Pet Friendly Burglar Alarms

thomasross20

Anybody got cats and an alarm system?
If you've got recommendations, I'll look into it...!

Also... is it enough just to get a fake box on the outside wall? What do you do, if you bother at all..? 

Thanks! 

rlw

Speak to your local crime prevention team and get details of providers they are happy with.  Then get some quotes.
We have cats and an alarm and it's fine.  A couple of rooms are out o bounds so closed doors when we're out but, otherwise, no issues.  It's all in the setup.

thomasross20

Actually that's a good point.... the girl in the band is in the police so I'll ask her recommendations.

Sporky

A dog? Added bonus is that it'll keep the cats on their toes (or vice-versa).

thomasross20

 
How many of you actually have a security system? Just curious! 

ewal

Not me - I live in a inexpensive area of Perth... Burglary isn't too much of a concern. Touch wood...

Sporky

thomasross20 said:

 
How many of you actually have a security system? Just curious! 

My mum does, partly as part of her road's security arms race.

We have Sprocket. She's far too friendly to be any use as a guard dog, but she has a very, very deep menacing growl if anyone comes to the door and doesn't ring, knock or put post through pretty darned quickly. What they don't know is it's the same growl she has when playing tug or kickyball - in dog terms it's a very friendly invitation to play.

Also the front garden is scruffy so it looks like we have nothing worth stealing.

dindude

When you find the solution please let me know so that I can telling my fucking neighbours!

CabbageCat

I have virtually no security at all. A burglar would just be a free tidier-upper for me.

ROOG

You can get pet friendly double knock detectors, they have a coverage which masks things moving about at low level. We have one on our system and it doesn't detect a big fat bloke crawling about on hands and knees!

thomasross20

I've got stuff (sentimental things plus few guitars that are amaaazing) that I can't really replace so want to get something in.. maybe a couple wireless sensors and an external light or something. I'll get on the case to see what's available. 
Policewoman in the band says police wont recommend anything, and that the ones where there are operators.... aren't worth the extra by the time they get the call, finish their coffee and alert police etc. 

joneve

Like Sporky, we have a dog. She's only a small Springer Spaniel and would do nothing worse than wiggle her back end at you until you fall over, but has a deep aggressive bark, and tends to bark at even the slightest noises outside the front door at night (she's fine in the day), so I'd like to think she'd keep potential shitbags at bay. 

EricTheWeary

Dogs are basically no deterrent to burglars. They tend to be friendly, if they bark and you're out that's no help, if they bark and you're in you probably just shout at them to shut up. Burglar alarms aren't that much better, nosey neighbours are what you want.
If it's an opportunistic break in then having an alarm box/ dog when your neighbours don't might protect you. Break ins on out buildings ( sheds, garages) are probably the bigger worry.
Just have a think about how you would break in and if there is then a way to prevent that access. 

DLM

thomasross20 said:

 is it enough just to get a fake box on the outside wall?  

Not if you're posting on the interwebs under your real name, no.

Where we used to live, my folks had a real box with a flashing light on the front and a fake one without on the back, because our local scum were too stupid to check both sides of the house.

You can't really have internal motion sensors if you've animals moving around in the residence. So get the points of entry alarmed in ways a moggy can't set off. Vibration sensors on windows, for example. The construction of your gaff will dictate what your best options are. Find the weak points.

joneve

EricTheWeary said:

Dogs are basically no deterrent to burglars. They tend to be friendly, if they bark and you're out that's no help, if they bark and you're in you probably just shout at them to shut up. Burglar alarms aren't that much better, nosey neighbours are what you want.
If it's an opportunistic break in then having an alarm box/ dog when your neighbours don't might protect you. Break ins on out buildings ( sheds, garages) are probably the bigger worry.
Just have a think about how you would break in and if there is then a way to prevent that access. 

I get your point, but for balance in the argument, I get up every time our dog barks, regardless of the time of day. 

hotpot

thomasross20 said:

 
How many of you actually have a security system? Just curious! 

I've been considering looking into getting some sort of security, the crime around here is rampant since the police cuts, the thieving lowlifes go about their criminal ways with impunity.

I'm wondering if i's worth getting some CCTV!  But Is it worth the outlay when all you'd record is some unidentifiable hooded scroat.

In the last month I've had my shed robbed of all my gardening equipment, i.e. petrol lawn mower, electric hedge trimmers etc. I had my windows bricked last week.

