Brad felt more than sad when Jake passed away. He felt worried.

Jake was Brad’s loyal German Shepherd. For twelve years, he guarded Brad’s sporting goods store from would-be thieves and neighborhood troublemakers. Even as the neighborhood got a little worse, Jake kept the peace.

Brad’s store was the only one on the block without any graffiti. Nobody, it seemed, wanted a run in with a big, angry guard dog.

Few people knew that Jake was really a sweetheart, lavishing Brad with kisses every time he’d open the store in the morning.

Brad’s daughter, Marcy, kept the store’s books, and paid a visit to her father every Thursday. She knew the old man couldn’t afford to install a state of the art security system. But she also knew that he was a little too fragile to try and train another big dog.

She brought her father a gift on her next visit. "This," she announced proudly, "will keep Jake’s legend alive in the neighborhood."

She explained to Brad that the Electronic Watch Dog used infrared sensors to watch the store at night, just like Jake did. When intruders showed up at either the front or the back doors, the box would bark. And it would bark louder and louder until the disturbance went away.

That Saturday night, two teenage boys strolled up the sidewalk. The midnight streetlight stretched their shadows halfway up the block. They banged and pulled on security gates as they talked about the trouble they could cause.

"Didn’t old man Benson’s dog just die?" asked the tall one.

"I think I heard Billy say something like that," replied the short one, "I could sure use some new sneakers!"

They hustled up to the front window, but before they could even try to break in, they heard loud barking from inside the store. And it was getting louder.

"Yo, I thought you said that dog was dead," cried the short hooligan.

"He must have got a new one," said his partner in crime, "I ain’t messin’ with no dog!"

The two juveniles hustled away around the corner as fast as their legs could carry them.

Jake’s legacy remains intact. He’s still a presence in Benson’s Sporting Goods, with a picture above the cash register - and the loud bark from the Electronic Watch Dog.

Yours in safety, Mitch McDonald

P.S. You can get your own virtual guard dog for your home or office, by visiting: www.amteksecurity.com/electronicwatchdog.htm.

P.P.S. If you order from this Blog, I will give you a FREE Mace Big Jammer Door Brace…a $19.95 value. Just mention FREE Big Jammer in the comments box when you check out. Don’t forget…if you don’t mention FREE Big Jammer, we won’t know to send it to you.

Ted snickered. Sometimes his sister, Lori, had the craziest ideas. Ted was at Lori’s home helping her to put her affairs back into order after her husband’s death. Today, he was photographing her valuables for insurance purposes. Lori had taken out a new policy and she wanted to keep her own records. After Ted was finished with the pictures and preparing to head home, Lori asked him to wait — she had two more items to photograph. She then pulled her wedding and engagement ring from inside the flower pot that held her Easter Lilies — the same pot that held Poinsettias last December. Ted was humored and asked her about her choice of hiding places.

Lori generally kept the flower pot sitting on the kitchen counter when it contained flowers,and on the top shelf next to other empty pots when it didn’t. Ted told her that he thought the flower pot safe was an odd place for her to keep her most beloved possessions. But, there they sat, right out in the open.

But Lori explained that the flower pot safe was, in fact, the safest place for her treasures. So safe, that her rings had recently eluded a burglar and a dishonest cousin. The burglar had found the silverware and the cousin recently took a fair amount of cash out of Lori’s wall safe. The rings were not touched. She asked Ted, "Where would a burglar or a thief look first?" After thinking about it for a moment, Ted had to admit that if he were a burglar, he wouldn’t even think to look for valuables in a flower pot. He was pretty certain that a burglar would go through drawers and closets, or break into any obvious safe he or she came across.

As Ted drove home, he thought about the various reasons a flower pot safe, or any diversion safe, would be useful. He lived in a low crime area, but he had a lot of company and so did his three teenage boys. You’d like to believe that you can trust everyone, but the reality is that you simply can’t.

Once he arrived home, Ted ordered two flower pot safes of his own.

Should you?

For your safety, Mitch McDonald

P.S. If you would like a Flower Pot Safe for a hiding place for your valuables go to: www.amteksecurity.com/diversionsafes.htm.

P.P.S. If you order from this Blog, I will give you a FREE Wall Socket Safe…a $10.00 value. Just mention FREE Wall Socket Safe in the comments box when you check out. Don’t forget …if you don’t mention FREE Wall Socket Safe, we won’t know to send it to you.