I HATE that feeling! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. It really sucks.

When I was a young girl, we were coming home from the airport, picking up my mother, and when we came out of our detached garage, we saw that the curtains had been drawn. That can only be done from the inside! We called the police, and while we were waiting outside, I saw this big white van drive down the street. Our street is a dead end, and I swear to this day, it was the robbers. They didn't have time to take much, thankfully.

Again, when my ex and I were living in Oakland. But there, just the week before, we had bought a puppy. A tiny, white, bull terrier. We had boarded him behind some sheet rock in a little room off the kitchen when we were gone, and apparently, even though he was the size of a piglet, he was able to scare the robber off, who had just taken my ex's road bike out of the closet! Pup had the worse snarly/growly/scary bark, even then!

Soon after I got my own house, I got a Bull Terrier of my own. The first one lived until he was 15, and mine is now 9. And I also have 2 cats! It took a long time, but now they all sit in front of the fire at night. True, the dog tries to play with the cats, who hiss and swat at his face, but it CAN work. Not that my dog would do anything at all, except maybe trip the robber trying to play or think he's going to be fed, or just run out the door and explore the neighborhood...