Guard Dogs: How Man's Best Friend is Protecting Our Assets

Whether they’re cute and fluffy or large and serious, dogs are one of the best ways of protecting your home from theft.

Dogs the best defence against uninvited guests

So last week was National Puppy Day (yes, it is a real thing) which is a time to celebrate puppy dogs and to promote puppy adoption. And while the internet was full of the cute and cuddly, sometimes our dogs can have another, more serious, role to play.

According to a previous Canstar article on a survey undertaken by the Australian Institute of Criminology, the best defence against burglars and home invaders isn’t alarms or armed owners, but dogs. The survey interviewed 65 former burglars in Western-Australia, and the majority (61%) claimed that the number one deterrent for them was the presence of a dog.

The burglars also stated that it was not the viciousness or size of the dog that frightened them, but rather the potential for the dog to bark and give them away. With roughly 58% of burglaries unplanned, it is therefore unlikely that a burglar would know beforehand that your home has a dog, which increases the chance that they will leave at first sight of a furry family member.

A well-trained dog can perform a range of tasks as well, if not better than a human can, as seen by the success of the police and armed services using dogs for tasks such as drug and bomb-detecting, as well as for attack purposes.

Properly trained and cared for security dogs are a mutually-beneficial arrangement for both human and canine, as the dog gets to live a life that other dogs could only dream of, and you get the peace of mind associated with having a canine protector, as well as the general companionship they can provide.

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Whilst your family companion might not be quite at this level, your home would certainly be safer if you had either of the following two guard dogs around to protect it.

Piper the Airport guard dog

This cool dude is Piper, a 7-year old guard dog at Michigan’s Cherry Capital airport. Piper’s main duty is to chase away animals such as owls and other birds that can cause difficulties for the aircraft due to the extreme weather and low visibility.

His other duty includes checking the perimeter for holes in the fence, and he has apparently completed almost 600 miles of perimeter checking in his service to the airport.  He works four ten-hour shifts a week, and has been well trained to work under any condition, hence the goggles and adorable dog shoes.

Image captured from www.airportk9.org

Piper has also become an online sensation in the past few months after he broke his leg chasing a snowy owl. Since November 25 last year, Piper has gained more than 20,000 online followers in this time. But despite his celebrity status and cute looks, Piper is well drilled in chasing off human intruders as well, and would pose a significant obstacle to any would-be thieves.

Ace the ‘85lb missile’

The main purpose of guard dogs is not to look cute and cuddly, and perhaps no dog in the world typifies that more than Ace, a guard dog trained by Dark Dynasty K9s in the USA.

Dark Dynasty trains security dogs for the police, and Ace, a three year old pit-bull, is their star pupil. He can jump through two-storey windows and is able to recognise a variety of weapons, such as handguns and knives.

Ace the guard dog during one of his many training exercises

Photo taken from www.dailymail.co.uk

His owner Marlon Grennan says that Ace is ‘easily capable of killing a person’, but ensures that he is well trained to not attack anyone or anything other than intruders. It took years of dedicated training (5 times a week for three years) to reach this level of physical perfection for a dog.

“Getting hit by Ace at full-speed is like getting hit with a missile” Grennan said.

Despite his intimidating looks, his owners describe him as being a real sweet-heart when not on the job. They have two young children at home, and Ace loves to play with them. Pit-bulls are a very misunderstood breed, and Ace is a living example of how a well-trained dog can be both a protector and a pet.

Ace practising his climbing