Two home invasions in one week in my town, how do you protect your self ?

[Carolina]

88. Get a dog

you don't need a mean or vicious guard animal, just one that barks and whose bark sounds tough.

I had a basset hound mix for 15 years who was a very sweet dog but had a fearsome bark probably derived from the 'mixed' part of his pedigree. Once, I miscued the house alarm system and it sent a silent signal to the police... I didn't even know we had that feature. Anyway, a deputy sheriff came out to investigate and the dog was barking madly. I answered the door profusely apologetic about the false alarm while my son, who was out of sight, put the dog in the laundry room. The deputy still insisted on checking things out, thinking that perhaps an intruder was forcing me to say all we I was ok.

Well, to cut to the chase, the dog was barking his head off and the deputy could hear but not see him, so pulled out his gun to conduct the search. HE actually scared me so I told my son to come out with dog so they could see them rather than surprise the deputy and be injured!

After the deputy was assured that all was well and saw the fierce sounding dog wagging his tail and yearning to be pet, he said: "that's a fine animal... with that bark, he's good protection.

PS: a monitored alarm system is also worth the investment