"A miniature Schnauzer has worked very well for me for many years. Very noisy, nobody sneaks up on THIS house."
It is great to see so many posting about their dogs, dogs are great, I have one and he is a great alarm system, and although he would probably like to have the intruder for lunch, that is not his job, it's my job and my shotgun. My Wife and I take our dog practically everywhere so the alarm system is for when none of us are home.
"Install outdoor lighting.
Trim trees and bushes from window and door areas to remove privacy for a would be burgler.
Install quality locks on windows and doors.
Use locks (seems obvious but...)"
"A multiple camera system set up to a HDD capable of storing 1 year of footage across 8 cameras at once. 1 camera covering each direction on the corners, one at each entryway"
All excellent ideas!
"a typical house alarm can simply be defeated by cutting the phone line before breaking into the home. It is very rare to find a house with a system running off of a cel network.
Make your first priority to smash the siren and you have all the time in the world, unless somebody comes home... "
Cell phone backup is only a few hundred dollars more and maybe ten to fifteen dollars a month more for monitoring, today with cell phones so popular I imagine most alarm systems have them.
"Most importantly, a family "fall back" point where the wife and I can cover the choke point while we wait for LEO."
Excellent advise, call 911 secure your family and let the bad guy come to you and enter the kill zone of your ambush, do not go to him and enter his ambush.
A good gun safe will run you $500 TO $3000, a good alarm system $500 TO $2000 with a monthly monitoring fee of $25 to $50, house insurance will run $500 a year, car insurance for one car $500 a year, cell phone for personal use $25-50 a month, cable TV $40-80 a month, internet service $30-40 a month, I really don't understand why almost everyone does not have a good alarm system, especially for when there is nobody home.
It is great to see so many posting about their dogs, dogs are great, I have one and he is a great alarm system, and although he would probably like to have the intruder for lunch, that is not his job, it's my job and my shotgun. My Wife and I take our dog practically everywhere so the alarm system is for when none of us are home.
"Install outdoor lighting.
Trim trees and bushes from window and door areas to remove privacy for a would be burgler.
Install quality locks on windows and doors.
Use locks (seems obvious but...)"
"A multiple camera system set up to a HDD capable of storing 1 year of footage across 8 cameras at once. 1 camera covering each direction on the corners, one at each entryway"
All excellent ideas!
"a typical house alarm can simply be defeated by cutting the phone line before breaking into the home. It is very rare to find a house with a system running off of a cel network.
Make your first priority to smash the siren and you have all the time in the world, unless somebody comes home... "
Cell phone backup is only a few hundred dollars more and maybe ten to fifteen dollars a month more for monitoring, today with cell phones so popular I imagine most alarm systems have them.
"Most importantly, a family "fall back" point where the wife and I can cover the choke point while we wait for LEO."
Excellent advise, call 911 secure your family and let the bad guy come to you and enter the kill zone of your ambush, do not go to him and enter his ambush.
A good gun safe will run you $500 TO $3000, a good alarm system $500 TO $2000 with a monthly monitoring fee of $25 to $50, house insurance will run $500 a year, car insurance for one car $500 a year, cell phone for personal use $25-50 a month, cable TV $40-80 a month, internet service $30-40 a month, I really don't understand why almost everyone does not have a good alarm system, especially for when there is nobody home.
