Signs don't work....dogs don't work....and driveway alarms don't work (but Dakota Alert MURS is the best one I've found).....I've got all three. If people CAN drive up a drive, they will.
IF you're really serious about privacy, get a gate. Doesn't have to be solar, you can run #6 UF underground 1/2 mile and still run most openers. As for visitors, they learn to call ahead, or call from the gate. Ours do....or they go home.
Totally agree with YOU Andy. Something tells me that this fella is just like lot coming on here now adays. If you are serious about privacy.......big if.....or just on here to run your mouth......Dogs are not by instinct going to bark and carry on unless trained, encouraged, or at least something pointed out to them in the beginning that something is going on and how to act...........But then again, the op says he knows how to train a dog........
Dead on about the MURS from Dakota Alert. Even their IR ones are dependable but to many falses if one doesn't take the interest to point them directly. The OP though points out that his high dollar alarm needs a battery..........Forget about advising about a true system if a battery can't even be maintained.....
A solar powered gate is the only way to keep out the random snoop or criminal looking for a place to earn their dope. Even then, if determined, a chain and a Toyota can easily defeat them.
Lots of good ideas from folks here. Some are from folks just like the op. On here, to rattle like an old truck on a dirt road. The problem is that that truck doesn't carry much of a load.............To the OP, I apologize for the strength of my disgust for folks that just need to see their words and dirt in print.............
That said, if on your way across my property the 1/2 mile to my home, and get through my electric gate, don't trigger the first MURS driveway alarm and the second to verify that your movement is not a fault. That means that perhaps you got missed by the game camSS at the gate and the first video camera triggered by the MURS. Oh, you decided to go across through the woods by foot, then for sure watch out for the solar powered flood lights that are triggered by your movement out there in the woods. You will find those also at the gate, by the little side road to the barn, up at the turn down the hill on the road, and those two out there as you enter the actual area around the front of the house.....Oh yes, those spot lights up there on the front porch pretty well cover that side as well as the two around in back.
Oh yes, mentioning dogs and training.......The two Anatolian shepards down in the pasture by the gate do love to carry on hoping that they get a critter to chew on in the pasture. Here lately they have started waiting, stalking, watching their prey as it gets just far enough from the fence into their territory so they can catch it before it makes it to the fence. Can you cover 200 yards in 8 seconds???......THEY CAN
The 3 Pyrenees spread out over the other pastures aren't quite as good of stalkers; but they do love to carry on.......Now you got up by the house and the 2 border collies and momma Anatolian yard dogs get a kick out of seeing who gets hold of the foot first as it emerges from the car door..........
Oh, did I mention that the 4 video cameras on the road and the 3 on a broad spectrum of visual alert have been watching, recording, and telling me to get my act in gear for the last minute or two.........While watching you do that, the decision is made that you have business here, so greet you with just the 9mm and the hideout on the ankle or do we get to use the 12 ga. pump backed up by the good old Garrand as you make your exit and were shooting at me so I had to protect myself at that range didn't I?????
So do I get irritated and annoyed when a doober comes on here that can't maintain a batter, to timid to go out and stop somebody turning around in his yard, and can't even train a dog to bark at strangers.............Sorry; but there are folks on here that have been watching this inadequacy develop over the last few years and are perhaps beginning to be vocal about it. When the WHSHTF don't come asking for what you should have been ready for.........God bless these United States.......Dennis