> A dog behind a fence is no security against a criminal intent on getting past him.

Yep, someone on drugs will just go in somewhere else. I let my dog have free run of the entire house. I had a 110 pound Malamute, generally those dogs do not bark, the just howl at fire engines.

What they do is run full bore at any anything and crash against it and then try to claw their way out. My dog pretty much destroyed two doors doing that. That bang and clawing is enough to get most people going if they are stupid enough to ignore the dog house, 2" wide feces, and 5/16 transport chain lease in the back yard.

I did have someone once walk along the fence next to a window, dog went through the window trying to get over the fence. Thankfully the dog had his winter coat and did not get cut while I tryed to get him back in. Probably scared me almost as much as the bag lady searching barrels for empty returnables on the other side of the fence.

 

Metal bars are better than window paint.
Windows get broken out all the time, curiosity might make someone wonder what they can't see of wonder what you are hiding.

You could also screw heavy sheet metal over the door panels on the inside.

If you really have stuff you want to protect the alarm is a good idea but it takes everything. Don't let people see your stuff if you can avoid it, look your doors and window over and imagine what somene who doesn't care might do.

I have seen and heard about several breakins where creative theives got in anyway.
Here a couple....
Metal building wth good doors? Just bring a nut driver for screws or a prybar for the nails or even tin snips and just cut yourself a door (or a 2 foot hole to crawl through).

Big heavy iron security doors with big a big iron cross bar and big pad lock?
How about they hooked one end of a chain to them and the other to a truck bumper and pulled them off.

Make the sides tough and they will cut a hole in your roof.

You just can't win, it takes a little bit of everything.

 

For a thief to hook a truck up and yank it off is someone who's fairly sure he wont get caught. That's what every criminal usually weighs in their mind before they try and pull it off. In the newspaper they said that criminals consider a dog a good deterent cause they attract attention via barking. Usually these thieves like stuff thats isolated and not watched to good.

 

I could tell you how a thief gets past a dog easily but I won't advertise the process. Any burglar knows as well as those people that have worked in the security industry. I designed some alarm panels for a company. I have also made license plates. (LOL) The bigger the dog and the more aggressive they are just makes it easier. Dogs bark constantly at anything so they do about as much good as a car alarm that goes off constantly, -people ignore them.

 

Torque, is the method they use to get past a dog the same as the allied troops used to get past German sentry dogs? i.e. involves the sence of smell?

 

I use the dog, rifle, and crazy guy method. not many folks try to steal my stuff, not after the idiot that tried breakin into a car in my yard.

 

I have three separate motion sensors, two outdoor and one indoor, that turn on lights.

 

I have a decent non monitored security system in the shop, lots of motion lights all over my property 5 large dogs, lots of guns and a somewhat crazy mentality. It is my stuff and if I catch you trying to steal it, I will take the price of it out of your hide. I worked hard often working 2 or three jobs plus running my little farm to get what I have. I will not let it go easily.

 

Nope, far simpler...

 

IMO, the minimum standard for retaining your gear is to establish two levels of physical protection with electronic detection in between. For example, high dollar items are stored in a Knack box or hardened closet or whatever inside the shop or home or whatever. The thief must break in, trip the alarm, then discover another layer of work to get your stuff; otherwise you will lose something, it is impossible to stop a "smash and grab" attack with a single layer of either physical and/or electronic security.

For those who care and can afford, I like 5 layers:
fence first, perimeter photo beams inside fence, building envelope, building security system, then finally the vault(s).

 

Ecuri, I still marvel at your excellent design for a kill switch for our trucks. With that in mind, what would you advise regarding the layers. What might you use specifically for electronics and the "vault". Do you employ the 5 layers yourself?

 

Thank you very much for your compliment.

L1:Fencing is really up to you but I dislike all the wire mesh styles for mid-level mid-cost residential. I want my intruders to go over the fence, not through it. All wire is too easy to cut and too expensive/unreliable to electronically monitor for cut/climb detection. Personally, I have wood around the sides and back and wrought iron for the front for looks and better gates.

L2: Dual optic photo-beams, these should be concealed and placed so when/if the intruder penetrates the fence they are tripped. IMO, this is the only reasonable choice for outdoor detection because they work and do not false, period. The drawback is the the detection area: a 8" horizontal band at roughly hip-high. Aleph is my brand name of choice: their HA-xxD series. Concealment is critical, if they are detected they can be defeated by crawling under or,less likely,going over.

