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Learned my lesson about kenneling

3K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  Jag 
#1 · (Edited)
We moved to a very small town where my MIL lives. I know there's a 'bad faction' in this town, but I didn't take it too seriously as I grew up (in part) in a suburb of Flint. I found out the other day that I should never, ever answer the door with Grim kenneled.

I heard the birds going nuts, and my wife's dog was barking. I went to go see what all the fuss was about. There was a guy that had come to the door. He was driving a red pick up truck. I stuck my head out the door to find out what he wanted. He told me that he was here to disconnect our cable... and gave the name of the only cable company in town. We don't have cable. I told him this. He just stood there and said "well this is xxx address, right?" I said, "Yes, but we don't have cable." Then he said "Well, does xxx (my wife's first name) live here?" I said, "Yes, but we still don't have cable". He finally walked back to his truck.

It didn't hit me until later (this is how slow my brain works since the strokes) that he had no uniform, was driving his personal truck, and probably was NOT from the cable company. I called my wife and told her what happened. She called the cable company who confirmed that they didn't send anyone out and didn't have her name, even, in their system. I called the police to file a report.

Our rental house is in a strange place. Right on the edge of town. It's on a main road in and out of town. On one side is a hotel, and the other is an empty field. A hardware store is past the empty spot. The owner of the hardware store also owns this house. Behind us is a UAW hall that's empty. So we're kind of isolated. I had Grim kenneled at the time, and didn't let him out before answering the door. That will be the LAST time I ever open the door with him in his kennel. I will leash him and open the door. I may just not open the door at all. I got really freaked out because of this. I know Grim is young.. the point isn't to have him attack anyone. He's very dark, though...so he looks scary to those who don't know he's young. He's also handler protective already, so at the very least he'd growl and bark, especially if I'm feeling uneasy. I almost bought a fully trained PP dog, but wanted a pup to raise. I'm seriously thinking now that when Grim is older and mostly trained I will get another. My wife has already been talking about it.... but now I feel vulnerable where I never did before. Of course, I wasn't ill and out of shape before. I've learned my lesson about answering the door here. Grim serves his purpose even now... because of how he looks. He doesn't do me any good in a kennel, though. :(

We moved here from a very affluent town. It wasn't uncommon for me to leave the front door unlocked all day and even when I ran short errands. Crime was nearly non-existent there. I've gotten very lax about things from living there so long. I owned a house in a blue collar neighborhood, and one of my next door neighbors was a police officer. I never freaked out about someone coming to my door. Especially not when I had my pair of GSDs.
 
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#3 ·
Creepy!!!

I had a very similar situation with a "salesman" coming to the door. He asked questions that people don't ask. After he left, I called the hubbs (who works out of town) to tell him about the conversation, he said "Call the police. Now." The police officer even seemed worried about the questions the dude asked.

So I'm with you. My dog goes with me when I answer the door. Always.
 
#5 ·
I actually bought two "Beware... Guard dog on duty" signs the other day, but I haven't put them up yet. That's on my list of "need to do right away" things. I didn't realize how out of touch with 'the real world' I'd become from living where I lived. I used to be very careful.
 
#9 ·
For sure a GSD can be a very helpful deterrent to "pushy" salesmen!

My wife was home alone with our young child one day while i was at work when the doorbell rang.

My wife answered the door with our then 4yo female GSD lying on the upstairs floor with our son. The door was in an entryway landing between the 1 and 2nd floor.

Well, the salesman (don't recall what he was selling) was very aggressive and would not take no for an answer. When my wife started to close the door to get rid of him, this guy actually put his foot in the door and started to force his way into the house!

Well, it came to a close VERY quickly - my wife yelled a little, with a catch and probably a little fear in her voice and WHAM! Our very docile, friendly to everyone dog, jumped up, darted down the flight of stairs and inserted herself between my wife and the salesman; and according to my wife, let out a very deep rumbling growl! The salesman very quickly realized that he would be much better off trying to sell something to anybody in the next house. The door shut and it was over!

This was the first and only time that Abby ever showed any aggression to anybody in her entire, eventual 13 year lifetime. And my wife told me later that she had no doubt whatsoever in her mind that if the guy had continued to try to come in, our dog would have attacked him!

BTW, as soon as he was gone, our dog went right back to laying on the floor playing with our baby and having him climb all over her!
 
#11 ·
I don't answer the door without Nikon either (well, I look out the window and obviously let in someone I know or am expecting). I live in a decent neighborhood but we've had the same sort of thing happen, some guy was going around saying he was from DTE and would be coming back on the weekend to do some work. Our neighborhood has a Facebook (which is a great resource, BTW) and it got people talking. Our community police officer got involved and contacted DTE on behalf of the neighbors who had been visited by this guy. We also constantly get people trying to scam you into buying their expensive alternative energy. And when I was in highschool, I had this guy show up (this was at my parent's house but it's in the same neighborhood) and he kept trying to flatter me and then asked if he could take my picture. It was so creepy! I just acted cool and said no thanks while I memorized EVERY detail about him. My dad who has never been overprotective of me flipped out and called the cops to file a report. He thought the guy was some sicko perv that had staked me out since I got home from school at 1pm every day and no one else came home until around 5pm. Nothing ever came of it but if I'd had a dog back then the conversation would have been a LOT shorter!
 
#12 ·
Wow, that's really unsettling. We get a lot of solicitors in my neighborhood and even though it annoys the heck out of me I'm glad that Bear goes berserk everytime he hears the doorbell.
Once I invite someone in he's fine, but if I am just standing at the door he's having none of it.
 
