I'm back, however brief.

First, call me elated! Time to break my silence with all the other GOOD dog lovers in the room. Yes a good dog is good during sitx and a bad one is bad, in my humble narrowminded opinion

A good dog IS an alarm system, for you and a bad dog is an alarm system for them (being any intruders or mal-doers)

Coming back soon much to prepare for.

Thank you everyone keep it going strong.

Well, I'll say this much. A scary dog is going to deter a lot of looters I think (it would deter me if I were a looter) and even a tiny little dog will raise hell if someone breaks in, giving you advance warning to do something.

Feeding them might be a serious issue, though, but I've seen dogs eat just about anything! (I don't know how healthy some of it is though) For instance, my cousin's dog, I forget the breed, but it is a really awesome friendly dog, and big enough to do some damage to a person, will eat anything off a person's dinner plate that they leave, with the exception of lettuce and Jello!

Even considering you have to feed and care for them, a dog is probably worth it. As some others mentioned, a cat probably is, too, for rodent control, as long as they play nice with the dog :p