Among the many tricks to counter those of burglars and housebreakers, dogs are considered to be a valuable one, such that they are used as a crime deterrent further to being the house pet. Most definitely, those “beware of dog” signs are sometimes enough to scare any ordinary individual, so the actual beast must be an efficient crime deterrent. Indeed, burglars’ main concern is to enter and leave your house with a huge prize, but above all, being able to do so unnoticed and unscathed remains of greater priority. Therefore, they are easily deterred by noisy, aggressive and hostile dogs. However, do not get your hopes up. Your dog, and you, might be barking up the wrong tree.
For instance, if your dog is sleeping in your room, it is completely unaware of any intruders since it cannot hear when the burglars get in, which means it is as oblivious as you are. On the other hand, even an alert dog might not be as valuable. Your pet dog might be as efficient as it is meant to be- as a pet dog. It surely knows how to sit, stay, come, roll over and catch the ball…and sleep. Unfortunately, dogs do not inherently catch a stranger if you teach them how to catch a ball.
Imagine your Chihuahua or Griffon trying to scare burglars off; they probably cannot even frighten the neighbour’s cat. In fact, let alone such toy dogs, even Dobermans or Rottweilers, which are known to be naturally protective and aggressive guard animals, might not even bark, let alone bite! All in all, even the size and breed of your dog does not ensure home security. Moreover, if you are absent from home, you might expect your faithful dog to protect the house of his beloved master. Regrettably, in this case, dogs are as useful home security tools as an alarm which has not been switched on.
Unless dogs are trained to recognise intruders and protect your house, they can only be considered as a simple domesticated pet, no matter how big or ferocious they look. Therefore, if a dog has not been trained to protect the house, it will most likely cower in front of the intruder or simply wag its tail to welcome him into your house and end up being locked up in your bathroom, while the burglar effortlessly takes your stuff away. Of course, you could consider guard dogs, which are well trained and have advanced obedience training to bark at the first sign of trouble and attack an intruder at its master’s command or if the latter is in danger. You should still not ignore the fact that guard dogs are actually trained to attack and could harm everyone in their path, including their master.
Certainly, your trained dog must be part of your home security, rather than your sole method of protecting the house. After all, burglars are cunning enough to be equipped with poisoned meat or a dog whistle. So, instead of taking chances and relying only on your trained doggy, the most obvious solution hence remains that you invest in additional anti-burglary tricks and tactics, such as installing security grilles alongside an active alarm system, as well as taking all precautionary measures against burglars, including window and door security.
