Love having big dogs!!!!

[ASTMedic]

Slight back story first. My wife and I live with her grandma about 30min outside of town. Houses are spaced out on 10, 20, 30 or more acres so there is plenty of space between houses. Our house is about 300ft off the road down a gravel drive. The house is heavily treed and hard to tell when people come up the drive on foot but I have the drive wired with a magnetic sensor to notify when a car comes up the drive.

So it's about 9:30 at night and grandma is in watching tv. I'm on shift and the wife is at work. Out of the blue someone knocks on the full length glass French doors that are on the back porch. These doors lead into the livingroom were grandma is watching tv and when grandma looks up there stands a lady looking in at her. Luckily she had my big buddy sleeping next to her. My 65lb Belgian Mal Rufus. He wanted every bit of this lady. Enough that she about went ass over tea kettle off the porch. When grandma was finally able to calm Rufus down enough to crack the door and ask the lady what she wanted she tells grandma she looking for the people who are selling the puppies. (our pot growing neighbors also have there own little "puppy mill"). Needless to say lady you're at the wrong house. Some people are the dumbest. Out here you're lucky the dog was the only thing you were going to be on the receiving end of. Most likely had I been home she would have been drawn down on since I carry unless other wise prevented.

Here's Rufus



I know there are a lot of things that could be done to make the house safer. No glass French doors for starters. In a situation like this where someone is unannounced at an odd hour is having a gun out considered brandishing? What about on my property but outside the house? The neighbors have a legal grow and the possibility of someone showing up on my property looking for their product is my biggest concern.

If asking these questions crosses any lines we have set in the forum I'm sorry and will promptly remove them.

[Justaguy]

If, out of the blue, someone knocks on my door at 9:30 at night, you bet your sweet bippy that a firearm will be in my hand before I open the door. No ands, ifs or buts.

[ASTMedic]

I need to clarify. Can I let it be seen that I'm armed? (i.e. if I sling the mini 14 across my chest to go check on what the dogs are barking at) Out here you can't call the cops everytime the dogs had something cornered since 99% of the time it will be a raccoon or possum. I go out to see what they're barking at armed and if I come across someone I will be armed with gun in hand. From my understanding I'm well with in my rights to be armed even if I'm 100 or 200ft from my house.

[libertarian]

My (not a lawyer) understanding is that Current case law in CA says NO, you cannot carry on your own property outside your house if it is "accessible to the public." if your yard is fenced and gated you're probably fine. Of course if you have a CCW you can carry under that authority (I.e., concealed).

See People v. Yarbrough, 86 Cal. Rptr. 3d 674, 682–83 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008)

Note that Heller may well change that, but it has to go to court first. I'd talk to an experienced firearms attorney before you decide.

[ASTMedic]

Originally Posted by libertarian

My (not a lawyer) understanding is that Current case law in CA says NO, you cannot carry on your own property outside your house if it is "accessible to the public." if your yard is fenced and gated you're probably fine. Of course if you have a CCW you can carry under that authority (I.e., concealed).

See People v. Yarbrough, 86 Cal. Rptr. 3d 674, 682–83 (Cal. Ct. App. 2008)

Note that Heller may well change that, but it has to go to court first. I'd talk to an experienced firearms attorney before you decide.

I will say now any opinions people give are clearly taken as just that.

We're 300' from the road and the property is fenced with, cattle high, barbed wire fencing. It is VERY clear that you are on my property and you had to either jump a fence to get into our pasture or came 300' down the driveway to get to our house. Since this incident I posted "Beware of Dogs" signs at the top of the driveway and on the fence along the road. I figure that if you come on the property uninvited and one of the dogs bites you, don't say you haven't been warned.

And I do CCW at all times here at home. A "country" mentality and family members that are deputies makes for a very gun comfortable family.

[38special]

My first thought was WHY open the door?????????
If it had been push in robbers Granny and Rufus would have been in for it.

[Citizen]

I would love to have a Belgian Malinois, but wow what a lot of work to give them the opportunities to work!

[ASTMedic]

Originally Posted by 38special

My first thought was WHY open the door?????????
If it had been push in robbers Granny and Rufus would have been in for it.

Agreed. She doesn't think about that stuff and hates when I try to make things safer. She's lived her 30yrs and feels like nothing could happen.

Rufus is something else. I got him from the pound thinking he was a GSD. He was all of 6lbs and the vet said he might break 30lbs full grown thinking he was some kind of mutt. Well he hit double. For the longest time I couldn't figure out his breed. He has a GSD look but his hind legs don't have the standard bend to them. Then one day we were in town and a guy who is big in protection work asked how I liked having a Mal. That's when it hit me he was a Mal (Mal GSD mix) He's the hardest working dog I've ever seen. He loves to be out with me working on the property and playing and could do it all day. I'm big into training dogs but had to shift my training to a protection dog style of rewards cus treat rewards mean nothing to him so bite and tug work it is. I pull out his tug and he's the most focused dog. I can see why the cops and such love them for bite and tracking. He can find anything with his nose and hits a tug like a freight train. He can almost out run me when I'm doing 30mph on the quad too. Best dog I've evert had.

