Mr Burgess,
What exactly do you want to achieve, by having an alarm?
Deepening on the answer to that question, you may actually be better off getting a dog, or perhaps getting a dog and a more basic alarm system.
Having had both a dog and a monitored alarm for circa 10 years, I would take the dog ahead of the alarm almost every time, if asked to pick one.
My view is that the dog is a more likely deterrent - once it starts barking, a potential intruder is less likely to risk getting bitten, than just suffer the noise of an alarm go off and potentially a monitoring station start making phone calls.
If there's an intruder inside your premises, odds are your dog will help defend you. The box on the outside wall won't and neither will the nice person from the monitoring company, who phoned to first ask for your password and then, almost challenging your manhood to get you to go down the stairs in the middle of the night, to see if there's a couple of burglars waiting for you, before calling the Gardai to report your problem.
The dog doesn't stop working due to power surges, battery failure, dodgy software upgrades, faulty equipment, monitoring staff having slipped off for a smoke while your house alarm keeps ringing, unreliable mobile phone signal etc.
The extra benefits of a dog as a companion, and a bit of motivation to get you out regularly for some exercise, are definite extra benefits.
Granted, with a dog comes a level of responsibility. You may need to put some time into training, you can't leave it on its own and unattended for a week or two etc.
What exactly do you want to achieve, by having an alarm?
Deepening on the answer to that question, you may actually be better off getting a dog, or perhaps getting a dog and a more basic alarm system.
Having had both a dog and a monitored alarm for circa 10 years, I would take the dog ahead of the alarm almost every time, if asked to pick one.
My view is that the dog is a more likely deterrent - once it starts barking, a potential intruder is less likely to risk getting bitten, than just suffer the noise of an alarm go off and potentially a monitoring station start making phone calls.
If there's an intruder inside your premises, odds are your dog will help defend you. The box on the outside wall won't and neither will the nice person from the monitoring company, who phoned to first ask for your password and then, almost challenging your manhood to get you to go down the stairs in the middle of the night, to see if there's a couple of burglars waiting for you, before calling the Gardai to report your problem.
The dog doesn't stop working due to power surges, battery failure, dodgy software upgrades, faulty equipment, monitoring staff having slipped off for a smoke while your house alarm keeps ringing, unreliable mobile phone signal etc.
The extra benefits of a dog as a companion, and a bit of motivation to get you out regularly for some exercise, are definite extra benefits.
Granted, with a dog comes a level of responsibility. You may need to put some time into training, you can't leave it on its own and unattended for a week or two etc.
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