You remember Dog. He’s the detective I’ve written about many times. He’s like a pit bull — once he sinks his teeth into a case, he won’t let go.

Tonight is special. Dog and his wife are at a party enjoying the revelry of seeing out the old year. Well into the party, a young man walks into the living room. Nobody there seems to know him. As locals say, "He’s not from around here."

While party goers are sizing up the stranger, he pulls out a pistol and announces to one and all: "This is a stickup! Put your wallets and purses in the pillow case as my partner circulates around the room." Sure enough, there is a partner and he’s holding a pillow case.

Dog doesn’t want the robbers to see his badge, so he hesitates to drop his wallet in the pillow case. The gunman walks over to Dog and asks, "There a problem here?"

Dog looks at the gun. It’s a J-frame snub-nose .38-caliber revolver. That’s what Dog carried before the sheriff’s department issued .40-caliber Glocks. The gun is not cocked.

Dog says to the intruder, "I understand what you’re saying, mister, but there’s just one thing..." In that very instant Dog grabs the revolver over the top of the small frame and with a powerful grip squeezes his fingers around the cylinder. If the cylinder cannot rotate, the gun can’t fire. Dog knows that, but the kid with the gun doesn’t.

Dog snatches the gun out of the man’s hand and in the same instant slams the butt of the gun into the intruder’s nose.

"You broke my nose," the man cries out, as blood flows down over his chin and neck.

Minutes later, several patrol cars arrive at the party house. Dog check to be sure both prisoners are handcuffed and placed in the back of separate cars.

The chief deputy, after hearing Dog’s account of the incident, asks, "Why didn’t you just shoot the son-of-a-gun?"

Dog, a bit embarrassed, replies, "I would have but I forgot and left my gun under the seat of my car."