Woke up by the dog that he need to ease himself outside & I settled down on my computer
without house lights turned on in the living room. About 15 mins later my Van alarm came on.
I jumped up from my seat & saw a SUV with lights on. Turned on the house & porch light and
saw a guy running to the SUV and his accomplice took off in high speed. Call the coppers & by
the time I check the van, the cops arrived. Talked about response speed, its a WOW.The thief
had gotten in from the driver side & smell of cigarettes. Bravo to the police force. Nothing stolen
& no signs of broken entry.

Fantastic that your dog wanted out! Really glad you still have your van undamaged.

Paul,

Glad it worked out well and you or no one got hurt. In some places these punks would have demanded the keys if you went out to confront them. Knowing the cops won't show up for a long time ( if they show up ) it would be there's for the taking.

Unless you are armed! Then I say having stopping power will/should do the job!

Like Rafed said good that your ok nowadays folks give the bad guys what they want then get shot anyways
as being reported more often on the news.
Dogs are a great early warning for the homeowner as you already know .

PS - also great for guarding fig trees in yard !

That is so scary!  Happy it had a good outcome!  That dog deserves steak tonight! 

Suzi

Paul glad to hear you're alright. For Thanksgiving a family friend went to his car parked on the street in broad daylight to get something. Two thugs took the opportunity to take his cell and then shoot him in the back. He died instantly. He was visiting his parents who live here while he works with some church communities in MS. He had retired and was doing the Lord's work. So sad. 
"gene"

now days, house gun is a good idea. thank god we have castle law.

out of house gun not a bad idea either.  Learn to shoot and get your permit.  Bad guys are out there.  Be prepared!  Glad this worked out for the OP, but one can imagine many scenarios where it would not have ended so happily.

Totally glad everything worked out okay Paully. You never know how desperate these people are and what lengths they will go to.
Dogs are amazing and i agree with Suzi. That dog should be eating steak tonight lol. Job well done.

What you can do is get a 1000 Lm flashlight and blind them temporarily.

Thanks guys. The dog will be well rewarded with figs. He loves figs and I have bags of tree ripen
figs from last season.

paully.. figs won't do. they need prime rib.. with au jus :) 

OK he deserve a good chunk of steak finished off with fresh figs desert top with fresh cream.

Paully
It is sad to know that you went through the stressful situation. Good that it ended without damage and the dog endeared himself by alerting you. He may deserve his favourite figs  to eat this summer.