Our three Great Pyrenees are excellent burglar alarms. Of course, you do need SOME room for dogs to exercise, etc, so having large dogs in a small space is not recommended. Having said that, if you live in the country, the idea of a few geese or guinea hens as the early warning is excellent. In early China, they used the small dogs, who were very light sleepers to wake the large dogs, who woke the humans. So a few dogs or other 'loud' animals will be a good additon to almost any home. And I agree with CATO, consider picking your breed and then rescuing one or more. You can generally go to Yahoo and type in 'Dog Rescue' and it will come up with a site that lists ALL animal rescue sites and how to contact them. We have now resuced four dogs over the past eight years. Just got the last two males about seven months ago. You will generally find rescue animals are older (1 - 5 yrs) and every one we've rescued has been extremely grateful. Rusty, one female we had for five years gave us kisses (licks) after every night's meal. Just to let us know she really appreciated a good home. Elliot and Louie, our current new rescues are very happy to have a new home. So, please, if you are looking for a dog, try rescuing one or more. You and they will both be better off.