Guard Dog Extraordinaire

[Heidi & Milton]

Before we moved into our house, we spent many a morning, noon, and night over here painting.  On one such occasion, we met one of our new neighbors who informed us about the "state of affairs" in our little corner of the city.  We were told that our neighborhood has been home to a few burglaries, and potential crooks had been known to drive by jiggling door handles in the middle of the night.  The sweet treat to follow that mouthful was to not leave our dog in the backyard because he could be stolen for bait in a dog fight.  We all know what a pretty boy Milt is, so I can only imagine.  Jeff and I, an enthusiastic, young couple wielding paintbrushes, slumped down a few inches and our grins turned to frowns.  News of the lack of security, completely true or partially fabricated, is enough to dampen one's spirits for not just the day but weeks and months following.

Since that day, I have been apprehensive when entering the house at night, and Jeff has trouble sleeping.  When Jeff and Milt leave for a hunting weekend, I lock the doors and sit tight.  Should we be forced to feel this way in our own home?  No, certainly not, but we have not yet reached a solid comfort level.  Everyday we feel better with the more homey touches we add around the house.  Curtains certainly help too.  So we start to feel at ease, and then I witness a man out walking, early morning, with a face mask on.  Granted it has been cold in Dallas but not that cold... 

This is why I insist that we do not gate the Milt into a certain portion of the house on days when he is left home.  He is our first line of defense, and it is imperative that he has free movement between the front and the backdoor, so he can adequately guard both.  He takes his job very, very seriously.

Vicious

Guarding the front

Keeping watch in the back

Are we overreacting?  Probably.  Websites like this:  21 Things Your Burglar Won't Tell You  fuel our fear too.  Oh, and this one:  10 Things to Do When a Stranger Knocks on Your Door  Remember to keep it all in perspective though, and please don't read these websites at nighttime when you are sitting by yourself because they are written from the burglar's point-of-view, and they will creep you out.  When Milton found his deep, scary voice (his bark), as a mom I was proud, and now I am thrilled.  When our doodle barks, I congratulate him and know that he is protecting his family around the clock.

To read more about Milton the Goldendoodle visit www.goldilocksandherdoodle.com

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

 lilly would jump on them and welcome them in with open paws. we have an alarm system. worth the money. not only will the police come, but if a fire the fire department is called and also has a key pad for medical. hope we never need it. but it gives us peace of mind.

[BG and Gavin]

Gavin has a gorgeous, strong, throaty, bark, but I hardly ever get to hear it.  He never barks when people come to the door so the only way we would be alerted to a robber would be if he had the scruffy black lab mix from down the street with him.  He did light up pretty good once when some neighbours appeared suddenly out of the darkness (we were all startled lol).

[Bonnie and Kona]

I love my big doods barks too. Deep throated, threatening. I wouldn't cross that threshold if I were you barks. Just so the burglar doesn't see their tails wagging furiously. 

[Heidi & Milton]

Wow, that is quite the story, Julie!  Thank goodness Charlie was there. 

Thanks for the house compliment, Janie!  We have not spoken to any other immediate neighbors, but my husband did speak to someone at a local bar last night who told him that he has had some car burglary problems.  I have though too in Dallas.  The thing is we live in a good neighborhood, but there are pockets of bad neighborhoods very close by.  So, it is a tricky situation.

Cheryl, we have an alarm system that is already installed at the house, but we have not activated it yet.  My husband is still deciding who the best provider is.  He did add motion lights to the outside, which I love!

[Julie and Charlie]

I guess it's time to share our Christmas Eve 2012 story. Charlie and I are sleeping upstairs, all of the lights off in the house. Someone rings the doorbell, and I do not answer it, Charlie starts barking, loudly. I went downstairs 15 minutes later, as for some reason, it then dawned on me what could be happening. Charlie lead the way down the steps (still loud!), I followed with my cell phone ready to 9-1-1. After turning on some lights inside and out, I didn't see anything, so I returned to bed but didn't sleep much.

I work up Christmas morning to find the screen part of the sliding door open. Someone had tested the doorbell, thinking no one was home (and not hearing Charlie, yet!), and then went around to the back, and tried to pry open the door, as evidence by the screw driver marks. Thankfully, there was a wooden dowel in the door track. The security system didn't activate because they never got the door open enough to trip it. Between my "Security Doodle" and the dowel, we were saved from a break in on Christmas.

The attempted burglars did leave some nice finger prints on the door-- it was sort of strange to have the forensics detectives at my house while I was preparing Christmas dinner.

So, the moral of the story is: if this happens to you, turn on lights, make it look like someone is home, get your dog loud and excited, and for heaven's sake, make sure your doors have a reasonable amount of security to protect against crimes of opportunity. We're pretty grateful that it was only an attempt.

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

I'm glad you've got the Milt there to give you heads up of the goings on outside! Have you talked to any other neighbors to see if they agree with those views on the neighborhood? I love our alarm system and motion detector lights, maybe something to look into. By the way, the house is looking terrific !

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Bailey also likes to watch out the front window and lets us know when she sees people walking down the street...or her grandma checking the mail (my mom lives across the street)!

As long as we are not robbed with a vaccuum cleaner!  LOL ..Poor girl is afraid of that scary machine!!!

[Cyndi, The Boys & Callie]

Tank will alert us to anyone who walks, drives slowly or dares to look at our house. Very loudly and for a loooog time.   Beau and Sully would help someone carry things out if said person had a treat. We do the usual things.  We have an alarm system, the fence gates are locked and we put motion lights on the corners of the house, backyard, over the garage door and at the front door.If anyone walks up, we light up like a Christmas tree. Our neighbors are retired and keep hawk eyes out during the day.   I'd rather be safe than sorry and as I get older, the more light I want around me.  Nothing is 100% but we try.

[cheryl & oliver]

sry for the poor spelling, I just typed too fast, lol..

[cheryl & oliver]

heidi, how about putting an alarm on the house even with the Milt, it would let you and hubby feel safer I am sure, and it really isn't all that expensive. I am sure there are well known companies that u could call in your area, and they run very good deals with monthly monitoring. We have one and I have added a bypass for the electric eyes in 2 rooms when I leave Oliver home.  All the rooms are protected, though, and when my husband is out of town, or going to be late, I out the alarm on in the house and I feel much safer.  They can program them so that your dog will not set them off, but a human will.  Just a thoguht.  Oliver barks when anyone comes near the house, humaqn or otherwise.  They should only know that he is really a chicken, and would hide behind me, if anyone were to enter he doesn't know.  He was even afraid of balloons I had in the family room.  I had to coax him ain and show him he didn't have to be afraid of the balloon, lol...But do think about a real alarm system.  Like I say they are not expensive, and usually the installation is free, or little cost, and the 24 hr. monthly monitoring is relatively cheap....For your ow piece of mind, I would make an inquirey...Oh just love your pictures...they are so great....