A good reason to carry

[TN_Mike]

Wow, I'm glad everything turned out well in the end for her. Good job picking up on the bad vibes and alerting her to it.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[mocarryguy]

And let's not forget Mr. Mossberg and his 500 friends!

And Mr. Barrett and his .50 cal pals either..

[vashooter]

My dog could definitely slow down a home intruder - he's a 1 and a half year old, un-neutered male Golden Retriever. He's so full of hormones that he'd slow down the bad guy by humping his back the instant he came in!

Seriously though... he's a great family dog who's not trained in defense, but he does go into his "big mean dog" mode (loud, gruff barks, wide stance with hair raised) whenever there is someting out of place in our yard that he doesn't recognize. Of course one time that turned out to be just a big flowering bush that he hadn't noticed before...

[retsupt99]

Glad your wife had a weapon...it certainly can be an equalizer!

On dogs...
My 125# Rhodesian Ridgeback doesn't even like it when my Golden barks at me...if I'm doing some serious playing with the Golden, the RR will get in between us and warn her to take a hike...

I would hate to see what my RR would do to an intruder...when he get serious, he can be a lot of 'quick' dog!

[Thumper]

I mean this with genuine sincerity and concern...

I'm glad it all worked out but... what if the guy when seeing her gun printing had made a grab for it? It's unsettling to me to ever give away my tactical advantage or advertise I'm CCW.

I'd hate for your lady to get the idea she can just scare someone away by telling or showing them her weapon. I'd also hate to see folks get the idea that "flashing" your gun is a good idea.

[Bark'n]

Dogs, to me, are an unnecessary and high-maintenance "security" item. You can't possess the body of the dog with your mind, so you can never really count 100% on what it will do, or how effective it will be against your attacker...

No but my dogs can possess my body and count on me 100% of the time to do what THEY want: I get up, I let them out... I get up, I let them in... rinse-wash-repeat!

[Bark'n]

While my dogs are woosies... Blue Tick Coon Hound and a Bassett Hound, they both have deep hound dog barks... and I must say their alarm bark (totally different than their everyday variety of several different barks) is down right scary! We have had a couple unexpected visitors at night I must say it scares even me.

From the outside, It really sounds like they are slaughtering something or someone on the other side of the door with their howl, snorts and snarls. Hopefully anyone will nefarious intentions would move on to some other house. (of course I don't count on that) Neighbors have said they act same way when we are gone which is comforting. I don't tell them they are wussies either.

One time they have woke me up from a dead sleep after 2 am which prompted me out of bed with light mounted glock to go investigate something going on outside. All was well (two cars stopped in road two houses down talking back and forth) and the dogs got a couple late night treats for being good girls.

[dhbry232]

We have a black lab mix about 8 yrs. old and weighs about 95lbs. I am 5'11' and can pet the dog on the head without bending over. I forgot the dog was in our bedroom one day when I had a repairman over to do some work. I entered the bedroom talking and pointing to the damage I needed repaired when the guy came through the door behind me. The lab instantly jumped from the bed snarling ferociously and I instinctively reached out and grabbed his choke chain to reel him in. I put him in the laundry room with a snack and went to get the repairman who had beat a hasty retreat out of the house. I had to convince him the dog was put up before he would come back in. When he return later in the week to do the work, he questioned my wife about whether that dog was out or not. I don't know how good a defensive weapon the lab would be but I do think he would scare the average BG into finding another address to prey on. (My wife fussed at me for forgetting about the dog in the room).
We used to make him sleep in a crate at night, but now he has the run of the downstairs part all the time.

[dzrtbronco]

My wife doesn't carry yet but I can gurantee that anybody that gets within 30ft of her while she's walking her dog will think twice about approaching. She's an 85lb mean *****. And I'm talking about the dog.
.

[Mike from Texas]

I mean this with genuine sincerity and concern...

I'm glad it all worked out but... what if the guy when seeing her gun printing had made a grab for it? It's unsettling to me to ever give away my tactical advantage or advertise I'm CCW.

I'd hate for your lady to get the idea she can just scare someone away by telling or showing them her weapon. I'd also hate to see folks get the idea that "flashing" your gun is a good idea.

+1! That could have turned really ugly in a hurry.

Let's face it men are stronger than women and can overpower most women easily. From your story he was well within her personal space as well. The last thing I would do is show my weapon to the BG until it was too late for him and I intended to use it.

Glad things worked out the way they did. Chances are the guy did not have malicious intentions and just printing was enough to encourage him to leave pronto. I sure would not count on that tactic in the future.

[Team American]

She's an 85lb mean *****. And I'm talking about the dog.

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Thats a great picture dzrtbronco!..

And, Welcome for your first post...

[ppkheat]

We used to have two outside dogs, they were Louisiana Catahoula Cur dogs, both with glass eyes. Sort of frightening to look at ! They both were excellent barkers, and my gut tells me the female would have nailed someone in a second had we been threatened, she was sneaky. They were excellent first lines of defense here at the house. Great companions and they earned their keep. I've been thinking about getting a couple of more

[Aelbric]

I would definitely recommend a dog in the house to provide early warning and deterrence from the less determined BGs.

Our recently departed Rottie was not trained as a guard dog. In fact she was a rescue dog who was docile, loving, and generally good tempered. My wife commented a few times about "creepy" characters coming to the door to talk about various things. One look at Dixie with that even, dead-eyed stare she had when leery, was always enough to make bad folks go elsewhere. Our Shepherd is slowly stepping into her place although he is a little goofy for the role.

What we have found is that sometimes winning a game of nerves with a potential BG goes a long way towards preventing escalation. A dog is another tool in the arsenal. Having a loving companion and loyal friend is a huge bonus. Of course a Remington 870 or CZ-75B in reserve is always recommended.

[nicolasrichards]

A dog in the house is a great alarm system, it will start to bark and warn you of an impending visitor/intruder, my giant schnauzers have a distinctive bark when the kids are coming home from school versus a trespasser in the yard at midnight, in which case, mr sig-sauer is also notified of a "visitor".

[sailormanCGA72]

I mean this with genuine sincerity and concern...

I'm glad it all worked out but... what if the guy when seeing her gun printing had made a grab for it? It's unsettling to me to ever give away my tactical advantage or advertise I'm CCW.

I'd hate for your lady to get the idea she can just scare someone away by telling or showing them her weapon. I'd also hate to see folks get the idea that "flashing" your gun is a good idea.

Thumper, you have a good point. I will be going home this weekend and I plan to have an "after action assessment" and "lessons learned" session with her. Situational awareness and a proper response to a threat are not something learned overnight and without practice. (She didn't have that kind of problem when she had two pit bulls instead of the little shih tzu).