Consider a robodog

Nice! I'll get a pair of Robo-Westies once I win the Powerball!

They don't look as cuddly as the real thing, though...

I would go with the robo golden retriever: those westies are pretty feisty, and you might wind up with a frankenterrier.

Dogs can keep you from freezing to death too.

The loud,battery powered alarm,great thinking,I LIKE it!

If someone wants to target you, specifically, they will. The "random" home invasion is nearly mythical in its rarity. Home invasions happen, I'm not denying it. But there's 300 million people in the USA and that means a 1 in a million event will happen almost every day to someone. But look at the stories behind the majority of home invasions: Drug money, drug money and drug money, buyers robbing their dealers etc...

Anyway..

I learned so many ways to "gain entry" to locked homes of all kinds when I was a firefighter - a halligan tool and 10 seconds is about all you need to quickly defeat the vast majority of doors & windows if you don't care about making a mess.

The thing my home needs the most protection from is when I'm NOT home...opportunistic theft is a problem sometimes...

This is just anecdotal evidence, but I've also heard of firefighters have extreme difficulty defeating barred windows, etc. in attempting to perform rescues. Speaking as the son of a contractor I know there's a wide range of construction techniques. Some doors can be pulled out of the frame quite easily while others are very robust.

And when all else fails, go through the drywall. Kind of like that scene in "Swat" where the pull the entire wall out with a tow truck.

Hehehe...not all homes rely on drywall...

Isn't another problem with barred windows is it makes it harder for the people in the home to escape from a fire? Or do barred windows generally come with some type of emergency release for just such an occasion?

My parents' house has bars on basement windows and they can be opened from inside with a key.