Someone broke into my house last night and damaged the door by chiseling through to the deadbolt but they could not dislodge it so they climbed a locked fence and got in through a window. The is the second time I have been burglarized in the last 15 months. The first time they stole a 32 inch HDTV but this time I did not notice anything valuable stolen. They did steal some coins worth about 10 to 15 dollars but not much else.


The people who do this are after items that can be easily resold for money to buy drugs. They need their crack! I am going to install some motion detectors inside the house. This is a high crime area with many homicides and burglaries relative to population size. It is very dangerous. I cannot imagine Miami any worse.

The reason I have Rottweilers. Great friends & very loyal.

...and good motion detectors, I would imagine! They can also distinguish between acceptable and unacceptable motion.

That is true !

Some recent pics of Cerra.

These buglers could have been nailed since they had to climb a fence and then climb through a small window. That is daring for sure! It takes much more time to climb fences and through small windows than run through doorways. If I had some motion detectors inside the house the alarm would have been an unpleasant surprise. It might be time to invest in guns and bullets. A thief trapped inside a house could be dangerous if they are armed.

If you get decent dogs, they will NEVER get in the house...

I've known two burglaries there were both very similar although years apart.

In one house, my mother's, they kicked down the front door and went straight into the bedroom and ripped out a drawer that had jewelry. This house had a Brinks alarm system and the cops arrived in maybe 6-8 min. But thieves had only taken about 2 min. they think. There were motion sensors as a setup in that house with the alarm system prominently displayed so the alarm acted as no deterrent.

More recently a coworker said it looked like someone had used a battering ram on her front door which was ripped off it hinges and several feet inside the house. Once again the thief went right for her jewelry drawer. No alarm in this house but a dog does live there but not home at this time.

Both of these burglaries happened in broad daylight.

I guess its food for thought. I always thought that alarm system would be the ultimate deterrent but I was wrong. I've talked to several women and most did always have a jewelry drawer in the bedroom but many are now hiding that. I wonder why they don't put it in the safe. The coworker above said she had one diamond ring worth 20,000.

I think dogs would make a good deterrent but I'd pair them up. Maybe a fake alarm system sign too.

Actually this takes me back to a funny story from childhood. I was about 14 at the time.

We had a recent broken window that was covered up by black plastic so thief had easy access...

I was asleep with our little dog upstairs. My mother god up in the middle of the night went into the kitchen and noticed that her crystal collection was on the floor in the dining room and the sliding glass door was open. She thought, "those damn kids", closed the sliding glass door and went back to bed.

My sister next gets up and comes downstairs into the kitchen and sees the sliding glass door open, feels someone there, so she gets scared and goes into the pantry for a midnight snack and closes the door and goes back to bad, without closing the sliding glass door or telling anyone.

My mother gets up about an hour later and sees the sliding glass door open again and thinks "damn kids" but then thinks she feels someone there and goes back to bed scared.

On the lowest level my brother was sleeping and heard someone scratching around towards the TV and never gets up or anything.

Now the funny part. The thieves had spent all that time and stole a broken VCR (motor would overheat w/ > 15min usage), a broken typewriter, and a TV remote control they probably thought went to the VCR. They had probably rifled through the crystal collection looking for something more valuable. I figured they had come in the front door (where black plastic covered a window) and then opened the sliding glass door to haul their booty over the fence in back yard.

I had fun questioning family members why no one ever said or did anything. Of course I gotta feel a little dumb sleeping with the dog that never made a sound too.

Sorry to hear about all this crap everyone. Dang.

Several years ago, when I still lived with my parents, a burglar entered our house via a back window that was left open because it was just painted. The burglar stole several jewels but probably got scared away by the barking of our two dogs (two black labradors).

Two weeks later one of our dogs died... poisoned! We assume the thief must have come back to leave some poisoned food in the garden!

And I can assure you that it really is not a pretty sight to see a dog die by poisoning! She got paralyzed on one side and started to make uncontrolled movements on the other side of her body. The vet had to put her down to end the suffering...

This is just to tell you... be careful that your dog does not become the victim of the burglar!

Phil,

Make sure you are proficient with your firearm before you take that walk.

Make sure you can take a life.

Make sure you are justified.

Don't pull your weapon to defuse a situation especially if there are more than one perp.

Don't make it your goal but a measure of last resort.

When you get to that point do what you need to do and do it quickly. Hesitation and indecision will kill you.

Then call 911 so medical aid and the police can get there.

I hope you never need to use any of this advice.

Last advice

I'd rather be tried by twelve than carried by six.