Dog bark

[Moorland Prepper]

Many years ago (30 plus) we had free visit from the local police who were advising people on home security. The policeman who came said that a dog was a great deterrant. Since then we have always had a dog kennel around the back of the house, but no dog (two cats).

I just wondered if anyone had some kind of dog barking alarm? I'm not sure what I need or what's available. I imagine a loud dog bark from inside a house would deter any undesirables outside.

We once had a 'beware of the dog' sign at the front of the house and couldn't understand why everyone dumped everything on the front doorstep

[jansman]

We’ve a dog that barks. I used to have a collie lurcher who was a fantastic hunting dog,and a cracking guard dog too. I put a sign on the gate. Picture of a fierce dog and “ I can make it to the gate in 10 seconds,can you?”. It worked!

[dizzydays]

Had a relative with one years ago - can't remember where she bought it, but it was basically an ornament which sat by the door and barked if it detected motion. It was very loud and realistic, but did drive everyone mad cos of having to pass it to get to the stairs (small house). They must be still available...

[Frnc]

Don't want to pour cold water on the idea, and this may be bull, but I remember reading a story where they asked ex-burglars for deterrent tips, and in one they employed an ex-burglar to 'rob' a house as a test. This guy reckoned he got into the house through an upstairs window, slid down the bannister, threw some sausages to the dogs, hooked the car keys, befriended the dogs, stole the car...and the dogs!

Anyway, I checked my notes for what was recommended:

1. Get an alarm. 60% of burglars (survey of 422) would not attempt to burgle your house if you have one.

2. Get cctv. I don't have that yet. According to 12 burglars surveyed by the Co-op in 2017, this is the biggest deterrent.

3. Have outdoor lighting. When the Co-op survey mentioned above asked a panel of ex-thieves how to deter burglars, this was one of the main points they raised" https://www.theecoexperts.co.uk/home-se ... r-burglars

4. Home automation. This seems to be a repeat of 2. It's about wireless cameras. 89% of the Co-op study’s burglars said that a smart home would immediately put them off. Most burglars both enter through the front of the house and use a door to get in.

5. Put bars on the inside of windows. I only have this on the cellar window.

6. Use blinds. This web page says an ex-burglar advocates keeping them down all th time.

7. Keep your valuables out of view of ground-floor windows.

8. Keep your front hedge low and your side barriers thorny. "You shouldn’t have a short back and sides, though – keep those hedges, fences or walls over 1.8 metres, and top them with trellis and spiky plants."
"Make sure that your garden looks presentable and cared-for as well. This prevents any passing thieves from thinking that you’ve gone on holiday and left an easy target."

9. Leave tv or radio on.

oh, here we go...
10. Get a dog – or pretend to have one. "Thieves who spoke to the Co-op said that the sound of a barking dog was the second-most powerful go-to method when looking to deter burglars." A sign telling criminals to “beware of the dog” may also work.

11. Show you’re not a good target for identity theft
"Store important papers upstairs and out of sight. Burglars are increasingly looking for official papers, passports, driving licences, and credit card statements that will allow them to steal your identity."
"But if you’re looking at how to deter burglars before they set foot in your home, make sure to leave a bunch of shredded documents in your wheelie bin. This will prompt burglars to move on as quickly as possible – to someone else who wasn’t as smart."

[Ara]

When my mum moved into her current house, my brother put a camera in the front window so she could tell who was at the door before answering. When she answered the door to two men one day, when one started speaking to her the other said, "Is that a camera?" When she replied in the affirmative, they left rather quickly.
Some years ago I watched a programme about a burglar turned security expert. He entered one house by an open window and when the people (who he had already told how best to prevent burglaries) came home, he was sitting on the sofa, stroking their burglar-deterrent dog. They said they thought the dog would bite him and he replied that she had tried until he softened her up with biscuits from the cupboard.

[Moorland Prepper]

Hi Frnc

Got CCTV (expensive one)
Alarm (newish but top of the range)
Outside lights
Blinds
Inside lights on timers and some lights on all night
Garden looks OK as we have a gardener

Neigbours are very good. if anyone's alarm goes off and keeps going we all head out with out torches - we look out for each other quite well.

