Cleared My House Yesterday

[bruss01]

I came home yesterday and found the front door wide open.

The wife and I had taken the dogs to the park. We live alone, she and I, so we looked at each other with that ***?! look. I took the Doberman and went inside, telling her to stay in the car and call 911 if anything goes hinky.

Now, we suspected that she, being the last one out of the house, got distracted and forgot to shut the door. But she couldn't remember for sure. There were no other indications of something being wrong, just the front door wide freakin' open. If there had been any other indications of foulness going on, we would have called cops and stayed put. Nothing in that house is worth dying for.

As I came up to the front door, I'm listening closely to see if there are any noises from inside - there are none. Glance at the door jamb, no sign of forced entry. Four steps inside the door, I opened a drawer and pulled out my .44 Charter Arms Bulldog. Loaded, 5 200gr GDHP on tap. Proceeded to carefully enter and inspect each room, including garage, gun at low ready, ears and eyes alert, 90 lb Doberman at my side. All was clear, nothing disturbed, no other windows or doors ajar. The bulldog went back into the drawer and I summoned my wife to come inside. Whew.

I never felt undergunned or overgunned. If by some wild stretch of the imagination any shots had been exchanged, I might feel differently about that. I was, however, very glad to have my four footed helper as backup.

It's funny, the bulldog is my cheapest and least well-constructed handgun. It has the lowest round capacity of the 14 handguns we own. But it has most often been the one in my hand when a situation has presented. For that, it has earned a warm and fuzzy place in my heart.

For house clearing I can definitely say that a Doberman and a bulldog made me feel up to the task!

 

[bruss01]

ETA:

Some things I was glad about:

Not all my guns are in the safe, and I was able to access one, in immediately usable condition, within a handful of steps of entering my house.

My wife, although she had a hard day at work and a brain fart when leaving the house to go to the park, had her shizzle totally together when the situation presented - as in, no arguing with me when I posted her on lookout with phone in hand.

My dog was with me, not in the back yard, and I was able to keep him next to me during the clearing. and I'm glad he presents a credible threat to a bad guy, at least visually.

We did not panic and take the cops away from important duties without ensuring there was a believable need for their presence.

Things I am NOT glad about:

No CCW for me (restrictive area) - would have felt a lot better having my hand on a concealed piece when coming up to the door and those first few steps inside.

Really bad slip up on the wife's part, forgetting to secure the residence when leaving. Bad on me also for not double checking, even though I had no reason to think things were unsecured. She knows, I don't need to tell her, it was a one-time foul up hopefully.

Maybe I should have upgraded pistols during my search. I have 8 rounds of .45acp in a Ruger P345 in the bedroom, but it's near the back of the house. By the time I got there, I'd have searched most of the house anyway. The bulldog stores in a compact place because it's very compact, which is why it's out front and the larger pistol is in the nightstand drawer... probably not a point that needs to be worried about much... as I said, the Doberman and the bulldog seemed to get the job done, and other than being in a state of high alert, I did not feel any fear when clearing the house.

 

[shdwfx]

Were it a burgler, there is a good chance he would have found and armed himself with one of your own weapons. Stay safe.

 

[lanternlad1]

"Were it a bugler, there is a good chance he would find and arm himself with one of your own weapons. Stay safe."

I'm betting if it was a bugler, he'd be playing "TAPS".

 

[hso]

Couldn't you have just patiently waited for 5 minutes to see if anyone came out? Bunglers want in and out as fast as possible and a little patience can have big rewards.

 

[Cougfan2]

Easy to armchair quarter back this one. I would have advised you to say outside and call the cops to let them clear the house, but that being said, I don't know that I would have done any differently than you did. Glad it turned out OK.

 

[bruss01]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

Some explanations:

We did not panic and take the cops away from important duties without ensuring there was a believable need for their presence.

If there had been a strange vehicle out front, any sign of forced entry, or noises/shadows from inside the house, or if the dog had started to alert, I would have backed off and called 911. In other words, I was looking for any sign that this was other than simply "we spaced and left the door open". Failing to find any such sign, I proceeded as carefully as I could to ensure the house was safe.

"Were it a bugler, there is a good chance he would find and arm himself with one of your own weapons. Stay safe."

That thought was in the forefront of my mind. I know that one of the first things a burglar would do is look for guns, and at least one of mine is ready to go in a very obvious place. That was probably the most hazardous aspect of this, and I was prepared to turn and run as fast as I could if it turned out there was an armed man in my house. Was hoping the dog would buy me time to clear the door.

I'm betting if it was a bugler, he'd be playing "TAPS".

