A Room Upon Which Not to Sneak

My school schedule was such last week that I was able to take leave and drive home after classes Wednesday. My VERY Pregnant Wife was in Washington state visiting her sister's family and bringing home several million dollars worth of itty bitty boy clothes on an overnight flight Thursday, so I thought I would surprise her and pick her up myself. I told her parents that I wouldn't know until the day of whether or not I'd be coming, but that if I did, they wouldn't have to pick up their daughter at the airport, but that they should still pretend, in any phone conversations with her, that they were. They were keen to be in on the joke and also not have to get up a 4 in the morning.
My gracious and overdressed pet-sitter of a father had stopped by our human-absent house for eight days, providing breakfast, dinner, and attention for the animals, every night leaving the dogs in their air-conditioned room with a doggie door that gives them free access to the back yard. So I thought I'd surprise them, too.
Tiptoeing around the house at 12:45am, I gently lifted the gate latch and glided across the porch. The back yard has a lamp post in the middle of it, illuminating the surroundings and casting my shadow on the back of the house. Halfway to the door, I realized I was being ... ignored.
Jeremy the cat was sitting at the glass sliding door, staring at bugs in the part of the door the door slides back in forth on the name of which escapes me. I waved my hands in the air to get his attention. His attention hit him like a wet towel in the tuckus, and he scooted down and back, eyes wide at this strange gesticulating outline in the back yard. I put a finger to my lips. He understood.
I peered into the dog's room, seeing Griffin a few yards behind the door and Bailey and Dover on the small carpet in the back, next to, but not on, their doggie beds. All were dead asleep, even Griffin on the cold cement. I crouched down and gently lifted back the doggie door flap and stuck my camera in. Just as I was about to snap the picture, Griffin's head snapped up. *click* He slowly got up with a low, menacing growl, his tail a stiff fluffstick of warning.
"Griffin!" I said in a please-don't-kill-me friendly voice. And all three rushed out to greet me with squeaky whine-barks that were just adorable as heck.
So while I was disappointed I got that far without being noticed, and Jeremy certainly is fired as a guard cat, I was dutifully impressed with Griffin's badassness.