Our House was robbed....

[withm]

I hear ya. My family's summer house was burned to the ground by an as yet un-apprehended arsonist. Four generations of my family grew up in that house, and there was 80 years worth of stuff that the insurance company thought was worthless, but to us, well it was priceless. We felt so violated, still do. Sometimes I really wonder if there is any sense left in this world. The real crime is that the authorities think they know who was responsible for this string of about 13 arson fires, yet apparently they can't prove it, or worse, the perpetrator is the son of a prominent citizen in the neighboring town and is "being protected." Sadly I think it's both.

[Mr. Bloom]

I'm sorry for the bad experience. The violated feeling is much worse than than loss of possessions.

Personally, I like the idea of incorporating video surveillance into the equation. It's gotten affordable and allows the benefit of knowing that at least you can see who it was as an added benefit to the police.

But, keep in mind that by putting in the system that you have, you've helped to make yourself a tougher target...and that's a deterent. Even if you put in decoy video cameras, it's a message that says "we're prepared"...

I apologize if I've repeated stuff from other posts...it's late and haven't been able to read everything... but I know how you feel having suffered from several robberies 20 yrs ago. The feeling will pass...the key is learning to laugh if you can.

[KnottedYet]

I'm sorry this happened to you! Thank goodness your wife was ok and you got home so soon!

My puppy joined a household with 2 adult cats, no problem. The cats quickly made it clear to him that they were in charge, and he behaved appropriately.

He barks like mad when someone comes near the apartment, and I always tell him "good boy" and "thank you, that's enough" when I've checked the situation. (there are some hairy ones here in the apartment complex) He knows it is his job to bark. I feel much better knowing my dog is on the alert when I'm gone and when I'm asleep. I don't think he would stop an intruder, but he would certainly make enough noise to wake me or get the neighbors curious.

[froglegs]

I'm sorry this happened to you.

My dad's house was robbed a few times before they got dogs. The dogs weren't anything scary, a lab and a medium-sized fluffy golden mutt, but there were no more robberies after that. At my mom's house, we never locked the door during my entire childhood. I never even had a house key. We were lucky and never got robbed.

Now that I have my own house, I don't take chances like that. We deadbolt the front door and sliding glass door, lock the front & back garage doors, deadbolt the door between the garage and house, and lock all the windows every single time we leave the house. We have a motion detector light in the backyard, a big "beware of dog" sign on the gate, and a very territorial dog. The most vulnerable point in my house is the back garage door, since it only has a lock on the handle and doesn't have a deadbolt, and has a big dog door. If someone were to get in, it would be bad, since we have a ton of tools and my bikes in the garage, but the door between the garage and house is always deadbolted so at least they would have a hard time getting in the house.

My dog is a boxer mix. He was a rescue and I got him a year ago when he was a little over a year old. His previous owner had a cat, so I was fairly confident that he would be good with my cat. After a few weeks of supervising their interactions, I felt ok about leaving them alone together, and while they have not become friends, they coexist peacefully. The dog really does provide peace of mind for us. I don't know that he would attack an intruder, but he would definitely warn me, and his bark sounds vicious and scary and might deter them from trying to come in.