Pet or Protection?

Almost 66% of all burglaries are home break-ins and renters have the same chance of being victims as homeowners do. 34% of burglars stroll right through your front door and it takes them less than 60 seconds to get in. From lurking outside, looking for signs that you’re not home, to making off with your most valuable possessions, burglaries take an average of 6-12 minutes. And although people believe burglaries occur under the mask of nighttime darkness, most burglars don’t want to encounter another individual during their break-in. This means a whopping 65% of burglaries occur between 6am and 6pm, the hours when most people are at work.

So what do you do? Get a home security system? If you have to pay an expensive monthly

monitoring fee maybe just put the security sign in your yard? You could hire a house-sitter while you’re at work; or just act like you are saying goodbye to someone every time you leave – just in case you’re being watched. Or you could consider bringing home man’s best friend.

Burglars hate dogs. Homes with dogs are statistically less likely to be the victim of burglary; more because of their bark than their bite. Yet most people believe that to benefit from dogs being used for home security, the dog has to be a German Shepherd, Rottweiler, Mastiff, or Great Dane; a dog with some real substance to them. But most typical “guard dogs” aren’t big barkers. This makes smaller breeds, who are more likely to bark at the faintest sounds, more of an immediate deterrent to thieves.

Most of the time, criminals just don’t want to try that hard and so the sound of a dog barking can be intimidating to an intruder. Prolonged barking can also be annoying, and if your dog is alerted, neighbors will start looking through their blinds to see what’s causing the commotion. Criminals prefer to avoid this kind of attention and will typically move on to another house.

Data also shows in a bad economy crime rates are high and so is unemployment; even in police departments. Dogs are already fully equipped with weapons to protect you against a robbery; alarm-sounding barks and vice-like jaws. But barks and bites aren’t the only protection instincts your dog is born with, they also have a heightened sense of hearing and smell. This will almost always have your dog reacting much faster than you and they will stay alert until the situation is resolved. Remember, when you make a dog a part of your family, you become a member of their pack too and dogs are known to instinctively protect their pack.

If a police officer can’t get to you right away, are you prepared with a four-legged patrol pup to watch your home while you’re not there? Let us know if we can help you add to your fur-ever family.