Because of the prevalence of door-to-door solicitation in some communities, criminals seeking to "case your place" for some future action and investigators hoping for a quick look inside often use the guise of a solicitor.

Furthermore, even "legitimate" solicitors may be difficult to get rid of until you agree to purchase whatever they are hawking or support the group they are advocating.

To keep unwanted company from knocking on your front door, it is necessary to place a barrier between thepublic street and your front door. This barrier does not need to be a 12-foot-tall electric fence, but rather anything that keeps people from easily approaching your home from the public street.

A decorative fence around your yard combined with a locking gate will keep solicitors at bay.

Not everyone however has a yard around which to erect a fence. A gate blocking the steps onto your front porch can prove just as effective, as can a locked door at the main entrence of an apartment building. The idea is to make the approaching your front door more effort than it is worth for the solicitor, salesman, or snoop.

That said, the effectiveness of a dog in deterring solicitors, trespassers, and other door-to-door nuisances cannot be overlooked (altough a dog does not have the same effect as a physical barrier). Of course, the effectiveness of a dog in discouraging people from approaching your door depends a great deal on the disposition of the dog.

Almost any dog will bark at the approach of a stranger; however, a barking dog may not prevent someone from approaching your door unless it is clearly of a mind to do so. Many door-to-door solicitors are used to dealing with dogs and many simply ignore the dog's bark unless the dog appears ready to back the bark up with some bite.

This does not mean that your dog must be Cujo on steroids to deter solicitors, but it must give enough of an aggressive appearance that solicitors won't be willing to tempt fate and the dog's temperament for the sake of a sale.

Even if you dog happens to be Cerberus who guard the gates of hell, there should be still be a locked gate for him to guard.

I strongly believe that dogs provide an excellent addition to your personal and home security, and their acute senses detect trespassers where people may not, but a dog is not a replacement for a physical barrier. Rather, he is an addition to it!

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