Yeah, that's actually something I keep in mind, all jokes aside. You really need to step back after you spray.
Actually, the directions as far as I'm concerned are: Spray, step back, get wife to safety and confirm cops are on the way...
Then, whatever.
If it's an option, go back w/ baseball bat, taser or whatever and tie wraps just to make sure none of them runs away.
The main reason why I dig this spray is that I suspect that one guy alone would probably not dare to walk into a house where someone lives, w/ a security system and all. He has to believe that he has the higher ground - whether through number or otherwise. And you've got to do whatever you must to get back to being the hunter, not the hunted. So, pepper spray it is.
Incidentally, 2 days ago, while coming back from work, my wife noticed a big 4x4 w/ no lights on and 4 young black dudes doing a U Turn down a few streets from here.
They seemed to be struggling w/ a bunch of papers and, surely enough, my wife later noticed that practically all the papers that one of our neighbors had placed on the mailboxes to recruit a neighborhood watch/create a network had been removed. They were there at 2 pm when I picked up the mail.
From there on, who knows... As I said, if they want revenge all that bad and if they picked me among all others who'd called the cops - despite me being one of the ones who's most likely to give them their money's worth in terms of fighting back, and despite the fact that this is the most serious thing they could be charged with - there's very little I can do. Even w/ a dog and a gun.
As Bruce Lee puts it:
The worst opponent you can come across is one whose aim has become an obsession. For instance, if a man has decided that he is going to bite off your nose no matter what happens to him in the process, the chances are he will succeed in doing it. He may be severely beaten up, too, but that will not stop him from carrying out his objective. That is the real fighter.