He called me about a half hour ago asking if I'd seen anything, since I'm home on Christmas break. He and his wife had been at work all day. Unfortunately I didn't see a damned thing. Was even out back throwing the ball for my dog for about twenty minutes late in the afternoon, and saw nothing unusual in his backyard.

I went over to lend some support. The cops were dusting for prints.

Apparently, they drove a van right into his chain link fence, through their car gate, right into his backyard, took off the back door and took their time with it. The vast majority of his guns were in his safes, and they didn't even try to get into them, but he had two revolvers in drawers which were stolen (favorites of his, it seems), a computer, a couple of game consoles, and a TV. Oddly, they left two shotguns that were in a couple of corners, very visible. Oh, and then they badly trashed the place just for fun. SOBs!

Really feel bad for them. Not to mention concerned for myself.

I have always made sure to own a dog of a breed that most people are deathly afraid of. In the past it's been German Shepherds and Dobermans, but currently the most feared dog is the American Pit Bull Terrier, and that's what my current best buddy is, as was my buddy that he replaced about eleven years ago. I hope the fear factor alone is enough, because he's a bit too old now to be doing actual battle with anyone and coming out unscathed, but Pitbulls have an almost supernatural ability to evoke terror in some folks (especially folks from the ghetto), so I'm hoping that will be enough, even at his age.

I sure wish I had seen them. Really pisses me off. I hope they're able to catch them and retrieve some or all of their things.

http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/localandregional/a/florida.htm

I have him on ignore and was gonna toggle but you saved me the trouble and cracked me up...

Hawk will now be sleeping on his roof shooting the neighbors down when they take out the garbage.

You guys are mean . . . . . . . . . . but funny!

Ya'll some good ole boys.

Sounds like kids out on Christmas break.

It is to bad. I came home to a burglary many moons ago and it is a traumatic experience.

No kidding.....what a total fruit loop!!

He could have used a burglar alarm.
Any other recent local break-ins?

You need to move out of that hood bro! I mean seriously!

RUN!!

another near miss for TRH he is down to what..... about 2 or 3 lives now.

time to double the amount of nunchucks carried just to be safe.

"they drove a van right into his chain link fence,"

Kinda' curious as to just HOW they knew it was a "Van", I mean with no witnesses.

Are we sure it wasn't the Deranged Pickup Negro ?

GTC

And a bullet proof vest!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Better him than you.

I have grandkids, and avoid pit-bulls for that reason. My Lab, heeler, and terrier make good alarms, but are safe with the kids.

I had a home invasion when I lived in Florida. I had just changed jobs and was living in a temp apartment. Just came back from the grocery store and must have been followed, probably due to driving a Porsche turbo in my younger years. I heard my door rattle and looked out the peephole. I saw a skinhead with tattoos of barbed wire around his neck doinf=g a "jig" outside my door. I was not sure he was not visiting the punk rock college students across the hall. I ran to the bedroom and got my Charter Arms 44 spl and as I came out my door was busted in and the creep was charging me. He got another attitude when he saw I had a bea on his noggin and he was too close to miss. He turned and ran very fast. I called the city police and they said they would confiscate MY gun if they file a report since it was at a crime scene and I would probably not get it back. I told them I did not want to file a complaint and I lost my trust in police forever that night.












florida

Why would you not get your gun back? That doesn't make any sense?

I can imagine. No matter where I've lived, dogless neighbors have been burglarized while my homes were not. I have to believe there's something to that, especially since I've always had the types of dogs most folks say they're scared of. Cheap insurance, it seems, and you get a best buddy to boot.

most burglars are not interested in tackling any good sized dog.....my GSP trying to get to them through the door is pretty intimidating.....

Yep, over the summer, just a few blocks away. Was actually a shooting in that one. Neighbors of the victims watched a pick up truck full of black young men unload the valuables into the truck, and eventually asked what they were doing. The burglars told them to mind their business, and fired several rounds from a .22 into the porch where they were standing. They ran inside and called the police while the truck sped away.

I'm beginning to agree.

No doubt. The GSP has the look of pure business to him.

