That feeling you get...

[Wfahey]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. It is very much appreciated. This a nice car wash but the reality is just about all of San Antonio has become crime ridden. The west and south sides of town used to get all the negative press but things are getting bad in the Northwest and Northeast now too. This is the whole reason I decided it was time to get my CHL. If I could find a decent job between here and Austin I would move tomorrow.

[Express]

Awareness is your first defense, avoidance your first tactic.

Well stated (probably signature line worthy)

Yeah, I'm stealing that one.

Very well put

[Dragonfighter]

<SNIP>

Maybe I was paranoid but I felt that even with a gun, I was better off putting a potential situation behind me rather than waiting around and seeing what "might" happen.

Thoughts?

The problem with preventing a bad situation is there is no way to quantify it. Most people who do end up in a bad way, do so because they deny that gut feeling. You did well.

[kjolly]

Consider that line stolen. It's perfect

[Toorop]

Gut feelings are what keep people alive sometimes.

[ajwakeboarder]

OP, you did the right thing. Gut feeling aside, You'd be surprised what people do at car washes. My dad and Uncle used to own a couple. One time at around 7 PM my dad was emptying quarters out of one of the vacs. 4 guys pulled up in a Mercedes and started waling toward him. One of them yelled to give up the money. Luckily, my uncle walked around the corner at that moment and they took off. After that, he never went to one without a gun (illegally). Now, he wants to get his CHL. People do all kinds of crazy things at places like that. I've found drugs, knives, and even shotgun shells there. Always be aware of your surroundings.

[PBratton]

If there is doubt, then there is no doubt.

[Scott in Houston]

This is what the "Gift of Fear" is about - folks have learned to ignore their "Spidey Senses" instead of embrace them. Good read even though I didn't agree with everything the author had to say about guns and people carrying them.

Agree... I can't find it online, but I read, in print, a study about dogs and their ability to sense 'bad guys'.
We all have the belief that dogs can sense when people are up to no good and look out for us. This is true to an extent but they go through a process and we're the first step in their process for reading a situation. See below:

The study laid out the typical scenario...
Visitor at the door 'selling something', the homeowner and the dog answer the door, and the dog senses that there's something wrong with the visitor and scares them off.

The study went on to say that the dog was not reading the visitor first... he was reading the homeowner, his master. He was picking up on the 'spidey sense' that the homeowner has, but ignores or squelches. Even when we brush off the feelings, the dog picks up on them.

Too many times, we try and logically excuse this feeling, but the dogs can sense that we have this feeling regardless of how we handle it. They read us before reading the visitor. The dog is actually reacting to us! Not the guy at the door.

This can explain why sometimes they may react this way to people who are not up to anything wrong. Like a legit salesman or delivery man, etc.

If we feel something is off, they'll react, even if there's nothing wrong. It's just our spidey sense, but we may be wrong. I remember meter reader coming in our yard. He was legit with a bright shirt on that said "Reliant Energy" etc. Somehow, I was still a little taken off guard, startled, but acted friendly to him by saying hello, etc, knowing that logically, all was ok. (my gut still bothered me though). And he was perfectly nice and friendly back, but our dog was going nuts. (A 90 lb boxer). I said, "Don't worry, he just wants to play." trying to make him feel less scared of our dog. His response, "I'd rather NOT 'play' right now." haha
I know he was legit because I called Reliant to see if I was right with my 'spidey sense' or I was just caught by surprise. It was the latter. He was totally legit.

We need to remember to listen to our gut and not dismiss it with "this can't ever happen in this neighborhood" or "this only happens to other people". Our dogs listen to our gut better than we do according to this study.

[Jumping Frog]

. . .The study went on to say that the dog was not reading the visitor first... he was reading the homeowner, his master. He was picking up on the 'spidey sense' that the homeowner has, but ignores or squelches. Even when we brush off the feelings, the dog picks up on them.
. . . Our dogs listen to our gut better than we do according to this study.

I completely agree with your scenario.

I grew up with a mother-son German Shepherd pair in our home. There were also seven children, which also meant there were at least as many neighborhood kids around all the time, in and out of the house, playing football, basketball, "army", and other kid stuff . . . Zoo Central, in other words.

Those German Shepherds were the gentlest and friendliest dogs you could ever want to meet. With the constant parade of kids in and out, door bell ringing, TV blaring, kids playing, they reached the point that they were completely uninterested in who came to the door. They never barked, and they didn't even bother coming to the door.

One day, my mother hears the doorbell. The dogs are in the back screen porch taking a nap two rooms away from the front door. She answers the door and it was a man selling fish door-to-door. She is looking through the screen door at the fish, and then decides she doesn't want any. She is completely relaxed through all of this.

Suddenly, she just had this sense -- this knowing -- that the man was going to come though the front screen door and attack her. She went from relaxed to very frightened in about a millisecond. From out of nowhere, and without any warning, both dogs were at the front screen door snarling and barking and showing their teeth, and jumping against the door trying to break through it.

It is the only time either dog ever barked or showed it's teeth to a human. They knew.

[Scott in Houston]

. . .The study went on to say that the dog was not reading the visitor first... he was reading the homeowner, his master. He was picking up on the 'spidey sense' that the homeowner has, but ignores or squelches. Even when we brush off the feelings, the dog picks up on them.
. . . Our dogs listen to our gut better than we do according to this study.

I completely agree with your scenario.