[libertarian]

Originally Posted by ASTMedic

I will say now any opinions people give are clearly taken as just that.

We're 300' from the road and the property is fenced with, cattle high, barbed wire fencing. It is VERY clear that you are on my property and you had to either jump a fence to get into our pasture or came 300' down the driveway to get to our house. Since this incident I posted "Beware of Dogs" signs at the top of the driveway and on the fence along the road. I figure that if you come on the property uninvited and one of the dogs bites you, don't say you haven't been warned.

And I do CCW at all times here at home. A "country" mentality and family members that are deputies makes for a very gun comfortable family.

Out in the country, the odds are that even if someone reported you to the local sheriff, the sheriff wouldn't really have a problem with it. I'm just passing on (my feeble understanding of) what the law says. It's California, after all. If it's a small enough department, you could probably call the Sheriff and ask him what his opinion was. While his opinion doesn't carry the weight of law, it might give you a good idea as to whether or not such activities would annoy him or not.

The addition of "NO TRESPASSING" signs would probably help, if it ever came to that, if you don't have them already. If it's a real concern, putting in a gate across the driveway to "complete" the fencing would likely eliminate people wandering by.

[libertarian]

PS: Beautiful dog If we had the space to work one, I'd love to have a Mal someday

[ASTMedic]

Originally Posted by libertarian

Out in the country, the odds are that even if someone reported you to the local sheriff, the sheriff wouldn't really have a problem with it. I'm just passing on (my feeble understanding of) what the law says. It's California, after all. If it's a small enough department, you could probably call the Sheriff and ask him what his opinion was. While his opinion doesn't carry the weight of law, it might give you a good idea as to whether or not such activities would annoy him or not.

The addition of "NO TRESPASSING" signs would probably help, if it ever came to that, if you don't have them already. If it's a real concern, putting in a gate across the driveway to "complete" the fencing would likely eliminate people wandering by.

Ya I've been thinking about putting in a gate. I'd have to put in a auto opener for grandma and that kind of money isn't available right now.

I'm concerned about someone coming though our property to get to the pot head neighbors grow too. No fence is going to stop that when they're determined. They have about 20 plants this year.

I've never heard of anyone being chapped by SO for confronting someone on their property with a gun in hand. We have a very pro gun Sherrif and his deputies are very level headed. With the high crime/meth head area the county covers its nice to have LE that protects our rights.

[Tom98915]

Originally Posted by Justaguy

If, out of the blue, someone knocks on my door at 9:30 at night, you bet your sweet bippy that a firearm will be in my hand before I open the door. No ands, ifs or buts.

I live in the sticks, have a loooong driveway and we rarely have guests. So, if someone knocks on my door I do the same thing day or night since we have a lot of dope-growing-reefer-smoking-riff-raff in our county. I have have had a couple of them knock on our door during the day looking for their dope growing buddies at the wrong address - mine.

So yeah, a big +1 on that, regardless of what time the clock says it is.

[libertarian]

Originally Posted by Tom98915

I live in the sticks AND have a loooong driveway. We rarely have guests, so if someone knocks on my door I do the same thing day or night since we have a lot of dope-growing-reefer-smoking-riff-raff in our county. I have have had a couple of them knock on our door during the day looking for their dope growing buddies at the wrong address - mine.

So yeah, a big +1 on that, regardless of what time the clock says it is.

Hell, I live in the suburbs, and if the doorbell rings unexpectedly, I do the same thing. Inside the house, there's no question that it's completely legal.

[ASTMedic]

Originally Posted by Tom98915

I live in the sticks AND have a loooong driveway. We rarely have guests, so if someone knocks on my door I do the same thing day or night since we have a lot of dope-growing-reefer-smoking-riff-raff in our county. I have have had a couple of them knock on our door during the day looking for their dope growing buddies at the wrong address - mine.

So yeah, a big +1 on that, regardless of what time the clock says it is.

I put in a driveway alarm. Love it!!!! It gives me an easy 10-15sec heads up. Best $50 I ever spent and it's activated by large metal objects only. Wildlife and weather won't trip it. Only down side is it doesn't sense foot traffic but that what the dogs are for.

The pot growing thing really drives me nuts. They're doing very little to keep it low key. Hell she just bought a brand new BMW that she claims is from diet shakes she was selling. Ummmm.....ya........right.

[mark]

Great dog, I have a female belgian Malinois, 16 years old and still feisty

although pretty much blind, she gets around, great guard dog