Probably not. If he was unarmed and was inclined to listen to me, the Dobie and the bulldog, he'd be on the floor and the cops would come and get him into some new accomodations. If he dove out a window, fine, he can go, the details can go in the police report. It was only if he was armed and came at me that he would have done business with Mr. Bulldog. I really don't want to have to go there, but if the need arises I am prepared to deal with it. I guess I'm just lazy and don't want to have to rent a carpet shampoo machine. Or spend the rest of the evening telling my story a dozen times to the cops and talking to my lawyer. Or spend 3 times the amount of my gun's worth trying to get it back from the cops after the shooting. But I'd rather be doing any or all of those things instead of pushing daisies.

Thanks for the comments all.

 

[Zundfolge]

House clearing is NOT a one man job (even with a dog and a gun). Police and military clear houses in TEAMS. There's a reason for this.


Glad all was well.

 

[bruss01]

ZF -

Agreed, if there was any indication that someone was in the house or HAD been in the house, I would have let someone who gets paid for it do the dirty work.

BUT by the same token I am not going to be calling the cops to check it out every time the house settles at night, making a noise, for fear it might be the one time in a million that there is someone in the house. If everybody did that, the cops would spend more time checking out bogus alerts than they do working on real crime. Now, if I hear voices, footsteps or ANYTHING that leads me to believe that unidentified noise was a human being where there ought not to be any, THEN it is worth holing up and dialing 911. But simply *tink... sch_thupp!* "hmmm... what was that noise?" shouldn't be an automatic 911 call. You don't want the cops to be in the habit of rolling their eyes "Oh, it's fraidy pants...AGAIN" on the night you call in a REAL invasion. We have small tree branches that make noise in the wind and occasionally drop onto the roof, and the neighborhood cats plus squirrels plus raccoons make noises at night. We have dogs in the house, they occasionally make noises at night (breathing, snoring, walking around, even noises they make while dreaming). It's only once in a great while a noise happens that requires checking out. I have had to clear the house, oh, I dunno, maybe 3 times in my life where a really unusual noise happened that couldn't be identified or something like finding the door open yesterday happened. In every instance I was prepared to fight if needed, but Plan A was run for it if possible. You just can't roll over and go back to sleep, HOPING it was nothing, but you can't really call the cops if there's no evidence a situation is going on that you need the cops for. Maybe others are more cautious and would call the cops for every little thing. I dunno, I just don't think that works for me.

In the situation yesterday, it did not feel like a one-man job because I had my dog with me inside, and my wife backing me up outside, ready to call in help if needed. I don't mind calling in help when it's warranted, hey, I've got nothing to prove. But there's also no sense in making a mountain out of a molehill. A door left ajar does not a burglary make. My approach is to check it out but to be damn careful about how I go about it. So far that seems to be serving me well.

 

[19-3Ben]

I probably would have done exactly the same thing. I end up clearing my house about 3-4 times a year because of odd noises in the middle of the night. I know it's probably nothing, but I do it partly for the exercise of doing it.
Feels good to have a gun in hand when needed.

Now, get yourself a concealed but accessible hiding spot for that gun!!! (Even duct taped to the bottom of a table or something. Just not exposed in a likely hiding spot that would be the first place to check if you were a criminal.

 

[moga]

You were out walking the dogs with the wife but had to go inside before producing a firearm? For goodness sakes, why? Are you not permitted to carry?

How can you leave the house in good conscience without worrying about a unsecured, loaded firearm just four steps inside the door?

It's a good thing that no one was inside. You could have been at the business end of your own gun when you returned home. Or worse, imagine if a LE had responded to the call? Man, I think you need to rethink the choice of leaving unsecured firearms so easily accessible.

Other than that, glad it was a non-incident for a fellow gun owner.

 

[Powderman]

I am not going to be calling the cops to check it out every time the house settles at night, making a noise, for fear it might be the one time in a million that there is someone in the house. If everybody did that, the cops would spend more time checking out bogus alerts than they do working on real crime.

This has the potential to be VERY real crime, my friend.

As for finding more important things to do, I can think of nothing more important than to act--proactively, for once--to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the people I am sworn to protect and serve.

The call would come over advising us that you, the homeowner, found your residence unsecured, and that you were standing outside waiting for us. There would have been at least two units responding.

Upon arrival, we contact you and ask all the obvious questons--about securing the door, and anyone else having the key. After that, we advise you to move to a safe place, and for the love of God Himself, do NOT, EVER, enter your home while a building search is in progress.

My partner and I would then clear the house--one with the sidearm, one with the patrol carbine. ANYTHING that moves in that house will be proned out at gunpoint, and we will sort it out later.

It's our job, and we're glad to do it. Call us!

 

[Clipper]

Dumb...VERY dumb.

Not gonna sugarcoat it, because you don't seem to be getting the message from the previous responses. There are no appropriate excuses or explanations. The only good reason to try clearing your house yourself is if you're trapped inside and the joint happens to be on fire...

