Doggy Door: Easy Burglar Penetration

Many years back I lived on a peninsula north of Boston in a small ocean view cottage. The band “Talking Heads” apparently lived there years earlier when they were starting out.  There’s a song or two they wrote that references the area. It’s a very cool place. The kind of place people think you can leave the doors unlocked and windows open. It’s famous for “Ipswich Clams” if that rings a bell. I’ve been known to dig a few bushels or pecks.

Anyway regardless of the fact it was off the beaten path and a relative “safe” area I still had a home security alarm system.  I’m not one to take chances. Even though it was “safe” a local kid who develops a drug problem can make a mess of things trying to get his next fix.

While living there I had “Niki”. She was a protective German shepherd Husky mix and probably the sweetest animal that has ever lived and was very very intelligent. Where I lived there was very little auto traffic and she was smart enough to avoid cars so I built her a doggie door to let her come and go.  I’d sometimes get calls when I was at work (her tags had my number) that she had made her way to the beach and was sitting with someone at their lounge chair asking me if they could give her water. She was something else.

One weekend I went away with Niki and came home to a disaster in my house.  Cabinets were opened and stuff pulled out, a small dresser was knocked over there was papers and trash everywhere and then I noticed POOP!

A masked burglar broke in! And pooped! Then I saw paw prints! It was a raccoon! The little bugger spent the weekend at my house and got in through the doggie door. The next night I waited for that burglar, all night, and I caught him. I made a hat. But that’s another story.

The Boston Globe reported a pair of teens were arrested and charged with breaking and entering through a doggie door. Police said the two suspects stole two iPods, prescription pills and $100 cash from the house. The teens were arrested after police arrived at the home following a call from a neighbor.

Obviously a doggie door is easy entry. If you have one you can still have a home security system, but you’d have to turn the motion sensors off if you have a larger dog. Installing security cameras set to alert of an intruder is a good option. Adding outdoor signage would act as another layer of protection.

Niki died 6 years ago. She was 15. She is missed.

Robert Siciliano personal and home security specialist toHome Security Source discussingADT Pulse on Fox News. Disclosures