Any advice on a junk yard dog:?

Im currently doing scrap in a partnership with a long time business friend. We're doing really well, even with the scrap prices where they are. Lots and lots of resale of stuff found in the garbage.

We've been having a few issues with theft and trespassing on my partners property where most of the stuff is stored

One time there was a really weird guy who I found in the garage on the property 1 hour before a yard sale was supposed to start. He ended up buying a microwave for $15 and some other assorted junk, two day later my partner found the same microwave dumped in the driveway and MY reciprocating saw missing.

Another time a few of our bags of cans we leave beside the house went missing.

Last week I found one of the neighbors in the driveway snooping around saying something about a fridge we have for sale.




Not a good thing when you have over 1k in inventory. Its time for new security measures.

I'm thinking of a dog. Anyone have any experience with dogs as security? What breed are you using? Are there any foreseeable issues I may run into with this scheme?

My partner would obviously be taking in the dog as a pet and care for it properly, he has had dogs before and is into the idea. Its main job/purpose would be to deter any thieves and alert us to anyone coming onto the property.

My parents have always had rottweilers. They don't even have to act aggressive to deter someone. All of them have been the sweetest pets ever, but if a stranger comes onto the property, they're always on point.

I've found Terriers to be good alarm dogs. They're very territorial and will bark if someone is snooping around. Unfortunately, this includes cats, squirrels, other dogs, etc. I don't know if I'd want a dog that could actually do some damage. You wouldn't want a kid retrieving a ball to be mauled. I've had Border Terriers and a Jack Russel. All of them were great watch dogs and nice pets too.

I had a large shepard/rotweiller mix up until he passed last year. The best dog ever. Wouldn't hurt a fly but he had that deep authoritative bark.

More than enough to make people think twice about coming on the property.

LOL .... completely harmless and the terror of the neighborhood for years !

The only dogs for me are "rescue" dogs, they become dedicated to their rescuer, protective of me and bark when those that are not welcomed or wanted. In short they more than earn their keep and I just like to have a dog around.

I like this approach better.

Check out "Night Owl Security products". They have a great camera set up that is around $500.00 with 4 inferred cameras and you can have another 4 added on to the control system that's about the size of a older DVD player. You can even set it up to check on things by wireless device/cell phone. Can be set up on 12 volt as it uses the little power transformers you plug in the outlet. The cameras can be up to 180 feet from the control unit by using three 60 foot cables that also have the power lines running along them for powering the cameras. For about a grand you can have 8 cameras with some of them 180 feet away from your control unit.

Yard dogs can cause legal problems as well as feeding and vet bills for health issues.

In my opinion, you had better be careful using a "guard dog."I would opt for a barky, friendly family dog that you count on not to be viscous. I would recommend motion lights. They can be very low draw LED lights that will flood an area with light and discourage someone from walking where you do not want them.

Originally Posted by Otto

I've found Terriers to be good alarm dogs. They're very territorial and will bark if someone is snooping around. Unfortunately, this includes cats, squirrels, other dogs, etc. I don't know if I'd want a dog that could actually do some damage. You wouldn't want a kid retrieving a ball to be mauled. I've had Border Terriers and a Jack Russel. All of them were great watch dogs and nice pets too.

A nice domestic flock of Toulouse geese will put up a racket for strangers while the Chinese geese squak at anything that moves, the Guinea fowl top the list for watch dog, your neighbours will love ya.

If you have a lot of tics on your property Guinea fowl are the only animal that I know of that eats tics by the thousands.