Dogs would be great but I am either away or out of the house too much....

Over here you can rig your alarm to a direct Police response line...I was in South Africa and my Alarm went off...I have a neighbour as a key holder...because of my house being flagged as "firearms" my neighbour said I had two teams of armed respose cops come to the house...and (amazingly) they had a helicopter overhead...the cause...a hugh great spider crossing a sensor...the cost...£500 for a false alarm call...that's $750 to $1000 depending on the exchange rate...

We pay a lot for our "firearms priviledges" over here...

Burglars though know where to find knives in a Kitchen...your kidding yourself if you think hiding your "heavy" knives makes any difference...except on the insurance claim perhaps...best to make your own mind up whether to be judged by 12 or carried by 6 if a Burglar gets in whilst you're there...when I am away it takes me a day or so to get the house ready incase the Police have to come in...re-loading room mainly...a single round not locked away and your license will be revoked...

I have a number of security firearms cabinets...one at least in my bedroom... and sleep with the bedroom door locked...any alarm goes off and I would not be checking the house out with just a torch...

If I am away...things are locked away and unlikely to be stolen...even if they did get one cabinet...the useable aspect is denied because bolts are in others...the main hassle is the [censored] alarm...it is an expensive call out bill!