KEY POINTS:
It might sound barking mad, but entrepreneur David Mildon and business partner Chuck Mawer swear by their GuardDog CD which was created to help deter criminals.
The two-track CD plays the sound of a German shepherd barking, snarling and growling.
Mr Mildon, a dog trainer for 23 years, said: "If there's people outside your home that you want to move on, you can play the CD and they'll think there's a guard dog in the building."
The Hastings man produced the CD after a spate of Hawkes Bay home invasions.
"I've been thinking of doing this for a long time, but now is the time to do it. Living in Hawkes Bay, we have seen too many [home invasions] lately. It is time to take up arms against home invaders. It's time for the inventors to design tools to give our elderly the chance to frighten bad people away."
He said he had recorded his own German shepherd, Prince, who knew how to "produce a vicious bark".
Mr Mildon said the key was to record the dog at different pitches so it wouldn't sound staged.
"We've recorded it so it sounds like the dog is moving around. It gets louder at times, so they'll think it's close to the door. This way they don't know where the dog is, they just know it's in the building somewhere."
Although the CD sold for $39, Mr Mildon said it was nothing compared to the costs of owning a guard dog.
"If you look at the amount of work involved with a real dog it reflects many reasons why the CD is good, such as the size of people's property, no vet fees, you don't have to register a dog and you don't have to worry about your friends getting bitten."
- HAWKE'S BAY TODAY