L3: The building(s) envelope & openings are too variable to warrant discussion.

L4: Here we are into our industry standard alarm systems components, which would really take a white paper to properly cover, however in a nutshell:
My personal favorite Alarm Control Panel (ACP) is the NX series from GE. (Formerly made by Caddx of Texas ) This is a tremendously expandable panel that supports multiple partions (seperately armed areas in one facility, ie. garage & house.), wired and wireless devices, event loging, remote access, X10, and the list goes on.
Detection devices are difficult to specify generally, but I attempt to establish an alarm before entry if possible: do the obvious: contact windows and doors and employ glass break detectors. Motion sensors should be used as second line of detection, NOT the primary, whenever practicable. Brands: The Crow brand "genius" is a great dual element passive infrared (PIR) that is exceptionally false alarm resistant in controlled enviroments (read occupied dwelling space.) Bosch has purchased and is marketing an excellent series of combination micro-wave PIR under the DS series part number that should be employed in shop or harsh enviroments. All the modern glass break sensors are now employing digital signal processors (DSP's) and seem to have equivilent detection & false alarm immunity as far as I can tell.
Caveot 1: All the professionally available alarm equipment out there is good to superior, all of it will perform well when used properly. This is the major problem I have seen, improper application or installation of equipment! IMO, the national chains do the poorest job when it comes to employing imagination and the highest quality products.
Caveot 2: Wireless: I hate it! Use only when no other option is available. It adds complexity which increases odds of failure and must be maintained.
Final notes: All ACP's do two thing for you: make noise and call someone. Make a lot of noise inside and out and sirens must be tamper protected and two outdoor sirens are prefered. (This is another major failing of the national chains, IMO, whimpy sirens.) My last trick very few vendors employ is to hardwire tamper protect the phone lines so that you get a local alarm when the line is physically cut by an intruder. This has paid off several times for my customers over the years and is very easy to install.

L5: Vaulting: I keep all my power tools in a locked job box, immobilized. My primary roll -around gets locked & chained up when I am out of town.
Household valuables get locked in an interior closet in the home... for the time being until the closet is hardened. I have a pier and beam home so my plan is (eventually), that guns are going into a custom floor box between the joists and concealed under the carpet in the MBR closet.

Aside from upgraded vaulting, the photobeams are the last component I have to install which, not coincidentally, consume the most man-hours and cash for potential return on investment.

 

I engrave my stuff.

IF someones desperate enought that they need to steal from me, fine... Take my stuff. I refuse to lock my doors in my neiborhood. Keys have also been known to stay in cars if there on the property.


If I catch a theif, I will shoot them regardless of the legality of it...

Only time i ever lock up is when were gone for a while, and cars only get locked when im at the retail outlets by me (bad neiborhoods)

Trucks worth about $500... My cars worth about $2500... I have 3k+ in tools.

We have homeowners, thats my excuse

Take my stuff, but be warned if your caught I have a 2 clips loaded and ready for my .22 rugar sitting by the door, and the keys around my neck at all times... I also have a .38 S&W downstairs if things really get hairy...

If your not gunshy, I have a low quallity picture at www.photobucket.com/albums/v644/nathanebert/rugarswspecial.jpg

I like the rugar mark 2, great target gun, and loud as can be to boot...

I refuse to "protect" my stuff from others in my neiborhood

~Nate

 

We recently put a very nice system in our vacation house so I know a little bit about security systems. Having been broken into twice, one of which my dad walked in on the burglery as it happened, we decided enough was enough. So we had a custom designed high tech security system installed. A motion sensor in the driveway triggers a bright spotlight and two security cameras that record on a VHS tape for 10 minutes after being set off. All the doors have sensors on them, in the garage we have a motion sensor for the main area, glass break sensor, and if the alarm is tripped, the power to the door is cut off, with the manual lift system disengaged. In the house, we have glassbreaks, floor pressure sensors, infrared beams in the hallways and multiple motion sensors. And, when the alarm gets set off, the loudest speaker allowed by law starts screaming, which can be heard from two miles away, and a call is sent to a central monitoring station, and they call the house. If no one picks up, or if someone does and does not know a predetermined password, the state police are despatched. Overkill? Probably. Getting broken into really sucks. Although, if someone really wants to get in, they will. All you can hope is to catch them. Sorry for the long post, but this is something I have first hand experience with!

 

Mr Horse, What brand and model equipment did you get? What did it cost and where did you get it? thanks, Don