Preventative measures against a home invasion

[BRBruce]

I've seem lots of people invest in alarm systems, guns, vaults etc. and totally skip the obvious things. Mind what you sit out on the street to be picked up. You can learn a lot about someone by their trash. Example, sitting the box your 82" plasma came out of on the curb, not a good idea. Don't advertise what you have. My Mom taught us this growing up. Break big boxes down into smaller pieces and put it out in a bag with trash or recycle.
People driving or walking past your house can see what you have in many ways. Open windows and doors, sure the breeze is nice on a cool evening but people can see more than you think. Don't be fooled by words like "gated", "master planned", "community", "guard" etc. Often times the people you need to worry about live within the same gates that you do.

[Mjolnir]

I have to admit, ever since adopting this technique we have had zero family members murdered in their sleep. Clearly, the dog is working.

Post another pic, please!

May I add steel door case with SP8 bolts and a steel door with Medecco locks for all exterior doors and your bedroom door. Tint your windows to make it difficult to see inside your home.

WEAR YOUR PISTOLS!!

And if you are a dog person get a dog and train it.

[grimel]

You could say that about your best friend, too. LE/mil certainly watch their partners and teammates go into harm's way every day.

Having said that, I certainly fall deep into the "pet as family member" end of the spectrum. Do I send Freyja downstairs when she hears something? Hell yes. Will I use violence to protect her if she finds someone and that someone tries to hurt her? Hell yes.

My dog's job is to bark and wake me up, then get with the rest of the family and let me deal with what ever comes through the door.

As for home breakins, make your house a harder target than the rest while not making it so hard it makes your house look like the grand prize.

[texag]

My dog's job is to bark and wake me up, then get with the rest of the family and let me deal with what ever comes through the door.

As for home breakins, make your house a harder target than the rest while not making it so hard it makes your house look like the grand prize.

Same here. I've got a pit bull/corgi who stands 14" at the shoulder and weighs 50lbs. I'm sure he could do damage if riled up, but he's more liable to lick you to death than bite. He does have a big dog bark that he lets loose when someone is outside the door of my apartment. Despite being an uber friendly oaf he does tend to scare many of the people in my complex.

Now for the shameless doggy pics:

Lookin bad



He might be knee high, but he can still bite off faces (I'm 6' for reference)

[MDS]

Why am I not surprised that no one on this thread has touted the #1 most popular home defense method? Ignoring the problem may be the ultimate in KISS, and there are plenty of stories about folks using this method who haven't been murdered in their sleep...

More seriously, I think in any risk equation, the thing to understand is that you should spend mitigation efforts wherever the highest risk is. I think Sean M has it right for the property: solid, bolted-down safes for weapons and a few valuables, and insurance for the rest. For invasions while people are home, I've been thinking about that a lot more lately, what with the growing family. The house I live in now is laid out so that the sleeping quarters are clustered together as far as possible from the entrances. Once the Schnauzer alarm goes off, it would be easy to defend that end of the hall in case of a night-time invasion.

The scenario I worry about most is a daytime invasion when the wife is home with the kids. She knows where the gun is, and she can use it OK, but the situation would be dynamic and it would take some robust problem-solving skills, compared to hunkering down in the bedrooms. My #2 worry is some kind of encounter while she's out running errands or whatever. We talk about SA and avoiding dumb situations, but my HD priority right now is to get the wife some training and tools for those kinds of situations.

[GJM]

1) this is a dog friendly forum, as we seem to be able to work photos of our dogs into a number of threads.

2) I read something on another forum -- not having drugs, or dealing drugs, is the number one thing you can do to avoid being the target of a home invasion. Perhaps less convenient, you could live where we have a remote cabin in Alaska, and I am tonight, only accessible by airplane or a boat.

[Kyle Reese]

Perhaps less convenient, you could live where we have a remote cabin in Alaska, and I am tonight, only accessible by airplane or a boat.

Hmm..... You still have The Wendigo rumored to haunt such remote places.... no worries though, I'm sure it's all made up.