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Comment by corry | Hacker News Reader

My father-in-law once got a call from a security system rep.

They had a long conversation about his current system, which seemed to have ALL the features (would go off if any window moved, any person came near the house, always on, very little maintenance, could programmatically learn which people were welcome / not welcome, etc).

Try as he might, the salesman couldn't find a single way in which this current system was deficient, and finally he exasperatedly asked how much the system cost (thinking it must be very $$$, top-of-the-line).

"About $50/month in food + occasional vet fees. And he's one of my best friends too."

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That's funny and I remember my dad having similar conversations with security system salespeople whenever they'd come around the house. While transitioning from real estate sales to iOS development I took on a few jobs to cover the bills. One of which was for ADT. I met with a lot of people who had dogs and were still burglarized. My girlfriend's dog also did nothing when she was burglarized. Moral of the story, dogs are not generally good for security. They can get scared, be hurt, drugged or poisoned. If thieves are serious enough they'll get around the dog. Now on the value of ADT and others, I think it could and should be disrupted. I always felt the equipment and service were overpriced.

If you find somebody sufficiently serious who specifically wants your stuff no off the shelf security system is going to do any good. The primary value for most people is in convincing would-be thieves that your residence isn't worth the trouble. A dog with a nasty bark is one of the most effective ways of convincing them. Any other security-related services (actually attacking intruders, waking you up, etc) are really bonus.

See, I live in Brampton, which is a suburb of Toronto, and we have a fairly large South Asian population. A bunch of us figured out that you don't have to get an alarm system, or actually HAVE a dog. Just put a Beware of Dog sign in your window.

Problem solved!

Video explaining it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=UUsE-wVkjd50mutl5O1GDyCw&#...

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