I'm almost tempted to unblock their posts just this once. Almost.

nice as hell once you get through the door though if im home anyway.....the schip will still try to take you out though......funny as hell watching my daughters friends.....they arent scared of my 50 pound bird dog, but that 10 pound schip has them on the run every time.....funny as hell watching them peak out the door to her bedroom to see just where Bear is and than making the mad dash to the front door before she can get ahold of them its entertaining when its one of her gal friends that might go a 100 pounds.....gut busting hilarious when its a guy that goes 220.....especially with me yelling "GET'EM! GET'EM! GET'EM!" at the top of my lungs

I bet they love this time of year. They probably figured there were Christmas presents around the tree.

Horrible feeling to have your home broken into and things rummaged through.

I don't know why I would not get a gun back. It seems it is a strong arm tactic to reduce crime reports. They always seem to report crime is going down, but I doubt it. I checked with other LEO and they confirmed it was general policy for city and county where I lived (Brevard County, FL). I also had a rifle and another pistol, but I quickly realized I should not mention them and may need tto quickly hide them. I was told any gun at the scene would be confiscated.

Yeah, true.

When I was a kid, we had a Yorkshire Terrier that would do that. Fearless little dog. Any strange man who entered the house would get his ankles viciously attacked. He'd hang on to the pant leg like grim death. Some men would freak out and really fling him across the room. Tough little dog, too. My folks thought it was cute, so never broke him of the habit.

Sounds like pure tyranny right there.

Yea, they did not even want or take a description of the home invader. They were only interested that I had a gun in a confrontation in my own home.

ive tried breaking her of it, wanted her to be an office dog but they were bred to be burglar alarms on barges and farms, even with intense socialization from the first day we got her she would take off after everyone that came in the door, took her 6 months to get used to my brother coming over every night to use my internet and she loves him and stays with him when we are out of town.....she is dead set on protecting her patch of ground from any and all comers.....quit taking her to the shop after 12 months of introducing her to everyone that walked in the door and she still was bark first and scarring ppl.....

not sure what the german shorthair would do if i aint home, have seen him get aggressive when a stranger we were chatting with we ran across out hunting got to close to my wife......didnt try and bite but it was a hell of a growl....pretty sure he would have bit had the guy not taken a step back.....he is a major goofball 99% of the time but prolly wouldnt be smart to push him.....

Well, it's contrary to the popular conception (and that's a good thing if deterring burglars is your objective), but ask any normal person who owns a Pitbull (not some tough guy from the hood), and you will likely get the same personality description as you gave of your German Shorthair.

my brother had a pit i loved.....think they are great working dogs, he used his as a cow dog when dealing with a couple really pissy bulls.....the dogs i have the most trouble with locally are stock dogs someone decided to make a pet out of and not keep exercised or gave a job to, have yet to have a problem with a pit....BUT have seen some otherwise really good pits go really bad without warning.....cause of that i wont own one of the breed as a pet.....for the same reasons i wont own a dalmatian....

do i think pits should be outlawed? no, dont think any breed should......

Pit bulls are powerful, but I think they are not so smart on average. I have Belgian Teruveren and Belgian Shepard dogs that have successfully fought off black bears on two occasions. But a pit bull is better than a poodle!

Sorry to hear of your neighbor's troubles Hawk. Seriously time to be looking for a new chunk of real estate. Maybe look for a few acres outside the city limits where you could have a garden and some chickens, maybe an orchard.

That would be nice. I can have both a garden and chickens where I am, though. I pass other properties on my walks not far from here with chickens (I love to stop and look at them free ranging), and quite a few with horses. Folks across the street have three horses. Unfortunately, once you cross the railroad tracks, about five block east of me, it becomes a very different neighborhood. I PMed you a couple years ago about what happened one night when I, lost in thought, accidentally crossed into that area.

and some goats.

Goats are cute animals, but I'm off goat's milk. I tried to get used to it, but just couldn't. Love my cow's milk, i.e., that I get from a natural grass fed dairy. I drink it raw. Much better that way.