I grew up with a mother-son German Shepherd pair in our home. There were also seven children, which also meant there were at least as many neighborhood kids around all the time, in and out of the house, playing football, basketball, "army", and other kid stuff . . . Zoo Central, in other words.

Those German Shepherds were the gentlest and friendliest dogs you could ever want to meet. With the constant parade of kids in and out, door bell ringing, TV blaring, kids playing, they reached the point that they were completely uninterested in who came to the door. They never barked, and they didn't even bother coming to the door.

One day, my mother hears the doorbell. The dogs are in the back screen porch taking a nap two rooms away from the front door. She answers the door and it was a man selling fish door-to-door. She is looking through the screen door at the fish, and then decides she doesn't want any. She is completely relaxed through all of this.

Suddenly, she just had this sense -- this knowing -- that the man was going to come though the front screen door and attack her. She went from relaxed to very frightened in about a millisecond. From out of nowhere, and without any warning, both dogs were at the front screen door snarling and barking and showing their teeth, and jumping against the door trying to break through it.

It is the only time either dog ever barked or showed it's teeth to a human. They knew.

Great story. I bet he left pretty quickly!!

I love Shepherds. What great dogs. I wish my wife wasn't so allergic or we'd have at least one.

[Middle Age Russ]

Dogs are incredibly gifted at picking up your emotional state. Some dogs can effectively be little more than alarm dogs (and often get alarmed at the drop of a hat), and serve the alarm purpose well. Others can surprise you with a number of positive responses to any alarm you may be feeling.

I did not notice whether DividedAttention mentioned the Boxers we had several years back. Part of the time we had them I was going to school full time in the day and working in the evenings. She was working days and home alone most evenings. Any time she came home and felt anything was even possibly not right, all she had to do was get Max, the male, and send him into the house first. He was never trained for clearing a house, but he somehow knew that his job was to check every room and insure that no threats were there. DA followed him and as soon as he checked everything he was off duty again. The female, Secret, simply stayed with DA as they followed Max around.

We notice another interesting protective behavior from the Boxers as well. They were not comfortable DA or the kids being close to the fireplace when we had wood burning. I was the only one allowed access to the fireplace without interferance from them. If DA or the kids approached it, the dogs would get between them and the fireplace and stay there unless they were firmly moved. No aggressive behavior at all from them in this, just very protective.

Everyone has their favorite breed or breeds, and I dearly love Boxers partly due to the pair we had, but I think dogs of just about any breed or mix CAN be wonderful assets to the home. Giving them a firm understanding of their place in the pack order is key to how big an asset they are.

[Scott in Houston]

We notice another interesting protective behavior from the Boxers as well. They were not comfortable DA or the kids being close to the fireplace when we had wood burning. I was the only one allowed access to the fireplace without interferance from them. If DA or the kids approached it, the dogs would get between them and the fireplace and stay there unless they were firmly moved. No aggressive behavior at all from them in this, just very protective.

You picked up on a trait that breed is known for.

Story: When I was in grade school, my parents and several other families were party to a lawsuit against an individual. This guy set fire to several houses, all of them part of this lawsuit. (He was formerly an arson/building inspector and knew how to make it look like an accident)
He was literally crazy and very dangerous. He broke into a friend's house and rigged their water heater for one of these fires. The other was made to look electrical. He would break in when no one was home. He was too cowardly to confront you directly.
Sugar Land PD "knew" it was him, but had no evidence.

Anyway, my parents were struggling financially and couldn't afford cameras and other security measures beyond a basic alarm system, so after doing a lot of homework, they bought a boxer for that very reason. Boxers are wary of fire by nature, and of course, also very protective in general.

Thankfully, our house was never targeted (that we know of), and eventually the guy ended up getting murdered in Alvin, but my parents still own boxers today.

[OldCurlyWolf]

. . .The study went on to say that the dog was not reading the visitor first... he was reading the homeowner, his master. He was picking up on the 'spidey sense' that the homeowner has, but ignores or squelches. Even when we brush off the feelings, the dog picks up on them.
. . . Our dogs listen to our gut better than we do according to this study.

I completely agree with your scenario.

I grew up with a mother-son German Shepherd pair in our home. There were also seven children, which also meant there were at least as many neighborhood kids around all the time, in and out of the house, playing football, basketball, "army", and other kid stuff . . . Zoo Central, in other words.

Those German Shepherds were the gentlest and friendliest dogs you could ever want to meet. With the constant parade of kids in and out, door bell ringing, TV blaring, kids playing, they reached the point that they were completely uninterested in who came to the door. They never barked, and they didn't even bother coming to the door.

One day, my mother hears the doorbell. The dogs are in the back screen porch taking a nap two rooms away from the front door. She answers the door and it was a man selling fish door-to-door. She is looking through the screen door at the fish, and then decides she doesn't want any. She is completely relaxed through all of this.

Suddenly, she just had this sense -- this knowing -- that the man was going to come though the front screen door and attack her. She went from relaxed to very frightened in about a millisecond. From out of nowhere, and without any warning, both dogs were at the front screen door snarling and barking and showing their teeth, and jumping against the door trying to break through it.

It is the only time either dog ever barked or showed it's teeth to a human. They knew.

Good dogs.

I work away from home a lot. I leave my wife with a Brother/Sister set of mutts that weigh about 80 pounds each.
They are very friendly, but have proven to be very protective of my wife. I don't worry about her at home.

[bilgerat57]

....And here's another vote for "Never ignore a gut feeling"!