Do you think dogs make good burglar deterrents?

Yes, definitely! Burglars are after the maximum loot with minimum risk. Even a small, fairly ineffective dog that barks is likely to put off a low level or career criminal. A large dog (especially of a guarding breed) is likely to put off almost any type of burglar other than if the house or homeowner is a specific target.

https://www.ackermansecurity.com/news/study-top-10-factors-that-deter-burglars-from

#4) Dog inside
If you were wondering if dogs deter burglars, now you know! According to the study, burglars hate dogs.
There are basically two types of dogs that can boost your security:
Guard dogs, the big, scarier looking ones that intimidate;
Alarm dogs, the yappy ones that alert you to someone’s presence around your home.
We’re not saying buy a dog for the sake of security, but if you’re thinking about getting a dog that also helps keep your family safe, it’s something to consider.
 
Yes, anywhere I've ever lived the neighbours have remarked how glad they are to have us next door lol.
My dog knows when something is amiss and has an impressive set of pipes

Having said all of that I would never put my dog at risk to protect property or possessions nor would I put him in the position where he could get into trouble, he's more important than 'stuff'.

Actual guard dogs have to be licensed and a handler must be on site at all times.

There also appears to be a market for massively overpriced (but very pretty) dogs who may or may not actually do anything except bark in certain scenarios.
 
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My sister had a Chesapeake Bay Retriever - they were the only house in the road not burgled. They say two dogs are best, a big scary dog and a small noisy dog to wake the big one up. We live in a remote house and I never leave the dog home alone. She is worth more than anything in the house tbh.

It always makes me laugh in films when the bogey man is hiding in the back seat of the car. If you have a dog then in reality dog will have sunk teeth into bogeyman long before you got in the car.
 
I have 2 Dobermanns and I Lancashire Heeler, I live outside the village, no one walks down our road without me knowing about it, if the Dobes dont hear anything then the Lancashire Heeler would alert them.

My dogs like to sit or stand in the window seat so if you walked down the road and past my house you would see them and you would have to be pretty daft to think about breaking in here.

I think any dog regardless of size if its liable to bark will deter burglars.
 
I have two JRX. They may be pint-sized, but nothing goes by unnoticed: I know (in stereo) whenever someone so much as looks at either our driveway or the neighbour's.
 
The dogs here do a pretty good job of letting us know when there's someone around; I respect their opinion and if they bark or are indoors and look alert for any reason, ten to one there's a reason for that, I've not ever known them get it wrong yet. We have someone else's Ginger Cat that comes around here, unbidden, and Little Dog is possessed of psychic knowledge for when that one is on the place :)

My late uncle had a Gander (alias Tyrannosaurus Rex) which he used to keep in the farmyard, loose. It put the fear of God up the most hardy of visitors to the yard, would come hissing and hooting with its neck stretched out, and grab the trousers of anyone who dared invade its territory! Everyone knew about the dang vicious thing.

We have Guinea Fowls here: if there's anyone they don't know or recognise comes onto the premises day or night (we live on site), they'll set up one helluva racket which alerts us to someone strange on the place. They're clever little birds!
 
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we had a lab growing up and got broken into. :( she was still in that jumping up boisterous stage and we think they hit her with the brick they used to gain entry. She was never the same dog after :(
 
Thanks for all the replies - confirmed what I thought. Does anyone know where I can get a "Beware loose dogs" sign? I am going to screw it on the gate even though our reserved puppy is still in the womb at the moment.
 
How awful Karran :-( xx

I think hardware stores such as B&Q do Beware of the Dog signs Patchworkpony.

I had a salesman come to my door trying to sell me a burglar alarm. I told him as i had dogs (including a very large Doberman x GSD x GSP who doesn't like strangers) i definately didn't need one. He was persistent & told me a story about someone being burgled while their dog was asleep in another room. I replied that if he could come in by my front door, make it through my house, & exit via my back door, then i'd be convinced & happily buy his alarm. Needless to say, he didn't take me up on the challenge :-)
 
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Patchworkpony said:
Oh that's so awful. You must feel very sad.
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We all felt so guilty - we could never leave her alone after that as she would completely panic and destroy everything around her - including eating the washing machine and would uncontrollably mess everywhere. She lived to be 16, so was hard work, and on edge with people she didn't know although typical loving lab once she had been "introduced" via us
 
Is it just me that has two large dogs that are utterly useless at this sort of thing? Neither one barks at all really, maybe sometimes in play (and a lot of woo-ing and yowling) but certainly never an alert bark at the door or at someone crunching up the driveway. I have a 'loose dogs - do not enter, do not open gate' sign but that's so no-one lets them escape, not because they'd chomp anyone who came in.

Little spaniel is a fantastic barker but doesn't have the looks or bite to back him up.
 
Karran said:
we had a lab growing up and got broken into. :( she was still in that jumping up boisterous stage and we think they hit her with the brick they used to gain entry. She was never the same dog after :(
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So sorry Karran, that is so sad :( I suppose at least the scumbags didn't steal her too, but dreadful they left her with mental scars for life.
 
Im in two minds about this depending on the situation.
In terms of your average Fido in the home, yes. I think this is a deterrent as the dog will potentially make a lot of noise before someone can gain entry.
However, I would NEVER have guard dogs running loose on property or leave them on the yard over night to protect property. Having heard stories about dogs being poisoned, I could never forgive myself.
 
Patchworkpony said:
Thanks for all the replies - confirmed what I thought. Does anyone know where I can get a "Beware loose dogs" sign? I am going to screw it on the gate even though our reserved puppy is still in the womb at the moment.
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I have this sign ....



I can't find the exact sign I have on ebay, but the link takes you to plenty that are similar if that is the kind of thing you are after.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sis.html?...+Gate+Sign+6+x+2&_trksid=p2047675.m4096.l9146
 
Snap! I liked the wording of it over the traditional 'beware' as mine aren't a danger to anyone but themselves.

103s6tj.jpg
 
eatmyshorts said:
How awful Karran :-( xx

I think hardware stores such as B&Q do Beware of the Dog signs Patchworkpony.

I had a salesman come to my door trying to sell me a burglar alarm. I told him as i had dogs (including a very large Doberman x GSD x GSP who doesn't like strangers) i definately didn't need one. He was persistent & told me a story about someone being burgled while their dog was asleep in another room. I replied that if he could come in by my front door, make it through my house, & exit via my back door, then i'd be convinced & happily buy his alarm. Needless to say, he didn't take me up on the challenge :-)
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I love it!
 
The law of s*d says I will get burgled now, but in 40 years we are the only house out of 6 that hasn't been burgled, and the only one that's always had dogs. Present dog will alert to front door burgling, but not back however!
 
Luckily most of you all seem to have more useful dogs but when we were young we wer burgled when me, my brother and mum were downstairs with the retriever and labrador who completely failed to hear or notice the burglars steeling Mum's jewellery from the bedroom upstairs!!
 
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