8A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • MARCH 20, 2019
Boomer & Senior
News Line
By Matilda Charles
No Dog for Me?
Home security tips for seniors
Seniors are often targeted by criminals.
Though many criminals target seniors from
afar via telephone or internet scams, crim-
inals seek to enter seniors’ homes. The Bu-
reau of Justice Statistics offers that, between
2003 and 2013, the ratio of property crime
to violent crime was higher for the elderly
and persons between the ages of 50 and 64
than it was for younger persons between the
ages of 25 and 49.
Home security is important for people
of all ages, but especially so for seniors and
aging individuals living alone. By following
certain safety tips and developing a home
security plan, seniors can feel safer at home.
• Lock windows and doors. It may seem
like common sense, but failure to repeated-
ly lock windows and doors can, and often
does, give burglars easy entry into the home.
• Think about a smart doorbell. Technolo-
gy now enables doorbells to provide a video
feed to a person’s smartphone or tablet over
WiFi. This allows residents to see who is at
the door and speak to this person without
having to open the door. Some products
like Ring® will even register motion activity
and record short videos from outside of the
house.
• Don’t share or leave keys. Avoid leaving
keys under a mat or in a flower pot. Others
may be watching your actions and gain ac-
cess to your home while you are away.
•
Ask for ID. When service people or other in-
dividuals come to the door, verify their cre-
dentials by asking to see some identification.
• Get a home security system. The best
protection against burglars is a home securi-
ty alarm, states HomeSecurityResource.org.
Such an alarm often deters burglars from
breaking in.
• Install a lockable mailbox. Locked mail-
boxes restrict access to sensitive informa-
tion, such as bank account numbers, sent
in the mail. Make sure retirement checks or
other payments are deposited directly into
bank accounts instead of having them sent
by check.
• Use home automation. Home auto-
mation, or a “smart home,” can be utilized
to turn on lights, set the thermostat, lock
doors, and much more.
• Adopt a dog. Dogs can be an asset to se-
niors. Dogs provide companionship and can
bark or alert seniors if someone is around or
inside of the home.
Home security is serious business for se-
niors who are vulnerable to criminals.
Three years ago I started
thinking about getting a dog.
Seeing neighbors out with their
small dogs, I knew I wanted
what I consider a real dog, a big
one, not a dog that would fit
in my purse. I made a pro-con
dog ownership list, but over
time the list of reasons for not
getting a dog has gotten longer
and longer.
Maybe my story will help if
you’re considering adopting a
dog.
Where I live there are a lot of
rules, and one of them concerns
the size of dogs. Specifically,
the dog cannot top 25 pounds.
The neighborhood rumor mill
supplied this story: A woman
was told to get rid of her dog
after management showed up at
her door with a set of scales and
demanded to weigh the pooch,
which unfortunately came in at
nearly 30 pounds. The owner
moved out and took the dog
with her.
A size limit means I can’t adopt
a young mixed-breed shelter
mutt because there’s no real way
to know how large the dog will
be when it grows. According to
a study, shelter staff correctly
guesses a dog’s breed only 67
percent of the time.
There are no sidewalks here.
What we have for half the year
are increasingly narrow roads
with snow banks on the sides. I
don’t have a fenced yard either,
which means no place to let a
big dog romp and play.
By the time I got this far, I knew
it was hopeless. I never even
got to the part about potential
veterinary costs, or the price of
quality dog food and grooming,
flea treatments and toys.
I’ve found a partial solution,
however. I’m thinking of sign-
ing up as a dog walker volun-
teer at the shelter. Maybe I’ll fall
in love with a tiny, purse-size
dog.
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Things people should know
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