01-05-2014, 04:31 PM
babaganoush Wrote:I choose ... A pit bull. Never runs empty, no danger of over penetration (other than the perp's backside) and works while I sleep. Doubles as an alarm, and cannot be used against me, if I lose control of it.
Seriously, though, a good large dog (breed is your option) is my preferred first line of defense, with an SBR or carbine, in 5.56, firing 40 gr V-Max for those stupid enough to force their way in, and possibly past my dog. One last comment on K-9 as a Home Defense, is that my wife and kids don't have to train in order to use one, should I be elsewhere.
ETA: LRRPF52 has truly shown a different side of himself, tonight, and expressed an opinion I heartily share.
IF you have a dog with PROFESSIONAL training, they MIGHT be depended upon to be helpful.
Our neighborhood had a one night rash of burglaries about 6 years ago. 9 OCCUPIED homes in a lakeside setting were broken into in the 4-6 AM time frame. One of those had a German Shepherd roaming the house and a dog door to the garage. The suspects entered the house manipulating a sliding glass door that was locked. They found keys to the SUV in the garage, loaded the loot, and left, making their way through eight more houses. 3 of those also had large breed dogs, including our Pit Bull. NOT ONE OF THE DOGS EVEN SOUNDED THE ALARM THAT SOMETHING WAS UP!
They entered our house through a back garage door, then an interior unlocked door from the garage. (Terrible OPSec on my part. the exterior door has been replaced with a steel frame, steel core wooden door and the interior garage door is now deadbolted.)
All four of us with large breed dogs THOUGHT our dogs would make noise, at least. None of us ever figured out why they didn't.
We now have significantly upgraded our alarm system in several different ways, but we learned that unless your dogs are exceptionally well trained, or you get very lucky, dogs aren't as good a system as we had hoped.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt