I think my house may have been cased yesterday

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Cougfan2

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My wife and I both work. I usually get home before she does so the first thing I do is let my two Labs out to do their business. I have a wooden fenced back yard with two gates. The Male Lab comes back in first as usual. I wait a minute and look out to see if my Female Lab is finished and I don't see her in the yard. While I'm looking, I can see a black dog on the other side of the fence in my side yard. My next immediate thought is, why isn't Morgan going nuts! I walk out on my deck and see that the gate to my side yard is wide open! :what: Luckily Morgan came when I called her and hadn't run off yet. I went over to my next door neighbor and asked if they had seen anybody come up to my house or anyone in the neighborhood that looked like they didn't belong there and they hadn't.

I figured at worst case some nosey neighbor wanted a look at our new deck or some kid was looking for something to steal, but nothing on the Deck or in the yard was disturbed. I start to think I may have just been cased for a burglarly later. I called the police and they came out and took my report and told me they would run some extra patrols in the neighborhood for a week or so. I felt like and idiot because I hadn't padlocked my gates. :banghead: That was fixed last night!

My biggest worry is someone breaking in and killing the dogs and stealing my firearms. I have them in a gun rack as I haven't been able to afford a safe yet. The firearms are insured, but I couldn't bear the thought of someone getting hurt with one of my guns even if it was stolen.

We always lock the house and all the windows. I used to have Brinks, but fired them. Looking for advice on additional security measures without having to sign a contract for a monitored security service. We have a neighborhood watch sign posted on the street, but I'm positive it is not active. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
I'll give you an interim suggestion to safeguard the guns - get a Stack On gun cabinet, like you can find at Academy / Bass Pro / Dick's. I got one that easily holds 4-8 long guns (depending on configuration, size, etc.) and was only about $120. Although it's just heavy gague steel sheetmetal, it is bolted to studs from the inside at 4 points and isn't coming off the wall without some serious effort. It also has a heavy crossbar that locks at the top and bottom of the door... I feel pretty good with my guns in there. They make them in several different sizes.

Of course I'd rather have a $500-1000 safe, but I could afford this immediately when I needed it and am glad I got it.

I know this doesn't exactly answer your question but I hope it helps nonetheless.
 
Other than putting additional locks on the doors and windows, a security system, good dogs, and locked gates is about all you can do when your not home. The locks on doors & windows can be defeated, so hopefully the other things would work.
 
elChupacabra, I initially had wanted to wait to get something better than Stack-0ns, but I think I changing my mind about that after this incident. Thanks for the suggestion.

Does anyone know of any company that sells unmonitored security systems just to turn on a siren if a door of window is breached?
 
Harvester, Wouldn't have been a meter reader. Both my gas and electric meters are on the outside of the house outside of the gate.
 
Have you told anyone you keep guns in the house?? I think you can buy a DIY alarm system from Radio Shack maybe other electronic dealers.
 
I used to have problems with kids walking through my yard as a shortcut leaving one or more gates open. They would then climb a chain link fence to get into the field behind me.

I solved the problem by putting locks on the gates. I also started throwing dog doo over the fence into the empty field they were going into right where they were hopping the fence.
 
Not knowing how many and what types of firearms you have I would think that if you were to disable those that you are not going to immediately need and store parts in a more concealed lockable location you will at least make sure no one will have usuable firearm without your permission.
 
I solved the problem by putting locks on the gates. I also started throwing dog doo over the dence into the empty field they were going into right where they were hopping the fence.
Click to expand...

Ilbob, that is genius... way to teach them that tresspassing is a crappy thing to do:neener:

Ok sorry I had to say that.

Cougfan2,

Yeah, I would have preferred to save up the cash I put into the cabinet and buy a real safe too, but immediate needs prevailed over long-term desires and I went ahead and dropped the cash. Honestly, I'm very happy and don't think I'll buy a real safe until my collection outgrows the cabinet it's in now.

The other good thing about a cabinet is that, once you do buy a safe, you've still got a nice sturdy strong place to put other valuables, like bank documents, checkbooks, etc. or things you want to keep out of curious hands like powder / primers, ammunition, etc. It's a very useful thing to have and I doubt I'll ever get rid of this one, even when I do (one day) buy a real safe.
 
KiltedClaymore, I wasn't aware that ADT sold any systems that you didn't have to sign a contract for, but I'll check their web site.
 
Thats a rough one... it's hard to say if it an issue or not. Either way, you can start with a Stack-On gun locker for about 100 bucks. They are not great by any means, but will certainly slow down the smash-n-grab types.

I have one that is bolted to the floor and wall of a closet which is also locked in a bedroom that is also locked. That way they will have to break down the house door, the room door, the closet door, and break into the safe to get anything.
 
elCupacabra, good suggestion. Methinks I'll be going to Dick's this weekend to see what they have for low end safes.
 
Panasonic makes a really nice line of webcams. So do many others. If anything moves in my yard or in my house, I get color photos instantly e-mailed to my desk at work.

Of course that is more useful if you have a desk job, if you're in the field it's a different story. But, it does create an off-site time-tagged record of what went down.

If you do go this route, I recommend getting the cameras with infrared triggers, as opposed to the ones that sense motion based on changes in the image. The latter will give you lots of false triggers, the former won't.

Plus, you can check in on your dogs any time you want to.
 
Does anyone know of any company that sells unmonitored security systems just to turn on a siren if a door of window is breached?
Click to expand...

I installed my own system at a previous residence. Bought an Ademco panel, a keypad, and various sensors from A&E home security (aesecurity.c o m) (not affiliated with them in any way). Fairly cheap and better quality components than most "professional" systems I've seen installed in McMansions. They have great technical support and will talk you through programming your panel or any installation issues. Truly a great company to deal with. And you do not have to get it monitored. Lots of good stuff there.
 
Maybe look into Honeywell systems. It came with the house we built. I don't have it connected to anyone.

Pad locks and nails protruding up from the top of the wood plank fence.... what can I say I'm a bad fence putter' upper.
 
backyard visitors?

Cougfan,

A year or so ago, I put the dogs outside after I got home from work and 2 of the 3 corgi's immediately started tracking a scent between my gate and the back door. I started looking around and found a cellophane wrapper from a cig. pack near my gas meter (it's near the back door). I'm mostly convinced it was a meter reader, the gate had been closed btw. But I was most impressed with the dog's scenting abilities. I don't discount their behavior as being obstinate anymore if they don't come when called if they have alerted to something, then I start looking around. I have improved my gate locks since and had a remote reading device installed on the gas meter.

Tass
 
Tass, you know now that I think about it my female had her hackles up when I let her out and made a beeline for the gate. I couldn't see the gate from where I was, but she was headed in that direction. I didn't make much of it at the time as she will go gonzo over a tweety bird.
 
Fry's for alarms and other security items. Nearest one to Portland:

Wilsonville, OR
29400 SW Towncenter Loop West
(503) 570-6000
 
Dick's in my town just put 2 of their low-end safes/RSCs on sale this week...one, with combination dial and single handle(18 gun I believe) is $299.00.
 
It could have been a kid who threw his frisbee over your fence for all that you know. It's good to be situationally aware, but I might not be so quick to say that thieves opened your gate.
 
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