Alarms for the house advice needed

[Siglvr]

So, we all seem to be tuned to having some kind of threat resolution device in hand if we come face to face with some bad guy in the home. Certainly caliber and handgun choice get discussed endlessly, yet what do you city people do for alarms for when you are not home? I'm thinking of doing the alarm now that the kids are out of the home and the place stays quieter during the day when we are at work.

Any ideas of how to set it up, what to buy/install or company's you'd recommend in PDX?

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[Riot]

A dog...

Seriously, get a dog. Just my 2 cents.

I've worked for security companies that install alarms, and I have to say that I'm not impressed. If you get a company that has first responders with them I'd be weary, but I guess it would be better than being charged a couple hundred bucks by LEOs for every false alarm. Just realize that most security guards get paid to verify if the place is broken into or not and call for LE. The problem with that is that since 99.9% of all alarms are false, it creates complacency within the Security officers, and they park up front and start flashlighting the place up, banging on doors and windows (usually scaring off the guy/s or missing critical evidence of an actual crime). The best security I have seen was with closed gated communities...they're paid well and know the citizens by name- anything out of the ordinary gets logged and investigated thoroughly.

 

[Douglas]

A dog...

Seriously, get a dog. Just my 2 cents.

I've been an alarm responder and the quickest alarm I ever made it to was in five minutes and the burglar was long gone. Most alarms were between 10 and 30 minutes some took hours to get there. I was also once told by a veteran LEO that he had never been to a burglary at a household with a dog. I feel 1000% more secure having this beast around...

 

[EZLivin]

We have an alarm system, but no way we would ever be without a dog (two actually). They do their jobs well, and seem to be quite content working 24hr shifts for just dog food and water. If for some reason we had to give up the alarm system, or, the dogs, we would give up the alarm system. But having both seems to be ideal. One thing about the alarm (at least ours) is you can have a list of people who will be contacted if an event occurs. If you have someone close by who is reliable they can respond (and check things out) much faster than security or police will.

 

[timac]

Yes, get a dog. I have 2 Schutzhund trained German Shepards, absolutely the best home alarm

 

[MA Duce]

Yes, get a dog. I have 2 Schutzhund trained German Shepards, absolutely the best home alarm

Let's NOT start a "best dog" fight..... I just have one...my wife calls him "Sweetie" He's a 135lb Rhodesian Ridgeback.

 

[mjbskwim]

I heard pit bulls are "game"


I agree with the dog.Most bad guys just don't like dogs.And dogs always make noise when someone is coming to the door.

 

[Senator]

For many years we wasted hard earned money on an extravagant alarm system and a hard phone line for it to connect with. Then, during the Superbowl of 2007 while we were away for a game day event, someone jimmied the sliding glass door and took everything that wasn't bolted down. Guess what?...The darn alarm didn't make a peep the whole time. Alarm company said "sensors must have failed" and called it a day at that.

Go with a dog.

 

[mjbskwim]

I did hear a good one today from an alarm guy.
Get the open window sensors and leave the windows unlocked.
Then the don't break anything and the alarm still goes off.He leaves his front door unlocked too.
He says the alarm goes off if they use the door handle or their foot.
The foot way being a PITA to fix

 

[billdeserthills]

I work as a Locksmith in Arizona, the best crooks out here break into a utility room, where a furnace or water heater might be located & then use a drywall knife (utility razor) and just cut through the wall. Then they crawl in & around the home's interior like a big dog on all fours. Alarm motion detectors are factory pre-set to "pet friendly" pets or not. Homes without a dog get broken in mostly, but a few crooks buy some steaks or dollar turkey hotdogs to keep doggy busy for a little while. One crook out here has been working over 20 years & has stolen over 20 Mil in jewelry. He only works during the nicest part of the year and the only folks who find he had visited before coming home themselves had a service checking on their houses.

 

[Shooter98]

Comcast is unveiling their new wireless home alarm system in metro this month. It's very trick and can use any smart phone or ipod system. A little spendy, but very cool non the less. Keep your eyes out. If you already have all 3 services of Comcasts' then you will be bundled into a 3 year contract that is pretty damn affordable. The alarm system will be available to the rest of the valley next month.

 

[Mark W.]

get a big scarry dog and a small yappy one. That way you have both the alarm and the attack.

 

[kenno]

I have a small mutt that only makes noise when someone approaches the house or yard and my total cost has been a few 100 for 10 years, the perfect lap dog!.
I will be installing wireless driveway alarms on my property in various blind spots soon.

 

[Hook686]

Yes, get a dog. I have 2 Schutzhund trained German Shepards, absolutely the best home alarm

The last I looked that would be about $16,000. Hmmmm The burgler might not get away with that much.

 

[billdeserthills]

The last I looked that would be about $16,000. Hmmmm The burgler might not get away with that much.

Once you get a dog you will find that they give you much more than a security system does.

 

[Shooter98]

One thing about dogs we learned when we were designing the Infinty h.a.s. systems is that MOST burglars do not worry about pets. They typically bring raw meat with them or take it out of your fridge/freezer and give it to the dogs. They proved that to us with 10 different random voluntary dogs/owners.

I would still like to think my pit won't even look twice at the meat and would shred a stranger. My friends wont even walk in the house in front of me lol...

Oh, and burglars never worry about dogs barking, because most neighbors are used to hearing dogs bark and a big percentage of the time they don't even think anything when they hear a dog barking.

Mind you I have 2 pits and a yorkie terrier and don't/wont own an alarm.

 

[servingu]

Get Dogs....
When we leave the house they have free run of the house... BTW you can teach a dog food refusal from strangers and it works its more so they won't pick up food off the ground but also won't take from strangers. the blk/wht dog could care less about food if there is a stranger around especially if they are at front or back door the brn/wht dog does what ever she does.

 

[Decker]

get a big scarry dog and a small yappy one. That way you have both the alarm and the attack.

+1 for that option. Seems to work for us as well.

-d

 

[Redrum]

I've responded to more cold burglaries in my 12 year career than I can remember..but I can't think of any Ive gone to where a dog or 2 was in the house at the time. 2 dogs and an alarm sign out front works wonders..not to be a jerk but you really just need to make your house a harder target than your neighbors..if everyone does that then the turds go somewhere else... most all burglars are lazy dirtbags.. if they wanted to work they'd have real jobs. they look for easy targets of opportunity

 

[twoclones]

The vote appears to be for dogs... We sleep with 3 under the bed. I wouldn't have a dog who would bit a person but I love the advance warning feature