 

[mr.72]

we had the same thing happen once. return from the grocery store, front door was wide open. we called the police and waited outside. of course it was nothing.

i would have not gone in that house.

 

[shoup dawg]

My gf (live-in) walk the dog almost nightly to a local park. If we came home and the door was wide open, we'd call the cops and wait at a neighbor's house within full view of the entire property.

Wouldn't even send the dog in.

 

[chris in va]

That's really not a good idea. I had the same incident a few years ago, door was open slightly.

I called the cops and asked if they would search my house, which they did. The door was simply not closed all the way when we left. It was a female/male team, they were more than happy to do so. Guess what, it's their job and we pay their salary.

Look at it this way, what if some BG got a hold of your pistols left out in a drawer somewhere and shot you as you came down one of the 'fatal funnels'?

 

[hso]

In the situation yesterday, it did not feel like a one-man job because I had my dog with me inside, and my wife backing me up outside, ready to call in help if needed.

You're wrong. The dog's aren't trained for this duty so you have no real idea what they'd do. They might just wait from a sign from "Dad" that he was in trouble instead of behaving as you assumed they would. As to your wife being backup, backup is with you, not outside waiting to call police to say "My husband went inside to check if someone broke into the house and I just heard shots. PLEASE HURRY!".

Please listen to the folks that are telling you that clearing a house is best left to a team that has some training in doing this so that they understand the fields of fire and movement requirements.

It would have cost you nothing to wait 5 minutes to see if anyone came out before going in.

 

[AirForceShooter]

This is why there's 911 and police.

Stupid.

AFS

 

[bruss01]

You were out walking the dogs with the wife but had to go inside before producing a firearm? For goodness sakes, why? Are you not permitted to carry?

And.... it's pretty obvious to me that most of those being critical have not bothered to read the post.

So how can I possibly take their advice seriously? Riiiight... a squirrel jumped from the oak tree onto the house at 2am on a saturday night, I'm supposed to take a cop away from rounding up drunk drivers to come patrol my yard and make sure the boogey man isn't trying to get me? My wife absent-mindedly left a door ajar... no signs of anything amiss, no lock jimmied, no door pried... honestly I do not need a callus on my finger from dialing 911 every time there is a "huh?" or "what was that?" situation in my life. I suppose that the night a light fixture decided to fall off the ceiling in the kitchen, for no apparent reason at 3 AM, I should have crawled out the bedroom window and called 911 from my cell phone rather than take a careful look around and make sure all is secure. I'm sorry, a man has to make some judgement calls on how he lives his life, and reasonable calculated risks are among some of the trade offs we make. I'm not a reckless individual. I wear a seat belt. I won't smoke because of the health risks, and I won't ride a motorcycle because I like my skin in the condition it's in, but when there's a noise/situation that I don't have a reasonable cause to believe is of nefarious human origin, I'm going to check it out. Carefully, with the best safeguards and judgment I can muster at the moment, but I'm going to check it out. Sorry, but that's how I roll.

I'm not going to spend my life shivering in a corner in my nightie waiting for the brave policeman to come and tell me that "suspicious noise" I heard was a tree branch brushing against the window in the wind. A man's got to have some self respect, and if I ever get to that point, how can I look myself in the mirror and not cringe?

If you're going to be critical, at least read the whole post before you bleat out advice.

 

[ilbob]

One time years ago as an exercise I decided to see what it would take to clear my house without getting myself cleared. I walked through the house and checked every nook and cranny, closet, under beds, etc. I decided right than that it was a nightmare to do it for real by one's self. There are just too many places you can't safely check, especially by yourself.

I imagine a trained dog is a really good tool for this kind of endeavor.

 

[Glock1911]

You did what you thought was right.

I would have done the same thing. Seems that all of the critical replies to your actions are from LE's who have seen these situations before and know they could go bad, very bad, or from those who are afraid to take responsibility for their own safety.

 

[hso]

It's not a question of taking responsibility for your own safety. It is more how you take responsibility and whether it is done in the best possible way.

Unless you've been to a course on clearing it is very difficult to explain how hazardous it is to enter a multi room structure that you think a BG may be in and work from room to room while trying to keep yourself from being a victim.
Force on force training of these situations usually leads to the solo trying to perform the clearing being shot by the "BG".

A sound in the house with you and your loved ones at home certainly increases the incentive to act, but the best action is usually to get everyone together in a safe location and wait. That waiting is the hardest part of anyone's training to be accepted because everyone wants to "do something" and most folks don't understand that waiting is doing something. We're not talking about paralyzed waiting or inactive waiting, but forting up and setting a defensive position to work from. That puts you in control of a very specific area and forces any threat to come to your prepared position. This is as huge advantage for the homeowner defending their family. If you can get everyone in the area you control you then can wait and listen to determine if there are any further indicators of someone possibly being in the house. Dogs in the home are great for this since they can range outside your tightly controlled perimeter and alert you to the presence of strangers. If you do determine that there is something wrong now you have the only thing of value protected, your family, and you can alert the police/sheriff that you're sure someone is in your house and that you have your family safely in one area that you're securing with arms. They can respond and you can assure the safety of your family. That patience to actively wait is a huge advantage we shouldn't give up as long as we're holding a part of the terrain that keeps our family safe.

