I have never really seen this addressed here or anywhere else.
Are dogs an effective deterrent to the sort of break ins portrayed on the show?
I ask because I have a pretty sturdy dog, 80lbs Bull Mastiff mix who is generally friendly but barks like thunder if someone she does not know gets near the house.
Im thinking no one in there right mind would try to break in to my place just from hearing her bark.

I'd say you'd have less chance of a random burglary than those w/out inside dogs and/or alarm systems. I have a dog now (well, a couple) and when I still had the apartment, maintenance would refuse to come into the apartment because of her. They didn't know we had a muzzle on her, they couldn't see it, he said she scared him most because she DIDN'T bark. She'd just look @ him. (She had the muzzle on because she'd tear the place up until we finally broke her of it.)

Now, I have another doggie, he's brown and she's black. They literally throw themselves up against windows and doors to get at anyone they don't know coming to the door. I even feel safe if someone I know were to try & harm me. My brother was acting like he was gonna sneak up on me, well his dog (the black one, she's part Border Collie and Irish Setter) circled around him because she thought he was going to hurt me. He saw her spring up in the corner of his eye and immediately stopped. She was cool after that.

You don't know what sort of fools are out there watching you or just get a hankering one day to go rob somebody. All you can do is what you can do to protect your home and family.

I have been robbed @ gunpoint in my own home. I didn't have the big dogs then nor a security system. Although I confess I only activate it when I leave or go to bed. When I'm @ home, I just keep the doors locked from pure habit. The dogs are all inside dogs. To me, what's the point of having guard dogs when they're chained up outside? I want them inside, right beside me.

I think that a loud dog might be a deterrent, providing that you live close enough to other people for it to be heard. However, i think how a dog reacts when it is protecting you is different than how it will react when it is alone and faced with a large confident male animal. As you've noticed in these shows Jon just goes in the house and talks to the dog like he is supposed to be there and this attitude seems to confuse the dog. I don't think a burlglar has a lot to fear from a dog unless he acts afraaid or corners the dog.

All of this presumes of course that the dog has not received any guard dog training.

I think a dog has something to do with your house being burglarized. But i kinda think a thief would be prepared for a dog. A hotdog or a dogtreat could go a long way with a strange dog. And Jon usually ends up taking the dog with him or at least making friends with it. I agree that it would need some guarddog training before it would really deter a thief.

I sing the praises of my dogs for possibly saving my life against an intruder. My setting is a rural, poor area of a southern state. My home is new, large, attracts attention, and sits in the middle of my tree farm (a few hundred acres with about 160,000 large trees) with the closest neighbor being about one mile away.

This may sound extreme and hopefully rare but I had found a portable drug manufacturing lab on an isolated part of the farm. I took it to the local sheriff’s office and turned it in and revealed the sight. I was warned I would be a target of retribution. Within two weeks, my two, medium-sized dogs and I were asleep in bed when the intruders hit.

My dogs, mixed breeds from the animal shelter, are usually mild-mannered and moderately protective. Around 9 PM, I’d just fallen asleep when my dogs woke me with violent barking. They ran to and from the kitchen to the laundry room door barking as I’d never seen. I wasn’t fully awake and then heard loud crashing noises. Someone was throwing a front porch rocking-chair through the kitchen window at the same time a truck was driving through my closed car garage door (entrance through the laundry room). My dogs were warning me in advance.

The house alarm was immediately activated sounding off and calling the alarm company, exterior and interior lights began flashing, and the men kept coming into the house. My two dogs stayed between them and myself until I was fully awake, grabbed a pistol (not that I suggest this option), and exited through another door with the dogs behind me into the yard. I began firing into the air as two cars quickly sped away down the long, dark driveway.

Two deputy sheriffs soon arrived and reminded me how fortunate I was to have such brave dogs. I do credit my two dogs and praise them for saving my life. I also had lockable, driveway gates and chain-linked fences installed at the driveway entrances.

I sleep well. Thanks for allowing me to share. Have fun today and be safe.

One of my goals in life is to be half as great as my dogs think I am.

Tabitha, remember Jon meets the family including pets before they break in. This is why he comes in with confidence. There is no way they would allow the dog to stay in the house during the taping, if it was not friendly. What you don't see is what you should question. There are alot of dogs that will love you more than bite, but we all know know every dog would allow someon e to break in. My akita would not allow him to come in and he could not force the dog into a room.