noise maker, ours is typically pretty good--til it mattered most.[/quote]

Well I believe that is the service a dog provides. Most dogs aren't going to go on the offensive, especially if they see you as the alpha and take cues from you. They are there to be noise makers which accomplishes two tasks:

1. Early Warning

2. Deterrent

Criminals tend to case their jobs and are far less likely to hit a house known to have dogs.

[jtmaze]

That is exactly right. Dogs are pack animals and when they feel threatened they want to be with their pack/your family. Don't take wining as a sign of weakness, most dogs wining want something. If you are a good dog owner your dog will follow your lead and protect you.


JTM
Sent from my iPhone

[Guest TankerHC]

I use a 6 Cell maglite for three reasons. They are bright. They will flood a room and if need be they will make a good club.