As a consolation, you know that experts reccommend SMALL dogs for home sentry duty, right?
It seems that the big dogs attack the intruder and then it's just a matter of screwdriving them quickly and continue on with the robbery.
But robbers HATE small yappy dogs, because they don't get close enough to eliminate, and they continue barking...
So, try not to accidentallly step on him, and enjoy knowing that maybe some criminal passed your house up because he was yapping behind the door...
It's a thought.