I needed this like I needed another hole in my head.

Okay so why did I do it?

1. I. Am. Stupid.
   
2. I am a glutton for punishment.
   
3. I am my mother's daughter?
   
4. My husband does not get home till 1 am some nights.
   
5. All of the above.

A few months ago we had some things stolen from our yard. Dad filed a police report and come to find out some of the things were tracked down - canoe and sea kayak. Some things were never found, like ALL of our bikes. The police were able to track who had stole the things because he pawned the stuff. He was a dude with a criminal history and a drug user. So while we slept this criminal was creeping around outside our house. When his truck was described to us I realized I had seen this guy a few times in the neighborhood riding by/casing the joint. Little did I know.

Now I don't know about ya'll but that whole paragraph does not make me feel warm and fuzzy.

I grew up with dogs of varying sizes over the years. (see answer #2) My grandparents raised chow-chows for a period of time and we had one of their puppies. He was an excellent guard dog and he was trained to tolerate anyone that we allowed into the house. But if you did not belong there...I would not recommend coming in unless you wanted to be chow-chow snack.

I love chows but their fur is too much to keep up with. They molt at certain times of the year and it is frankly a pain. When Dad and I were first married we had a chow/rottie mix named Dakota. He actually saved my life or at least saved me from a very bad experience. I would arrive home from work a good hour before Dad at that point in time. Three young men had apparently determined that schedule or simply took advantage of the fact that I left the garage door up that day. Thankfully I had locked the door from the garage into the house. Two stood outside on the street while one tried to get the door to our house open. Dakota came at that door like Kojo. I grabbed the phone and called my MIL. Dakota and I ran to the front door where I turned him loose on the men. Needless to say they took off and I never left the garage door open again.

So ... I have been wanting to get a guard dog for a while now. I found out about Daisy. Went and checked her out. She is wonderful with kids. The family that had her had 3 kids. She loves everyone in our family including the chihuahuas. She is doing a great job as guard dog, you should see how people move to the other side of the street when we are walking (with a chihuahua in the lead). She chews nothing except her bone and toy. There is only one little problem - she REALLY wants to eat cats. So we are working on that issue but otherwise all is well.