a guy broke into my sister's house

[mountain grammy]

101. In Denver, we lived in a fairly high crime area.

When my husband started working nights, he insisted on getting me a lady's Smith and Wesson 5 shot revolver. I took a gun safety class, learned to shoot and we bought a locked safe with a push button combination that you could open in the dark. One night I was awakened by my chocolate lab who sleeping on my feet, when she jumped up and growled. She knew someone was at the door before I even heard it open. While my dog stood at the bedroom door, I pulled the small gun safe out from under the bed, frantically trying to remember the sequence for the push buttons. Just when I figured out the combination and opened the safe, my dog started whimpering happily and wagging her tail and ran out to greet my son who had come into the living room. He didn't live with us, but had a key and had stopped by to pick something up and didn't want to disturb me. After that incident, we kept the first chamber of the pistol empty, but, I always believed my very best defense was my wonderful lab who was so lovable, but I never doubted for a minute she would rip out the throat of anyone threatening me.