While in the high country in Colorado I have had two Belgian Sheepdogs and one Belgian Tervuren. Between them they have gotten black bear butt for two big bears and chased away two more trying to break into the house with damage, but chased away. They always got their job done before the shotgun got used.

Happened to me just once, circa '82.. Mainly the dude was after jewelry/gold stuff like that.. Never touched the Super Blackhawk .44M near the bed, but it wasn't really that visible.. Never did anything else..

I got an alarm system immediately after..

Several homes around here over the last couple years have been broken into and lots of firearms stolen.. I hope they catch the azzhats that robbed your neighbor..

I don't understand this stuff. I thought Florida had one of the better castle laws. Sounds like being victimized twice, first the home invasion then having your property confiscated by the police.

If a shot were fired, I can see the police picking up a firearm in connection with the investigation, but if the homeowner is found to have committed no crime, it should be returned in due course.

I have the naive belief that a normal decent law-abiding citizen should be able to live his life without navigating a legal minefield, and having to have one or more attorneys on retainer.

Paul

My Mom and Brother lived together until her house got robbed two years ago. It sent her off and she had to go live with her sisters. They caught the guy. He confessed to robbing over 90 houses. He did 3 on our block the night my Mom's house was robbed. He didn't get much because we don't have much but the jerk did take my Mom's class ring and one my Dad gave her. We'll never see them again. Cash for Gold probably melted them down already.

The burglar saw my Brother's gun case, and broke the lock off it and opened it. took both pistols he had out of their holsters and had it all out on his bed. He didn't take any of them though. The police said he was a professional burglar and didn't want to add federal charges to his list should he get caught. They said it's usually kids and dopers that take weapons. Career burglars steer clear of them.

I have a 26 gun Liberty safe bolted to the floor in the basement and it's time for another. If I don't use something every day, and it's valuable, it goes in the safe. It's a pain, but I know it will be there when I get back. I keep one gun upstairs, and one downstairs that no one will ever find and that's it.

Same here. A friend of mine who, at the time, lived in southern Florida was burglarized, and they got two of his handguns. A couple of months later the cops informed him that they had recovered one of them and returned it to him. I imagine it was found at a pawn shop. I hope these SOBs try to pawn the loot locally and get caught.

Keep in mind that most residential burglaries occur in the daytime. If You (anyone here) were to drive down a street and see someone walking into a driveway, you pay little heed unless you live in the immediate area and are familiar with who comes and goes from that house. otw it is NOT out of the ordinary to see folks walking into backyards down a driveway. If you saw the very same thing after 2200 hours, your suspicion antennae would be twitching like Jess Albas ass.

What city was that?

Yes, on both counts.

Damn , Man , you're lucky some of your "detractors" didn't see the "lost in thought" comment .

I have a security system. The average burglar can't kill it like they can a dog and I don't have to feed it. Plus it don't schit anywhere. The annual cost is probably less than owning an attack dog.

Back when I lived in town, I lived in a nice new subdivision.
Between the hours of 9am and 3pm on weekdays that place was a ghost town.
Every resident was either at work or at school.
It would have been a burglars paradise.

I detest burglars, thugs & criminals with such disdain that I suppose I do condone pit bull ownership if the intent to to tear them to shreds and defend your property.

Keeping them 100% isolated from neighbor kids is just difficult if you live in town though, as an open gate or door could prove disasterous.

My prior rants on pit bulls come from the 120lb "tough guys" i see walking them on leashes in public places in an effort to itimidate others with their "weapon".

Don't need or want an attack dog just a barking dog works fine. I will fill the attack role if needed...
Back this last spring when we had a swather stolen the dogs happened to be in the house. Had they not been the outcome most likely would have been different as they would have raised hell over any intruder...

most GSP's would probably lick them to death But the bark is intimidating. Makes people give it a 2nd thought when they hear a deep bark on the other side of the door.

ML

I remember some neighbors in my life who had excellent burglar alarm systems, but no dog, and were burglarized. Some on more than one occasion.

Then there is this stuff: http://burglarbomb.com

A monitored alarm system and a Bomb in each room where computers and guns are stored is good protection. Check your local laws first.

