I once visited a home which had 70 huskies [yeah ... don't ask] kept in runs in the yard. As I approached they went mad and the noise was immense. A lady came out of the house & shouted "HEY" and all 70 of the dogs fell silent, which impressed me a great deal. These weren't guard dogs as such but they acted well in that capacity.
What are home alarms for, other than driving your neighbours up the wall?
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Jonm
Established Member
How very annoying. I suggest you have a polite discussion with your neighbour. Perhaps he will give you his phone number so you can telephone him when it goes off so he can deal with it. You could wrap this up as being helpful as in ” I will look and see if there is evidence of a burglary”. You could suggest that he modifies it so that it sends him a telephone alert and he can then phone the police or turn it off from his phone.
A good alarm should either be monitored by an outside company or send the owner a text alarm signal and say which sensors have been triggered.
You could politely explain that an alarm which is always going off is no deterrent, could actually encourage a burglar as they know the alarm will be ignored, and just annoys his neighbours. Having a blazing row with him will probably be counter productive. It is good policy to do your best not to fall out with a neighbour.
If all fails you could contact your Local authority as it is a noise nuisance, explaining that you have spoken to your neighbour.
As to their effectiveness, burglars know that a lot of alarms send these messages so the police could be on their way, or someone to investigate. As someone else said, it is about layers of security, lights which come on, locked gates, secure doors and windows, cameras, alarm. If they want to get in they will but why not choose the easier house down the road.
A good alarm should either be monitored by an outside company or send the owner a text alarm signal and say which sensors have been triggered.
You could politely explain that an alarm which is always going off is no deterrent, could actually encourage a burglar as they know the alarm will be ignored, and just annoys his neighbours. Having a blazing row with him will probably be counter productive. It is good policy to do your best not to fall out with a neighbour.
If all fails you could contact your Local authority as it is a noise nuisance, explaining that you have spoken to your neighbour.
As to their effectiveness, burglars know that a lot of alarms send these messages so the police could be on their way, or someone to investigate. As someone else said, it is about layers of security, lights which come on, locked gates, secure doors and windows, cameras, alarm. If they want to get in they will but why not choose the easier house down the road.
SamG340
Established Member
My burglar alarms
Jonm
Established Member
I basically agree, you forgot to mention clearing snow or ice. I do have a small area of gravel drive, it is in the plastic honeycomb crates, easy to walk across, no problem pulling rubbish bin over it or clearing leaves etc. They are not cheap but are quick to install so overall cost effective.
Jonm
Established Member
“I once worked on a property with 2 german shepherds” maybe that was their standard patter to everyone so word got about and it acted as a deterrent.
Lons
Established Member
I have a large gravel drive and never found it an issue in the 35 years I've lived here, the dog instantly hears anyone approaching, it's fairly easy to maintain e.g. no oil stained concrete, blocks or damaged tarmac as it just needs a rake over to keep it neat, leaves aren't difficult to shift using a garden vac/blower and neither is snow tbh as you soon get used to a method, we aren't exactly snowed in too many times in the UK anyway. We get a few weeds in the gravel but quickly dealt with using weedkiller or pulled out and the other types of driveway all of which we've had in previous houses aren't exactly weed proof either.
Alarm nuisance however is a very different issue.
Alarm nuisance however is a very different issue.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
I saw the biggest long haired German Shepherd I've ever seen decide to have a go at my dog. He approached, hackles glowing in the sunshine, until he got to within fifteen feet of her. If this goes the way it looks to be going, I'm not getting involved, I thought. She was lying down and showed no reaction whatsoever. He stopped, obviously thought the better of it and backed off, tail between his legs. There was a hidden communication there somewhere. She was an eighteen stone English mastiff with a twenty eight inch neck.
stuart little
Established Member
Was she named 'Fluffy' by any chance?
Our drive is gravel but so is our street so putting down hard standing for our drive would achieve little or nothing. The drive is snow covered for several months each year and it makes no difference what is underneath the snow. The snowplough that clears our street does our drive for a small consideration and I just tidy it up with a snow shovel. I have no problem with a gravel drive.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Poppy.Was she named 'Fluffy' by any chance?
Sporky McGuffin
Light entertainer
Thing is in every thread on every forum about home security someone's got a reason against every potential precaution.
Alarm - they'll be in and out before anyone cares
CCTV - they'll just wear hoodies
PIR lights - that just gives them better light to work by
Dog - they'll kill or drug them
Security doors and locks - they'll put a stolen JCB through the front of your house (no, really, someone said that to me)
Blah blah blah. There's a certain class of moaner who just wants to pick holes in everything, hence my comment that it's about having multiple layers of security, not relying on any one. Beyond that it's about making your house look like it's not worth the effort so the scrotes move on elsewhere. The vast majority are opportunists, and being lit up or barked at isn't much their thing.
A lot of people don't want to pay the monthly fee's so take a cheaper option rather than a system professionally installed and monitored that would give a lot more peace of mind. Whats the monthly charge in Canada?
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
My b.i.l. in NZ years ago fitted a burglar alarm. He said it was a crepe alarm, but of the six houses on their road his was the only one alarmed. As he said correctly most break ins are unplanned and opportunist so as long as your property looks more trouble than next door it works.
Phil Pascoe
Established Member
Or have found the monitoring unreliable so spend the money on other/better deterrents.
shed9
establiSHED member
I suspect the issue is more on how you interact with and your relationship with your neighbour than the alarm itself.
They definitely looked like they would rip you apart. I wouldn't want them loose!
At the time my main problem with it was that those dogs would have no life. Just the cage and sometimes the courtyard.... no walks, no interaction with people or other dogs etc. And they apparently cost thousands per dog due to time training etc. Most 'pets' would calm down after a few minutes or getting used to seeing you, these ones kept chucking themselves into the cage sides with their teeth out
Good call, if the monitoring is anything like some other services then no hope. A good example of this is a housing associations out of hours emergency help line I called the other day for someone who is in their eighties with no lighting, the response I got was they will handle the problem within 24 hours making the out of hours service obsolete.
IMO the monitored alarm services are a waste of money. They only call the police who may be too busy/far away to attend.
Do the police actually attend burglaries anymore, just give you a report number and thats it so I can see a monitored service could be a waste of time, you would need to be in the house and then it would be aggravited burglary and then they may decide to attend.
hog&bodge
Established Member
I have two alarms on my house and no one can ignore them if they
go off. but I have given my number to neighbours to contact me if they
need to.
After a house few doors down was burgled while the alarm was going
off I decided to have bars put on windows and back door.
This has become the bane of my life always telling people not to
lock the back gate at night while we are in. I hate the bars but it is the
times we are living through.
It is inconsiderate of neighbour not to have a way to let you know your
alarm is going off not to mention the police will no come and see who
is robbing you.
go off. but I have given my number to neighbours to contact me if they
need to.
After a house few doors down was burgled while the alarm was going
off I decided to have bars put on windows and back door.
This has become the bane of my life always telling people not to
lock the back gate at night while we are in. I hate the bars but it is the
times we are living through.
It is inconsiderate of neighbour not to have a way to let you know your
alarm is going off not to mention the police will no come and see who
is robbing you.
