5 Effective Ways to Secure Your Home

Has your home been recently broken into? Or have you heard a chilling story from a friend of a friend of their home being burgled in a seemingly safe or wealthy area? Crime can happen anywhere at any moment and if you’ve been watching the news lately it only appears to be getting worse and more frequent. With so many alarming statistics it’s easy to live in anxious anticipation of something untoward happening to you or your family’s home. We aim to change worry into assurance with these effective methods of securing your home.

1. Get a Guard Dog

If you’ve been considering welcoming a new furry friend into your life, why not get a playful yet protective one? Guard dogs are often misconceived as vicious or violent, however, many typical ‘guard dog’ breeds are loving family pets and with adequate training are loyal protectors. Here are a few beautiful breeds you may want to consider – always make sure you speak to your local Veterinarian first before finalising your decision.

• The Bernese Mountain Dog is a relaxed and friendly family dog that fits in well with other animals. They are a social breed with a gentle presence. Unlike their nature, their bark is intimidating and their large stature can deter intruders from entering your property.
• Boxers were initially employed as Police dogs and subsequently seeing-eye dogs. This exemplifies their gentle yet protective nature. They’re loyal family pets and do very well with children.
• German Shepherds are famous police dogs and are distinctly loyal, courageous and guard excellently. They’re a highly intelligent dog making them easily trainable and love children if they’re trained well from an early age.
• Great Danes have a gentle rapport with children. Their nature is friendly, dependable and patient. Their intimidating bark and enormous size is enough to steer attackers away from your home. 

Importantly, if you’re considering introducing a dog (or guard dog) into your life, make sure you have a sufficient bracket of time to train the dog well and give it adequate socialisation and attention. Any dog, irrespective of size or breed can exhibit aggressive or nervous behaviours when it isn’t trained well or given enough love and attention from its owners.

2. Light Up the Landscape

The more well-lit the surrounds of your home are, the less likely an intruder will be brazen enough to rob your home. Burglars don’t want to draw significant attention to their crimes or be in the spotlight enough to be seen by witnesses. Place lights around your front and back doors, front and back yards, along pathways and other significant structures on your property (like a granny flat or garage). There are a multitude of effective lighting solutions like motion-activated lights, energy-saving lights powered by solar or even timed outdoor lights with custom activation programs.

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3. Install CCTV

In the unfortunate event thieves do make it into your home (or attempt to) security cameras are one of the best methods of deterring a robber or getting justice against one. CCTV cameras can work as part of a complete home system (multiple security cameras) or individually. Most modern security camera systems will come with a live feed viewing application or program accessible by mobile phone – so wherever you are you’ve got eyes on your home. Security cameras can have motion detection activation, night vision, Wi-Fi capacity or weatherproof packaging so they operate when you need them – proficiently.

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4. Lockdown your Wi-Fi network

Robbery isn’t just physical, in a technologically advanced society criminals look for alternative methods of stealing your valuable assets. Your Wi-Fi network stores a plethora of personal and financial information. Hackers can access this confidential information easily if you’re not equipped with sufficient internet security. Secure your home network like so: 

• Enable Wi-Fi Protected Access or WPA2 encryption
• Rename and hide your home network
• Use a firewall
• Install antivirus and anti-malware protection
• Create strong passwords
• Use a VPN service

5. Purchase a safe

In the event a criminal can access your home and personal belongings, it’s vital to securely store your most important possessions and documents – like jewellery, family heirlooms, passports and birth certificates. An in-home safe is a secure storage space for all the things you do not want leaving your property in a worst-case scenario. Ideally, a safe to deter a criminal from trying to force it would be weather resistant (including fire) and heavy enough so the thief can’t simply steal it and break into it another time. There are safes with two locks (redundant safes) and even anchored safes that are attached to the ground or wall.

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Ideally, crime wouldn’t exist and no one would experience the horrible ramifications associated with being the victim of one. These are anti-theft solutions that can be implemented singularly or all together. The choice is yours to decide which method of security best fits your lifestyle and which solutions are most viable to you. These tips are great to get started on and think about the most important items you want to protect.