My friend had both his .460 and .378 Weatherby's stolen in a burglary. Worse, it happened just before he went on a Brown Bear hunt to Alaska. The burglar broke in through a rear window, left blood on the broken glass along with fingerprints. My friend suspected a old acquaintance that had popped up one day. The police said they couldn't develop a case because there wasn't enough evidence! That's the third protection, don't have scumbag friends, or allow kids to bring their scumbag friends home. Keep all firearms secret from everyone. Period. My friend made an emergency purchase of a .300 Weatherby for his hunt. Ten years later his stolen rifles turned up and were returned to him (guess nobody wanted to shoot a .378 or .460.).

About 12 yrs ago me and my buddy happened to be passing by his dad's house (his dad had just passed away), only to find a couple of "brothers" helping themselves to some of his stuff. We caught one of them trying to leave through the window, and were able to track the other guy down and drag (I mean drag) him back to the house where his friend was. We were able to handle the situation rather convincingly ourselves. We did call the sheriff (we knew him). He "ran a few errands" before showing up, knowing we had the situation well in hand. By the time he got there the two bloodied "brothers" were begging for him to take them. I'm too old to handle things like that anymore, but it worked very effectively that time. No problems since.

If driving a van through a fence and then parking it in the backyard to burgle a home,during daytime hours,is business as usual in that neighborhood, I'd have a "For Sale" sign up tomorrow.

Hawkeye has received similar advice from many Campfire members in the past, with no results. I think he likes living there for reasons that are unclear to me...

Don't be so sure on that one. I lived one block from work about 3 years ago and I used to walk to and from. Forgot my house keys one day and decided to sneak through the back window were the AC unit was. My short hair not knowing it was me decided to clamp onto my forearm and let me know she wasn't digging the whole idea. No bark, no growl just teeth. Once she realized it was me she was licking my face the whole time I was trying to get in the window. Not sure which was more distracting.

as i said 99% of the time he is a goofball, and looks mean at the door, if i or the wife or the girls let yah in though he just looks for attention.....werent for the fact ive seen him get protective of the wife i would have my doubts bout him taking someone on....

That gives me a warm fuzzy feeling.
Nice work.

Hawk ole buddy, you really ought to think about pulling up stakes and moving.

As attached as you are to your dawg I'd hate to see you go through the attendant grief if some determined burglar decides that he'd really like to strip your place.

All of this crap you go through in your neighborhood just is not worth it.

Then you can't very well say their alarm was "excellent".

http://www.doorandwindowalarms.com/barking-dog-alarm.htm little late,mite help someone.......

Some comments.

Rattler, the greatest weapon a GSP has is it's gas discharge. My former brother-in-law had one and talk about toxic gas. People were dying every where.

Montana doesn't have a state police. We have a highway patrol, thankfully.

Hawk, you are welcome to move to Montana. We are a whole lot colder than where you are but the living is safer.

Resisting arrest, were they?

to true, the [bleep] even has crop dusting down to an art.....

What can I say? I'd love to move into your neighborhood.

Laffin'...you mean your expansive library has nothing in re all the law enforcement agencies in Montana,including SWAT teams??

Man, what's in your library anways?, "One Fish-Two-Fish" and "Politics for Dummies"?

Well, it is just four blocks from my place of employment, and I can't afford a nicer neighborhood. Actually, the immediate neighborhood is fine. It's that damned neighborhood that starts about five blocks east of here, on the other side of the railroad tracks, if you get my drift, that's the problem.

been a couple of times where a sheriff or a sheriffs deputy got shot at and when he called out on the radio for help the local farmers who all have radios so they know to come help their neighbors for grass fires showed up rifles in hand to help out the officer.....we dont need no stinking SWAT teams couple Louisiana guys that turned up a couple counties over and found out its a piss poor idea to not surrender when a sheriff has 12 ranchers backing him up....dumb [bleep] decided to shoot again.....forget how many holes the coroner counted in their bodies.....