#13 ·
The times I've been between dogs are practically unbearable for me. Here is an old story but one that still pricks the hair on the back of my neck when I remember it:

When my first child was about 5 months old, my husband left Spokane to go test for a fire dept on the west side. He was due home about 11 or midnight. I was sitting in our recliner by the front door, nursing her, and it was probably 10:30 at night. The front entry came in a little bit and had floor to ceiling windows that were covered by cheap metal blinds that didn't reach all the way to the floor. My big GSD mix was laying by the front door, behind the recliner. He spent most of his time outdoors, really, but I always made him come in when I was alone. (He was very hot in the house and hated it).

Suddenly there was a deep growl from behind the chair. Now, he could growl on command, but this was completely different. This made every hair on my head and body stand up. It was a serious growl--I've not heard many like that since. I heard a knock at the door and turned to my right to see out that window there---all I could see was ankle down, obviously a man, wearing white, white running shoe/style shoes. My dog was standing straight up, stiff, tail a little above his back, and he was staring at the door. He looked at me, and I just looked back, because I felt my safest move was not to make any movement or any sound; even though the door and house were there, it was only about 4 feet from me to where he was standing, and I felt this very, very strong vibe NOT to make a sound or reveal my presence. He knocked again, and my dog growled again--this time, I saw one foot step back slightly. Finally, after what seemed like ages, he turned and left. I didn't relax until my dog did. He came and sniffed both of us, gave me a wag and laid back down.

I checked with my neighbors, I called my siblings, called my friends...no one had come by. I lived in a pretty decent little neighborhood, no apts near by, all houses....little houses, but still. I always wondered what the he// a man would've wanted stopping by a house at 10:30 pm on a weeknight, unless it was trouble.

Since my dog was very big, and he was a very confident and stable dog, I have no doubt he would've made an attempt to protect us. I don't know how far he would've gotten against a male intent on causing trouble, but I at least always felt that he would've given me a chance to escape or get help or a weapon.

I try never to be without a dog.
 
#15 ·
How scary! We have a gun in the house so I feel somewhat safe. Though a few months ago someone tried to break into our neighbors house and another time we had a police helicopter flying through our neighborhood looking for some guy on the run. Our city is pretty safe compared to others near us but it was still unsettling.

So when we were looking to get another dog I only had an interest in dogs that had a natural protective instincts and I had wanted a GSD forever so that's what we decided on. I only really hope Ollie will be a deterrent since I'd probably run in front of a bullet to protect him, lol. I know, I'm a crazy person. :crazy:
 
#16 · (Edited)
Good that you followed through Jag!
I was home yesterday til about 11 am and there was a knock at my door around 9. Onyx started barking right at the door, Kacie was outside barking at the scent and Karlo was quietly watching. I didn't answer it as I wasn't expecting anyone. The guy stood at the door for a couple minutes with Onyx going off(stained etched glass door so I know the guy saw her). I saw another guy across the street, they must have been doing a survey or selling something. No reason whatsoever for me to answer it.

The reason we got Onyx in the first place...there was a van canvassing our neighborhood and others in the area and my young daughter was scared, to the point of obsessing over it...so my DH decided to get a GSD for 'protection'.
One of our neighbor girls was murdered by another transient neighbor a few years previous, and it really affected my kids. She had babysat for them a few times and was friends with all the kids, so it hit all the kids pretty hard.
Not that Onyx was security, but at least the alert bark deterrent helped!

I got my first GSD Stomper when my DH was working nights and people knew his schedule...I was getting some creepy phone calls(before cell phones were even a thought!) so we decided to get a dog to keep me company.
 
#17 ·
We have a year lease here, but we plan on buying a house here since my MIL is here and housing is cheap. My wife works in Toledo, and I'd rather not live there. I just got too used to where I was living. :eek: Grim doesn't bark when people knock. Now if I got nervous about someone knocking, he probably would. He does lay in front of the door we use when the sun goes down. Just naturally started doing it. He doesn't bark unless he sees something as a threat. My wife's dog barks all the flipping time over everything, though. Grim isn't very big, still, but he has an adult bark...and that dark face helps. Lesson learned! All these stories of you guys' incidents makes me feel like I'm not so alone in this. It's not a nasty area... just back on planet earth, LOL!
 
#19 ·
Not necessarily...depends on thresholds.
Karlo doesn't bark even though my other two go off at the first scent of someone. Karlo assesses the situation before he barks. He'll be the one in the shadow, stealthily watching before reacting.
Though every single time I quietly shut my laptop, Karlo barks excitedly...even late at night. I've tried to sneakily do it, and he hears it.
 
#21 ·
LOL, Jane!! :rolleyes: That sounds like Grim, though. I think his threshold is higher during the day anyway. If I walk him at night it's a different story. He's alerted on a group of loud teens... and he sounded like he meant it. I also got nervous once at a noise coming from the neighbor's yard and he went out in front of me and barked. He's very in tune with how I feel. My bitch was like that, too. My male used to bark and jump at the door...she hung back and did nothing. Just watched. That's why I used to say that an intruder may get one dog, but they'd never get them both. She was fast as lightening to attack...but was deadly silent. Now Grim looks and usually will follow the girls to the door when someone knocks, but does not bark. Outside it's the same thing. They bark, he looks and assesses. It's actually pretty cool. I do want to train him to bark at a knock, though, at some point because I'm hard of hearing. The old girl won't be around forever.
 
#20 ·
I'm quite sure our dogs prevented a break in once. They are loose in the house when we're away. One weekend I was bringing in groceries, went to push the door shut with my foot and the door bounched back open. The frame was split down by the bottom hinge like someone had kicked the door. We also have signs on both gates and one in the window. One reads something like "I can made it to the fence in 30 seconds, can you?"
 
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