by Lisa Beach

Created on: July 17, 2008

I love dogs, but they don't protect very well against intruders. There's a TV show in my area called "To Catch A Thief", that stars two guys who used to be burglars. One is now a math teacher, the other, a private detective. The point of the show is to find a vulnerable home one where the homeowners have shoddy [if any] home security. The math teacher guy is now with a security firm, who interviews the homeowners to see if they will agree to being robbed. They will not know when it will take place. Their home is then rigged with cameras in every room. One to three weeks later, the private detective who really once WAS a burglar robs the home.

Often there have been dogs present, and not once were they a deterrent most of the time they barked hardly at all, just wagged their tails, at any sign of attention. ONE time, he even stole the dog! In fact, in all the years I've watched that show has ANY dog ever deterred the burglar. Not once. Dogs react to the negative energy or fear they smell on a person: if the burglar shows none, the dog does not react they way the owners THINK he will.

And the homeowners, who don't believe in security, or think it will never happen to them, lose everything they've got of value. Antique paintings worth thousands, priceless collectibles, expensive cars, family heirlooms, and worst of all, all their important papers providing their identities. Passports, marriage licenses, credit cards, and checkbooks; adoption papers even the hard drive information on their PC's.

One guy lost his 1978 pristine Corvette that had been handed down to him by his dad, and left the KEYS in the car. I suspect he also thought it would never happen to him.

Not to mention how clever burglars can be. Once he posed as a pool man, walked right through the home eyeing where things were, came back later, and robbed them blind. They were SO lax in security that the hubby kept $6,000 dollars in a can on top of the fridge!

He and his family lucked out that the burglar was part of a show that proves how naive and vulnerable people can be. They get a state of the art security system, and the private detective playing burglar comes back a few days later, to try and break in all over again. If the family is using their system properly, he fails. I have seen him succeed a few times, because old habits die hard.

But never never have I ever seen an episode where a dog was any kind of deterrent. If you have ANY kind of valuables, get an alarm system that fits your lifestyle. You'll be glad you did.

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