Guard dogs

Three groups spend other people’s money: children, thieves, politicians. All three need supervision. Dick Armey

Last night, a knock at the front door disturbed the quiet.  I was just settled into one of those books that one uses as a sleep-aid.   Dexter and Comet had already taken their sleeping positions on the floor by the bed.  The knock set Dexter excitedly rushing to the door followed by Comet, Sheri and me.  My neighbor  had come to tell me he had just chased off a couple would-be thieves eyeing my darkened garage from the street.  I had left the garage door open. ( We had gotten home an hour before and I had not closed it.)

On a couple different occasions this year, my wife and I have gone to bed with the garage left open.  But our neighborhood over the past seventeen years has had only a few incidents.  A drunken Navy sailor drove her truck into a mailbox, a car and came to a flying stop into a house.  The occupants of the house were uninjured. The driver and her fellow drunk passenger were captured (tackled by another next-door neighbor)  and arrested.  Next, a skateboarder punk (I’m generalizing because a couple were seen earlier in the day hanging around) smashed my car window and stole a non-working laptop. It was my fault for leaving it in the car.  A couple of now-incarcerated druggies tried to steal my Honda (chased away by the same neighbor who warned me last night).  And then last night.

Scripture teaches me not to put my trust in things that thieves will break in and steal. But I should not make it easier for them.  Yet the whole neighborhood has dogs – dobermans,  Mastiffs,  Dexter, Comet, and even a few noisy, if small, terriers.  And a prominent pro-2nd Amendment neighbors: retired trucker, carpenters, electricians and cops.   Most of us are military veterans.   We all watch out for each other.     And our dogs all know the neighbors for a couple houses around.  But I am not sure that any of them are “guard dogs” in the Military Working Dog -sense of the word.

Dexter barks at the door most often sounding like a Cujo (Stephen King) beast – though a real good-natured dog.  He has yet to be aggressive.  Comet is much quieter but he might be more watchful.  Each prefer it, if the lady of the house, or secondarily, the Man, goes to the door ahead of them or out to the front to see what is going on.  Most of those who live here we have known for years.  Until recently, when we were gone most of the day, we used to leave doors unlocked so our adult kids could get in.   Something about this new generation  incapable of understanding what keys are, and how to keep them on your person.   

Now I start to consider what I need to be more secure.  A camera, an alarm, or a watch-cat?   I’ve known a few, very territorial cats that will not put up with trespassers.   I had one sleep on the hood of my car -never had problems in those days.   Or should we invest in a small dog?  On our daily dog-walk, a few will stir a ferocious racket hearing,  through a closed door and from across the street, me walking Dexter and Comet in the late evening.  And it is not that we are trying to be heard.

As for politicians?  They want what’s in my pocket not my garage.   Thieves beware.  Can’t get anything by a miniature schnauzer.