Do you have a garage? If so, use it. I never leave vehicles in the drive way and getting to and from my house with "stuff" I do it in the garage. Before I had one, I would always do it at night.
Dont get a dog unless you a) love dogs b) have the time and space for a dog and c) WANT a dog. Stupid idea to just get one for security purposes. They are not alarms, they are pets.
Be "friendly" to your neighbors. Let them know you know they are there, what they look like and who they are. Don't shy away from them. Pay attention to the traffic by your house if you can.
As far as hard security, do as others have said... search this site.
A trick one of the mods taught me here... go to google, do advanced search and put thehighroad.org as the domain to search. Much more reliable then using the onboard search engine.
Good luck and be safe!