Dogs can surprise you. I remember a case of a college student living in an apartment off campus. He had a typical friendly Lab that never showed a sign of aggression towards anyone. One day he had his apartment door unlocked, as he tended to do, and while he was working in his office on his computer a man with either a gun or knife (I can't remember) opened his door and was walking towards him from his rear. In doing so, he had to pass the mini kitchen where the Lab happened to be. The Lab, upon seeing this guy sneaking in, charged at him, grabbed the hand holding the weapon till he dropped it, and the man ran out leaving a trail of blood.

Reputed to be excellent, then. I believe it went off, but was at some point stopped, and they worked fast.

I looked into those once for when I took my dog with me to visit out of state relatives. The only problem with them is that, for some odd reason, they all choose the bark of a smallish to medium sized dog. Seems to me they should only use the barks of very large, deep throated, dogs.

Thanks, Derby. I can hardly tolerate the cold winters we have here in Northern Florida, though. As for the smell of dog farts, it all depends on what you feed them. Cheap food makes for bad smelling farts.

for my GSP, changing diet only changes the quantity of the gas, not the "quality" of it

And that's exactly the way it was supposed to work in America.

Baiting easy targets is no great feat,rattler!!

My dog eats a 100% raw, human quality, diet, and his farts have literally no smell. Not that I make an effort to detect one.

Puhleeeze..

Warm spell here today.. Nearly 30F.. Downright balmy.. hehehehee

northern Florida has a winter?

Well, this year and last we do. Lots of below freezing nights, and sometimes it doesn't get above 50 during the day.

go through a week of the daily high being -20 and we will talk hell i wear a t-shirt down to 20 above.....

You're made of sterner stuff than I.

I have no idea of what Bob is saying. I'm glad you could translate.

I don't think it matters what you feed a GSP. My former BIL tried every food under and over the sun and it made no difference except how deadly the gas. I think the GSP was the first gas dispenser in WWI.

HOW DID THE COPS KNOW IT WAS A 'VAN' ????

If nobody saw anything ????

I smell B.S.

GTC

I just related what my neighbor told me. I wondered the same thing. Could be cops were speculating. Maybe it's a common MO. Who knows.

They didn't think the (unloaded, but unbeknownst to them at the time) Marlin 30-30 stuck 3 inches up their nose was near as much fun as we did.

Concerning the break-in, too much stuff like that is why I don't live in a certain part of town anymore. A cousin acts like I committed a crime because of where I moved to (no crime to speak of).

Hawk you are welcome to move here. Here is a house Bob was salivating over a few years back. It's in the county seat of the county just east of me. We shop in this town quite a bit. Lots of history there and things to do. Eighty miles to Kansas City with an international airport, pro sports teams, two Bass Pro Shops and a Cabela's. Maybe 120 miles to the original BPS in Springfield, MO. Ozarks start at your doorstep. Cowboys at your doorstep to the west. Even a frontier fort in town.

http://www.homefinder.com/KS/Fort_Scott/55113898d_802_Crawford_St

It hasn't sold??? WTH is going on there,man?? If I lived there, I'd buy that home,assuming the other variables fit into place.

Now that's what I call a house. Sure would love to.

Did y'all click on the real estate linky and check out the interior. It won't take long as there are maybe a half-dozen pics. It's worth it.

Yep, I sure did.

Built in 1887, six years before my Grandpa was born. He and his Uncle road down to Fort Scott to go to the Bourbon County Fair one time. I have his saddle.

That's a 650K plus home around these parts. Reminds me of the old neighborhhod homes in the Lewes Deleware seashore areas.

That was in April of '08. April ain't the best time to photo houses around here. Summer makes the yards look much better. Fall with the colors looks pretty good that far east. Winter with snow on the ground would've been great.

Did a family die in that house or something?

That would get you a garage in my area.

Unbelievable. No wonder the housing bubble bursted (did I say that right?)

We have a 15lb maltese-poodle cross. He is an excellent watch dog, great ears but doesn't bark at every little sound. Very friendly to people once he knows they're friends.

A S&W 629 Classic next to the pillow makes for a good combo.

I'm sure over the years several people probably did. I've not heard about that house in particular being hainted though. Plenty of haints in Fort Scott.

Beautiful house. It needs to sit on some acreage, though. I don't like to see my neighbors.

George