Something to consider...

[baggss]

This happened last week. Tell me how you would react...

0600 and asleep in bed. Wife snoring next to me. One dog (110 Lbs.) gets up and goes to the living room and starts to bark. Not unusual, this dog barks at the wind regularly. Second dog (90 Lbs.) gets up and runs after her and starts barking as well. This dog only barks when something is actually going on. I get up and, half asleep, stumble down the hall to the kitchen to see what they are barking at. Standing in the kitchen about 6 feet from my front door I realize the dogs are not barking at the front window and the front of the house but are barking at the front door. I'm confused. Why are they barking at the front door?

I gaze up at the small frosted window at head level on the door. I see nothing but light from the porch light. Suddenly I realize door handle is jiggling. I'm still confused. Then I realize the door is opening. My first thought was "How the hell did the dog get the front door open? Was it open all night? was it unlocked?" Door is still opening and dogs are trying to push through now...

I'm 6 feet from the door and 30 feet from my EDC. My wife is still mostly asleep....

What would you do?

[superdave50]

what i WOULDN'T do is leave my gun in the bedroom...

[robert101]

I second that motion. Take your gun and a flashlight with you. If my front door knob is being tampered with I would immediately state that they should go away and leave my house, it is a one time only statement. If someone comes in, then..... I'll leave that for another day.

[Featureless]

Slam it shut and lock it. Then arm yourself.

[nedro]

I don't get it. You say the dogs were inside but you wonder how they got outside??? Front doors open toward the inside. How are they pushing through if they are on the inside?
you got to do a better job of coming up with fantasy scenarios.

[baggss]

I don't get it. You say the dogs were inside but you wonder how they got outside??? Front doors open toward the inside. How are they pushing through if they are on the inside?
you got to do a better job of coming up with fantasy scenarios.

No, I said the dogs were at the front door trying to push their way out through the opening front door...

You need to work on your reading comprehension skills...

[nedro]

Oh, I read it alright.

[baggss]

Oh, I read it alright.

Yet you failed to comprehend it...

[TheReluctantCraftstronaut]

If this happened, best bet is to assume an intruder. I also assume the scenario is that the door is slowly opening because someone outside was slowly opening the door. The dogs are inside the house and trying to nose the door open to get outside and get at the intruder.

From the description, I cannot tell if the intruder has backed off after opening door due to the dogs... so the dogs are left trying to open the door the rest of the way to get at the baddie... or if the baddie is sitting there, slowly opening the door, trying to figure his way around the dogs.

Either way, if you're 6 feet away and the door is opening slowly, you could run for the door, slam it closed and lock it and then book if for your weapon. Upside is now it'll take longer for said intruder to get back in through that door. Downside is, he may have help elsewhere or already be in the back working on another door and they now know you're home.

Since it appears that the dogs are doing their job, I would likely book it back to get my weapon in this scenario. Let the dogs do what they do and protect my wife from a defensive position.

[71MUSTY]

This happened last week. Tell me how you would react...

0600 and asleep in bed. Wife snoring next to me. One dog (110 Lbs.) gets up and goes to the living room and starts to bark. Not unusual, this dog barks at the wind regularly. Second dog (90 Lbs.) gets up and runs after her and starts barking as well. This dog only barks when something is actually going on. I get up and, half asleep, stumble down the hall to the kitchen to see what they are barking at. Standing in the kitchen about 6 feet from my front door I realize the dogs are not barking at the front window and the front of the house but are barking at the front door. I'm confused. Why are they barking at the front door?

I gaze up at the small frosted window at head level on the door. I see nothing but light from the porch light. Suddenly I realize door handle is jiggling. I'm still confused. Then I realize the door is opening. My first thought was "How the hell did the dog get the front door open? Was it open all night? was it unlocked?" Door is still opening and dogs are trying to push through now...

I'm 6 feet from the door and 30 feet from my EDC. My wife is still mostly asleep....

What would you do?

Simple I'd grab the Smith 40 out of the SpeedVault by the door.

Of course to get to the point you describe a perp would have had to already defeated my MeshTech security screen.

[NYT]

what would i do?

[larkja]

Sorry, BS scenario.

1) As soon as dogs start to bark, intruder is gone to easier pickings,
2) Because dogs are barking, intruder knows owner is awake - see #1
3) Porch light is on. Nobody is coming to a lighted front porch with barking dogs,
4) As soon as door starts to open, dogs will bolt for the door. Bye, bye intruder.
5) Why the he!! is your front door unlocked?

Try better next time.

[P5Ret]

Sorry, BS scenario.

1) As soon as dogs start to bark, intruder is gone to easier pickings,
2) Because dogs are barking, intruder knows owner is awake - see #1
3) Porch light is on. Nobody is coming to a lighted front porch with barking dogs,
4) As soon as door starts to open, dogs will bolt for the door. Bye, bye intruder.
5) Why the he!! is your front door unlocked?

Try better next time.

I'm going to go with 5 as 1 and move the rest down a notch.

Of course for me it would be dumb azz kid trying to get in quietly in the first place.

[baggss]

Sorry, BS scenario.

Not a BS scenario, actually happened last Wednesday morning.

Your points however are valid, but with a lot of assumptions. My post only shares what happened from waking up from a dead sleep to seeing the front door start to open and I had to make a decision on how to react while still half asleep, not the rest of the story. Your points are things one would consider while fully awake and alert, not while half asleep and events are happening as you are trying wake up.

I find the armchair quarterbacking in this thread amusing, but I have done the same in the past myself. The point here is that this incident has made me think harder about home defense , especially at those times when you are not fully "on your game" and are more vulnerable, even in your own home.

To break them down:

1) As soon as dogs start to bark, intruder is gone to easier pickings,

Assumes that the intruder was in their right mind and not hopped up on something...

2) Because dogs are barking, intruder knows owner is awake - see #1

Just because there are dogs means someone is home? I never said anything about turning on any lights or indicating that I was at home to the intruder in my post.

3) Porch light is on. Nobody is coming to a lighted front porch with barking dogs,

See my answer to #1

4) As soon as door starts to open, dogs will bolt for the door. Bye, bye intruder.

See #1 and #2

5) Why the he!! is your front door unlocked?

Where did I say my door was unlocked? I said my first thought was "How did the dog open the door and questioned if I had left it unlocked" not that the door was actually unlocked...

[Eureka1911]

Sorry, BS scenario.

1) As soon as dogs start to bark, intruder is gone to easier pickings,
2) Because dogs are barking, intruder knows owner is awake - see #1
3) Porch light is on. Nobody is coming to a lighted front porch with barking dogs,
4) As soon as door starts to open, dogs will bolt for the door. Bye, bye intruder.
5) Why the he!! is your front door unlocked?

Try better next time.

Yep. This scenario is also why I have an alarm system that will wake the dead if a window or door is opened. But then again if you can't remember to lock your door maybe an alarm is beyond your abilities as well.

And having been in a similar situation (pre-alarm) when this happened I was WIDE AWAKE in a millisecond. Heart pumping.

Saw the post above. If the door was locked how did the intruder get it to open?? If knob was turning that indicates that the door was not rammed open.