The arseholes even stole two planters off my decking which we'd just spent a fortune on plants. and to top it off I went to get the car out of the garage yesterday to find they had tried to crowbar open the steel garage door FFS, It's like being under frickin siege lately.

EricTheWeary

joneve said:

EricTheWeary said:

Dogs are basically no deterrent to burglars. They tend to be friendly, if they bark and you're out that's no help, if they bark and you're in you probably just shout at them to shut up. Burglar alarms aren't that much better, nosey neighbours are what you want.
If it's an opportunistic break in then having an alarm box/ dog when your neighbours don't might protect you. Break ins on out buildings ( sheds, garages) are probably the bigger worry.
Just have a think about how you would break in and if there is then a way to prevent that access. 

I get your point, but for balance in the argument, I get up every time our dog barks, regardless of the time of day. 

Hard to know but you're probably in a minority ( and if there was a burglar in the kitchen what would you do?). 
Pretty much anything I've seen about burglars or the ones I interviewed suggests a dog isn't a deterrent. Although burgaling is a high risk, often low reward crime (consumer durables being worth next to nothing used​ now) and rates are much, much lower now ( quick Google suggests they've fallen by 70% in the last twenty years). Often they are for car keys these days - if you have an Audi TT on the drive the most valuable thing in your house might be your key ring.

joneve

EricTheWeary said:

joneve said:

EricTheWeary said:

Dogs are basically no deterrent to burglars. They tend to be friendly, if they bark and you're out that's no help, if they bark and you're in you probably just shout at them to shut up. Burglar alarms aren't that much better, nosey neighbours are what you want.
If it's an opportunistic break in then having an alarm box/ dog when your neighbours don't might protect you. Break ins on out buildings ( sheds, garages) are probably the bigger worry.
Just have a think about how you would break in and if there is then a way to prevent that access. 

I get your point, but for balance in the argument, I get up every time our dog barks, regardless of the time of day. 

Hard to know but you're probably in a minority ( and if there was a burglar in the kitchen what would you do?). 
Pretty much anything I've seen about burglars or the ones I interviewed suggests a dog isn't a deterrent. Although burgaling is a high risk, often low reward crime (consumer durables being worth next to nothing used​ now) and rates are much, much lower now ( quick Google suggests they've fallen by 70% in the last twenty years). Often they are for car keys these days - if you have an Audi TT on the drive the most valuable thing in your house might be your key ring.

Good point - I'd still be half asleep too probably, so would have no hope  

We're fortunate that we live in an area which isn't too bad. It's a pretty tight knit community, so you hear of any break ins/crimes on the local Facebook page so you can be extra vigilant when required, but most of the crimes on our estate are "opportunistic" - i.e. you hear of people trying front doors and trying car doors in hope. So we try and keep doors locked even when we're in the house, and only ever leave the windows on our top floor ajar sometimes during the summer (we live in a 3 storey house, so would be pretty tricky to get all the way up there).

Jimbro66

We have an alarm system that can be set to cover the whole house while we are out or just the ground floor at night. The dogs sleep downstairs at night so the sensors are a type that lets them wander around without setting off the alarm. The dogs are possibly the most friendly on the planet so are no deterrent at all. Cats tend to jump up onto things so maybe the dog-proof sensors couldn't handle that?

No-one takes any notice of external sounders but seeing them could warn off thieves. A very loud internal sounder might scare them off if they do get in. Deadlocking the front door lock (two turns of the key) every time you leave the house stops them getting in the easy way. Most break-ins in this area are done by levering the front door latch, which is pretty quick to do if it's not deadlocked.

We have a field behind us so toe-rags have come over the back fence to get to the sheds. Both sheds are now alarmed with internal and external sounders. It's like living in bloody Fort Nox but the little shits are always looking for any chance to nick something

Sporky

EricTheWeary said:

Pretty much anything I've seen about burglars or the ones I interviewed suggests a dog isn't a deterrent. 

Pretty much everything I've read says the opposite - if next door doesn't have a dog that's where they'll go. Barking draws attention one way or the other.

DLM

Jimbro66 said:

It's like living in bloody Fort Nox but the little shits are always looking for any chance to nick something

I'm dead jealous of your massive gaff, @Jimbro66!

http://www.martinsons.se/Allmän/Bilder/Byggnader/Referenser_660x450/Idrottshallar/Fortnox_arena_vaxjo/Idrottshall_Fortnox_Arena_Vaxjo_4.jpg