Deputies get a good laugh after discovering suspected "home intruder"

SONOMA COUNTY, CA - Last week, deputies in California received an emergency call from a distressed 18-year-old man.

According to the Dodo, the man was home alone when his dogs began to bark frantically, leading him to believe that something was amiss.

Police say he noticed strange noises coming from inside the home and called 911 after barricading himself and his pets from the suspected intruder.

"We came out and he's all afraid, thinking there's a prowler in his house," department spokesperson Spencer Crum told The Dodo. "Several deputies arrived and went in the house, a couple of others stayed outside to search the exterior."

Only then did officers find the party responsible.

"One of the deputies outside the house heard this scratching noise," said Crum. "He shined his light around the house and saw this dog sticking his head out a skylight on the roof. The deputy said -- and I quote -- 'At that point we ditched all tactics and died laughing.'"

The Dodo reports that the dog in the skylight, a Great Dane, was one of the home's pets. The 18-year-old failed to account for the dog in his panic.

The dog entered an upstairs bedroom where he was tall enough to stand with his head poking through.

"Apparently, the littler dogs had been freaking out because they couldn't get up there," said Crum.

"I've done this job for 25 years, and there's been a lot of strange calls," Crum said. "A dog mistaken for an intruder in his own home? That's pretty abnormal."