We’ve included information in the past about some of the best dog breeds and best traits within those breeds to consider when choosing a dog for added home security.

But that’s not to say that a dog should be used as your only measure of home security, especially when you consider some of these potential drawbacks in a canine choice.

• Unlike a home alarm system which typically involves a one-time cost (and perhaps some monthly fees), the expense of a dog goes well beyond the initial purchase in the form of feeding, veterinary care, boarding expenses while traveling, and time-commitment from you for exercise and social interaction.
• Unlike a home alarm system which is static in nature and cannot attack another person, whether it’s a would-be intruder or a friendly passer-by, a dog can. And if the dog bite results in serious injury to a non-threatening individual, your financial losses could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars (which may or may not be covered by insurance).

The Dog Bite Law website quantifies this potential loss by commenting that out of 177 people killed by dogs, only one was a burglar; and seven out of 10 were children. An alarming number when a home alarm system could might have offset the number of dogs capable of inflicting such harm.

Risk versus reward

So ask yourself, do you want to run that risk when you could instead rely on a monitored home security system offered by many companies such as the latest models from ADT?