Beware of the dog sign was a good idea but the delivery men wouldn't come to the door, just dumped stuff at the front of the house.

[steptoe]

The trouble with the dog barking thing is if i remember right they had to have interaction ,ie doorbell ringing and it set it off and so on and i do remember readign about one i think that when someone bangs a window it goes off but the trouble is if there is no interaction it does not bark .

Also cameras are great if you put a sign up to but you also have to be careful you do not over do it because if you make it look like you have millions of pounds worth of antiques or goods to protect you run the risk that a little small time burgular will pass your house on to a bigger crew with the well with that much security they must have something worth the risk .

W had no choice but to put cameras up mainly for thr FAC licence and well other reason but top notch locks on doors and windows tend to put burgulars off if you have a basic yale on the front door they can pop that in seconds now throw in a 5 lever deadlock that takes more time and so n on and if you have good lights over the doors then thieves will not hang in the light , just beef up your locks on doors and windows .

[jansman]

My hunting / guard lurcher had 3 barks. When hunting lurchers are silent.He was.As a hunter we had some quarry with him ,but that’s another story. Those three barks were as a vicious guard dog. And boy,he was the man! Most of the time he was kennelled along with my team of working terriers.At feeding time he would join them and bark in a frantic and p*ss- me-off manner! At night we had a number of hedgehogs in the garden,and he and one of my Fell Terriers had an erratic bark,and that caused the hedgehog to curl up in front of the kennels and two dogs would keep barking! That caused some erratic sleep!

Then there was the human intruder- bark: It was frantic and particular! When it occurred,my wife and me knew there was a human nearby. He soon got used to neighbours ( one in particular who came into their garden for a ciggy quite regularly) so we knew it was a stranger when he started. We had kids who garden - hopped until I was able to fence/ hedge it. That was no problem in fairness. Then in our first January at about 7 pm he started. I’d not been home from work long. I could see three youths trying to break into my newly built workshop. I let Sid out and he grabbed one who pulled free,and all three ran up to the top wall and two went over. The one who had just been grabbed got pulled off the wall by Sid and boy he went in! Good lad ! I kicked the sh*t out of him for the damage done and dragged him by the hair as my wife called the police.

Only problem was the scumbag complained and I got arrested! I was a young and unpredictable lad then. Anyhow, we never had local scum in the yard after that. Also ,the young scumbag dropped his complaint after another pasting off my brother.

But that dog bark was unique!

[Frnc]

My rear is very exposed. The wall at the end of the garden is only low and the other side is public space. Also I noticed some ****** at some time cut my spiky bush! I've planted more spiky bushes but they died so I've planted more but they'll take years to get inpenetrable. I need to do something about the low wall. Don't say stick broken glass in cement, I need something easy and legal. The other side is a school!

[steptoe]

My rear is very exposed. The wall at the end of the garden is only low and the other side is public space. Also I noticed some ****** at some time cut my spiky bush! I've planted more spiky bushes but they died so I've planted more but they'll take years to get inpenetrable. I need to do something about the low wall. Don't say stick broken glass in cement, I need something easy and legal. The other side is a school!

I can highl;y recommend wild pear trees as i was sold them i was going to bonsai them and planted them in the flower bed lol in just 2 years they are over 6 to 7 ft and have 4 inch long thorns on them never had any fruit lol but well i chpped them back to 2 ft to start bonsai work this year as the trunks are nice sized now .

You could try pyracantha as well but you might have to put some poles in to get it to grow up and string wire from pole to pole the holed it but once it gets strong well look out burgulars is what i say . i will see if i can find where i got the wild pear as i brought them online and some wild cherry and wild plum .

can you not put say some 8ft round rustic posts in yourside of the wall drive them down 2 ft after soaking in cresote first then put vine eyes o nthe posts and run galvanised wire and then you can grow some throny climbers

i think it is blackthorn the wild plum or bullace and they are very thorny