If you come up on a situation where you think someone has entered your house/business what possible reason would you enter it right away unless you fear for the safety of a family member? Sound the horn on your car a couple of times and actively wait outside from a safe distance that allows you to watch the property long enough to determine that no one is going in or out. This should be no more than a few minute because BGs do not want to hang around if there's a chance of being discovered or cornered (the exception being BGs who actively want the home/business owner to come into a trap so they can force them to their will). If you see them exit the house call 911 and report a break in and the direction the thieves fled. There's nothing other than the safety of a loved one worth risking your life over enough that a few minutes in active waiting won't better serve you and your family.

 

[bdickens]

What's good about going through a situation like this in your mind afterwards, and about posting it and reading the more thoughtful replies, is it gets you thinking.

The important questions to ask are:

What was supposed to happen? What actually did happen? What went right? What went wrong? How can this be done better in the future?

In the Army, we called that an After Action Review.

 

[VHinch]

You were there, none of us were. You made your decision, executed it, and it turned out okay. The thing to do now is determine what you could have done differently or better. There are people on this thread with experience in house clearing that are trying to impart some of their experience and knowledge on the situation. I would agree that in some cases the posters could have done so without coming right out and calling your actions stupid, but getting defensive about the responses isn't going to teach you anything.

As others have pointed out, clearing a house by yourself is a BAD idea. Clearing a house by yourself without having any training in how to do so correctly is even worse. Anyone who has ever done a clearing exercise using Simunitions will tell you that the first time is an eye opener, because you are going to get shot. During Defensive Handgun Three at Thunder Ranch Texas, they used to do an exercise called "Hell on Earth" where you did a run through the Terminator shoot house against Clint Smith and a couple of other instructors using Simunitions. Now this was Clint's turf, a course he designed and knew inside and out, and despite being probably the best practical firearms instructor on the planet, guess what happened? He got shot, and he got shot frequently.

I've been trained to clear a building, and I've had to do it when it counted. However, in the situation you described, I would have done as hso described and clearly made my presence known, then waited. With no activity for 5-6 minutes, I would have reassessed the situation. Why? Because despite training and experience, I know the risks, and I know to how to put my bravado aside and make the smart choice. There is absolutely no reason to clear a house by yourself (and no, an untrained dog does not count as backup) unless you have to do it to get to a family member.

 

[sm]

bruss01,

I am pleased to hear all went well, and everything turned out all right.
I do not know you, your wife, the dawg, your house, neighborhood or anything else, and I was not there.

The main goal is to be safe when some event or incident presents itself, and in this instance, you, the wife and dawg survived.
From anything we do such as this, we learn, whether we did stayed safe, or in training we end up "injured" or "dead".

Even trained teams have after action reports, and even if they did it "right" there is always room to learn, and improve on skills sets.

House Clearing is best left to Professionals, that said, one should be familiar with home and business....
Not necessarily to clear, instead evade and evacuate.
This does not have to be because of criminals.

Fire is the best example, one needs to have a practiced plan with family members to get everyone out "now".
Put down the gun, and during the day "clear the house", repeat this during the night, with low light, no light, with a simple flashlight, be this a Garrity Life-Lite, a AA mag-lite, or 2 D cell flashlight - stay with the lowest level of light- as that 2 D cell kept in the laundry room, might be the only light handy when the smoke alarm goes off at 9pm and the spouse and kids are in the other part of the house.

When that smoke alarm goes off, one's system goes into mode, and auditory exclusions kick in.
Motor skills erode and even if one has lived in a house for years, they get bumfuzzled.

Clearing the house, according to practiced plans is a good thing in such an instance, as one member, or guest might be overcome by smoke, or say grandma is visiting and she does not get around very well, and does not know what to do - even if she is familiar with the house.

FireDept and Police train to clear houses, houses they have no idea of floor plans, they have practiced plans and protocol in communicating.

I would take this situation as a learning tool, and learn from it.
No, I read you cannot CCW.
Having a gun you can access I do agree with, and one reason I harp about keeping mouth shut, and having a place where folks and family can access a firearm.
I do not subscribe to all guns being unloaded, or locked up, even with kids in the home.
Simplex boxes work for the kids , so do some other things I will not post in public.

This is a win, I will not come down on you, as you and the wife have already done this to yourselves and each other.
Just learn from it, be grateful, and use this as learning tool to prepare in the future.

Steve.