I was reluctant to post this event that occurred to me last night in the off chance my husband would see it. I don't want him to worry and knowing him, he would fly out tomorrow and live here illegally if he thought there was any danger, but anyway...

I live in a one bedroom apartment that I moved into in the end of Sept. I brought hardly anything with me from Canada save my clothes, my computer, a small tv, and one of my dogs. I have zero furniture in my dining room or living room, and my bedroom consists of a bed (on the floor), a large desk, and a file cabinet. My son is moving down here at the end of the school year and knowing that I will be moving within the same apartment complex into a 2 bedroom serves as a motivator not to buy a bunch of stuff that I will just have to move again in 6 months.

I was sitting in my bedroom last night, trolling various forums and downloading stuff for my Zune in preparation of my upcoming flight to Toronto (6 hours) around midnight, when I heard something in my living room. I live on the ground level and leave the sliding glass door open about 1 foot for the dog to go in and out to the walled-in patio. I get up, the dog heard the noise same time as me and was ahead of me by a bit. I turn the corner and see a young man, white, 20ish, in a wifebeater and jeans standing in my living room. My dog growled at him once and charged him and he was back out the way he came faster than I have seen anyone move, ever in my life. The dog stayed on his heels until the man cleared the patio wall at which point I called her back because she can clear that wall without any effort and I was sure the man was gone and didn't want to spend the rest of the night looking for her. The man yelled at me after he had made a good 30 foot distance that he thought the apartment was vacant and he apologized then ran away around another building.

Was somewhat scarey, but I sure am thankful for the dog.

Oh sweetie...I'm so so sorry.

Your post was kind of hard for me to read, a few years ago I had the same exact thing happen to me.

Be thankful for your sweet doggie, what a life saver.
Try not to be afraid, you are okay...

Thinking about you
~L

I am glad you are ok. Thank god for the dog

omg, that must have scared the - well scared you!!

That's horrible! I'm glad the guy yelled back that he thought the apartment was vacant, it in no way excuses what HE did, however at least you know there isn't some random burglar wandering around your place (seems pretty legit since you have so few things at this point).

I understand you wanting to leave the door open for the dog, might want to try the stick in the door thing.

Anyway I'm glad you are fine and I hope you aren't too freaked out now.

Oh my god, I'm so glad you're okay! Thank heaven that the dog was around. *hugs*

I am glad to hear that your ok. Also, that you had a lil protector there with you.
Be safe and I hope it won't happen again.

Glad to hear you're ok. I can only imagine how afraid you must have been

Hang in there girl, and give that doggy a treat for his bravery

Good thing that you are OK. Did you call the cops? If not, why not?

No, actually it just never occurred to me.

Interesting! And I hadn't noticed the attempted thing until you mentioned it.

Glad everything turned out okay.... if not for your dog, it could have turned out a lot worse.

Wow. I bet that was exciting. Good doggie. Here's a biscuit.

UGH! Glad you are okay! Keep that sliding door locked even when you're at home. I know it sucks living that way... locked up and everything but I just have flashbacks to a pretty bad serial case that happened in Toronto years ago.

Echoing everyone else's sentiments. I'm glad you're ok too. Never had that happen yet and I hope I never do. I think if I could get past that first instant of fear, Towanda would take over.

better give that doggie a treat and tell it "good doggie!""

also be careful, maybe he or his friends will be back.

Happy that ur okay and good thing for your dog, it must have been quite traumatic...plz take care of urself...glad ur safe..

Wow. That must have been pretty traumatic and quite a shock for you. I am glad you are ok and so glad your dog was there!!

I am so relieved that your dog was there. I think that you should probably set up some kind of alert system to let you know if you have any more noctural visits. A string with some tin cans is perfectly legal and will cause enough racket that it will draw attention. That is a good temporary solution. I wish mere words could offer you reassurance that there won't be a repeat performance but I do think this a one-time only deal. Sounds like he's not coming back, if it's any solace.

Wow. Thank God you are okay. Dogs are so awesome when it comes to security. The perpetrator may return though. I'd report the incident to the police and give them the details of his appearance so they can do a sketch if you haven't already.

Glad ur ok! i would definetly report this to police, good to have this on record, and one should do this soon so you can still recall his appearance.
Dogs of all sizes make great security devices!! Many think their lovable dog would never stick up for them, but in most instances the dog will go into protect mode. Saw this with my Sheltie. The ex and the Sheltie left for the walk early at night. I went the opposite direction to catch up. When I saw them, i came at them in a run, The Sheltie went into full attack mode!! never ever seen him like that! He was going to protect the ex!! Once I said his name, he instantly went back to his normal happy self.

Just like to add that you should write down everything you can remember about the incident (time, what happened, appearance of the intruder) and be as factual as possible, before you go to the police station. That will make things go much more smoothly and it will save you and the police a great deal of time and effort. The only thing more dangerous than an attack dog is an attack cat.

I definitely agree; you should report it... the guy will probably try breaking into other houses and it could possibly be prevented.

And good for the dog

I am glad that everything turn out well for you and the worse that happened was your heart skipped a beat.

It seems like he was looking for a place to crash for the night, he may have bee there before and didn't know it had been rented and probably believed it wasn't since there is no furniture in that specific room. Making a police report would be beneficial to you and your neighbours because it could cause the police to patrol that area more often for a while at least.

As for leaving the door open so the dog can get in and out is ok as long as it opens wide enough for the dog. A good thing to do would be to have a stopper of sorts to stop the door from being opened wider than you want it to be, a broom handle cut to the right length and placed on the glider would only allow the door to be closed but not opened further.

I am glad you are safe! Good thing the dog was there.