I've had dogs my whole life - 13 of them! Most were large size dogs; all made good guard dogs. I got most of them from pounds or rescue groups. My latest - Jake - has been with us for almost 8 years now.

A dog doesn't have to be forceful or bite to be a good guard dog, all you need is warning that someone is approaching. That in itself is a deterrent. A barking dog will give pause to MOST people who are up to no good.

On more than one occasion, Jake has proved his extreme value as a member of our family.

In addition to Jake, we have a driveway alarm that triggers when someone crosses the beam (more about this later). It's not obvious to anyone who crosses the beam - it's invisible and the monitor is hidden several feet back from the driveway in the bushes.

Whenever someone crosses the beam, Jake starts barking. Let me tell you about Jake's bark. I have NEVER had a dog whose bark is deeper or louder. Jake's bark is SO loud, my ears pop and snap when he's in full mode. I don't deter him from barking at all. I let him rip.

One night, at 2:47 AM, the driveway alarm must have gone off, because he picked his head up from the bed he sleeps in at the foot of our bed and started a very low growl. I am an extremely light sleeper and I woke up immediately. I put my glasses on and went to the window (second floor) to look out. Just as I got to the window, the driveway lights came on (more about THOSE later too).

As soon as the lights came on, Jake let loose with his extreme barking and ran down the stairs to the front door. Barking and snapping the whole time. From the window, what I saw made my heart skip a beat. Two men had exited the car they drove almost up to the house (our driveway is 200 feet long) and were almost at the garage door.

I could see their heads snap up as soon as Jake started barking and they RAN back to the car - the doors had been left wide open - jumped in and reversed so fast, the tires left marks on the pavement.

There is NO DOUBT in my mind that those two men were here to commit a crime. I couldn't get a license plate or description everything happened so fast, but still, I called the police.

TWO DAYS later, our neighbor 5 houses down the road was robbed. This neighbor is the FIRST neighbor on our street who doesn't have a dog.

The driveway alarm goes off when someone crosses the beam. Unfortunately, this means at times a squirrel will get both Jake and I up and going to the door, but the feeling of security I get from being prewarned is well worth the false alarms.

There are alarm systems out there that don't trigger if the object or body mass is less than 100 pounds. Mine goes off for any trigger.

Driveway alarms come in a variety of methods for the trigger to be set off. It can be just like traffic lights where the weight of the object triggers the alarm, it can be a visual sensory where if the beam is broken the alarm goes, off, it can be motion detection.

We've had our alarm for 7 years and wherever I live, it will go. The reason I got a larger dog and the alarm is because I'd been stalked in the town we lived in prior to the one we're in now. I actually thought once of getting a firearm, but since I'm not 100%sure I could actually use it, I decided to take the decision literally out of my hands and put it into the dog and the other measures we have.

Motion lighting is used generally for the homeowners' convenience and visibility when coming home later at night. My several ones take on a whole new meaning.

We have sensors at the garage door, on the front porch, and at the backyard.

As previously mentioned, when the men who came up our drive triggered the driveway alarm, that was enough to start Jake's vigilance. When the lights came on, he was SURE he needed to escalate his vigilance.

It may be the lights alone would have deterred the robbers (I have no doubt that's what they were - or maybe even worse), but it's a sure thing the dog finished what the lights started.

The lights are great for their original purpose though, and even if I didn't have other needs in putting them up, I will always have motion triggered lighting outside my house.