Does the HOMESAFE® Barking Dog Alarm Really Work?

     Burglars hate three things, noise, lights and dogs! They have 7 to 10 minutes to get in and out and they don't have time to feed or train a dog.

Most burglars survey the house and the neighborhood before they attempt a burglary. They want the fastest way into the house with the most protection from being seen from the street. Professional burglars know they have no more than 10 minutes to get in and out before they can be detected and the police arrive in case a silent, infra-red or motion activated alarms alert the police.

Burglars don't like bright lights that allow the occupants of the house or the neighbors to see them prowling around the house. If a burglar trips a loud alarm, they will most likely turn and run. Then next question is do we want to allow a burglar to enter the house at all and trip a noisy alarm? No we do not want a burglar in our home as allowing entrance can mean dangerous confrontation or at the least damage to doors, windows and locks. This does not mean that you should forget about alarm systems in your home. Protecting your home and property is not a one step process and no one device can protect your home and valuables.

Protecting the home starts with good outdoor lighting, so that someone approaching your house will be seen from any direction. Trimming bushes and trees so they don't provide good cover for an intruder. Great door locks, window locks and door bars to keep intruders out are a necessity. Dead-bolt locks should be keyed on both sides so that a burglar can't just break a window and reach in to unlock the dead-bolt.

Inside there should be burglar alarms and widow alarms to notify the occupants and police that there is an intruder in the house. Hidden cameras and surveillance systems can document what is going on for insurance companies and prosecution in court. All these items can be added to a home at about $600 for a minimum system to $3000 for complete protection, and will lower insurance rates to help pay for the security devices. The amount of cameras and devices will vary with the home size.

Let's get back to keeping the burglar out. If for some reason the lights, trimmed bushes and locks don't deter the intruder, we need one more thing. A dog! Maybe you don't want a dog or you take your dog with you on vacation, and that is where the Homesafe® Barking Dog Alarm comes in. You don't have to feed or walk this "dog", just plug it in or insert batteries. Burglars know that all dogs respond in different ways, and they don't have time to train a dog in 10 minutes. Also if you remember we said intruders don't like loud noises.

The modern Barking Dog Alarm sounds like a real dog that has been startled and then keeps barking. Police departments claim this is one of the most effective means of deterrent and you don't have to feed it. This multifunctional HOMESAFE® BARKING DOG ALARM system uses an electronic radar-wave sense control. This technology allows it to "see" through wood, cement, brick, glass, etc. When an intruder gets in the alarms range it goes off and scares the criminal away. This is an electronic dog, with lots of bark and no bite. This unit can also be switched over to give a chime when visitors arrive.

It is recommended that you place a barking dog alarm at front and back entrances. If I were to have only one deterrent to protect my property, I would choose this alarm.

There are three stages to a burglary. The first stage is surveillance of the property. The second stage is break-in of the property. The final stage is the robbery itself with an intruder in your house, and this is the stage we want to prevent for fear of an encounter or loss of property. We trim our bushes, install outdoor lights and manage our mail, newspapers and trash to make our house unattractive to a burglar. If the burglar enters we want to be alerted and we want the police alerted so we can prevent an inadvertent encounter or minimize loss and damage of property. Cameras could record the events to prove your insurance claim and prosecute the criminal in court. It's the second stage we want to be most effective, and that is the entrance or break-in of your home. Police departments will tell you to buy good locks and use security bars on sliding doors, but they will also tell you the most effective deterrent is a dog or an "electronic dog".

One final word is, if you buy a gun for defense of your home, you must be ready and capable using it without thought of what it will do to an intruder. Two problems with this means of defense are that it will do no good if you are not home and can you be sure before firing the gun that it is not a family member or friend that entered your house?