[Deja vu]

The only house alarm we have is my wife’s little yappy dog. It is not much threat to a burglar but it is very good at sounding the alarm if there is any problem. The only time I ever heard my "alarm" was about 1:15am on a hot summer night and the dog starts going nuts. I then hear a crash.

My wife calls 911 and I grab the guns (Remington 870 with 00 buck Shot and my S&W 640 I slipped in to my pajama pocket) As quietly as I could I got the kids in to our room, and waited for the cops. This whole time I hear occasional crashes. I was praying that I did not have to use my gun. Other than my family there is nothing in the house worth dying for. I all so saw my wife had the Marlin 1894C close at hand (The gun safe is in our bed room)

Well about 35 min later the Sherriff finally show up (did I mention I live out in the middle of no where?). He goes through the house and then I hear him swear really loud then start laughing. I was relieved to hear him laugh. I announce my presence very loudly so the police would know it was me and not an intruder, and walk down the stairs. That is when I see it. Our intruder was a Raccoon and it had made a real mess of things. I don’t think the raccoon was intimidated by the dog (we use to keep it locked the laundry room at night). The reason the sherrif was swearing was he has steped in some milk left on the floor and all most slipped.

As far as how I handled it. I don’t know what I could have done better. I did have to leave my room to get the kids as the wife called 911. I brought the kids to the bed room as quietly as possible and waited for the police. I was ready to shoot any thing that came through the door and my wife stayed on the line with the police the entire time.