Wording for Gate Sign

[monstersinthedungeon]

Could someone please help me with wording for a gate sign?

Some stupid woman (total stranger) opened the farm gate into our house yard this morning, drove up to the house and left the gate wide open. Our dogs were loose, it was lucky they didn't hurl down the driveway and onto the road. The gate is left closed for a reason - young dogs in training, still not 100% recall, thank goodness they listened to me this morning. To me a closed gate says DON'T ENTER without announcing your arrival.

I gave her a piece of my mind and pointed out that there is a sign on the gate saying Be Aware of Dogs Do Not Enter  "Well I thought it was my friend's house" she snapped at me, jumped back in her car and in a spray of gravel was gone. I am still shaking, it gave me such a fright - everyone else has always driven up to the gate and tooted their horn and waited to be let in.

So I need to make up a ginormous sign for simple-minded people like her, but can't quite get the wording right.

Bascially along the lines of Dogs loose, don't enter, stay here and toot your horn and wait for us to let you in - but more concise.

I have written:

NO ENTRY: DOGS LOOSE!

Please sound horn for attention.

but it sounds pompous, the word attention is wrong but I can't think of a suitable alternative?

[monstersinthedungeon]

:^O  Viewmont, that is absolutely classic! 

None of our dogs are vicious, but they do bark at cars coming down the driveway, yesterday however five of them were still inside and only two outside. One of them barked, but not the usual frantic "someone strange is here" bark and the other one didn't bark at all, extremely unusual.

It was weird, but after analysis I wondered if it was because our old boss dog Tango wasn't here to lead the charge (he was given his wings a couple of weeks ago) and the other two didn't have the same confidence without him.

After it was all over I must admit I came inside and had a bit of a sook when I realised that if Tango was still here she would never have dared come inside (he wasn't vicious either, but had a natural supreme confidence and, being a GSD, people tend to be naturally wary of them). It brought home with a thump what a huge hole he has left in our household.:-(

[cq_tech]

You definitely need to lock the gate.

After all, there is every likelihood that the person who said they "thought it was her friend's place" was in fact casing isolated homes and properties in order to burgle them.

Don't think it won't happen to you, either. Only 2 weeks ago, I went out at 1115 on Monday to do a bit of shopping, and when I arrived home less than an hour later, somebody had jemmied the side gate, then did their level best to get inside the upstairs part of my house, cutting fly screens and trying windows (which all had locks on them, fortunately), and damaging the screen doors while attempting to break in both the front and back doors.

They didn't get in upstairs, but did manage to gain access to beneath the house where I keep all my tools and electronics equipment, yet for some inexplicable reason, they stole absolutely nothing, which leads me to believe they were kids looking for money or other easily portable valuables.

Although that's the first break-in I've had in the 28 years I've lived here, I nevertheless replaced a few locks which I felt may have been inadequate, and have asked the neighbours to keep their eyes open during the daytime.

[purple.cow]

I have an automatic locking 6ft hgh gate on the roadway end of my property driveway with an intercom beside it, no signs of any type, don't need them.

The gate needs to be opened from the house or by using the 4 digit code remote controller in my car.

The gate will not stop anyone climbing over it if they want to take the risk of the steel spikes along the top of it or climbing over the barged wire topped 6 foot fence both sides of it, but it does prevent everyone from entering the property by vehicle unless I permit them to.

Everyone who knows me has learned to phone before turning up, and those who don't can go to hell as far as I'm concerned.

It was a toss up between having the gate installed or one of those sets of spikes you can raise or lower at will, but then you have to have a warning sign to stop fools ripping their tyres apart on them because they can't see nice big, clearly written signs lol.

This may well sound like overload but for me it's a matter of ensuring my private world stays totally private.

Because I originate from South Africa I see it as being an everyday thing.

[monstersinthedungeon]

CQ, I absolutely hear what you're saying, but she didn't seem the "type" - she was a matronly looking woman in her 50's/early 60s. She did have a passenger in the car, but I was so busy trying to ensure the young dog didn't get out the gate she left wide open, I didn't get a good look at them. I know you can't go by appearances, she may well have been casing the place, but I think she was just really, really stoopid.

The gate is now padlocked and will stay that way until we can afford to install an auto-gate (which self-locks).

Moorna, that was the same sort of setup we had in suburbia. 7' high colourbond fences and a key-code/zapper gate (but no spikes/barbed wire). I put the sign up 'cos I was getting sick of being buzzed by door knockers. We can't do the same here because the property is huge and even a lotto win wouldn't cover colourbond fencing around it!

[monstersinthedungeon]

Oh, and should have said, CQ, so sorry that happened to you, it is such a terrible invasion of privacy and leaves you feeling so vulnerable.

[purple.cow]

Moorna, that was the same sort of setup we had in suburbia. 7' high colourbond fences and a key-code/zapper gate (but no spikes/barbed wire). I put the sign up 'cos I was getting sick of being buzzed by door knockers. We can't do the same here because the property is huge and even a lotto win wouldn't cover colourbond fencing around it!

I'm on acreage too, hence the wire mesh fencing topped with barbed wire and not colourbond steel fencing..

It's mainly native bush until you get closer to the house area which gives me the privacy I like to enjoy.

I didn't want any signs on the roadway end where the main gate is because I thought it might attract unwanted attention to it.

It tends to be more open country when you get to where it joins the beach area at the back of the house area but there's the same wire fence on the property boundry there too, and it's screened reasonably well by trees and shrubs that the previous owner planted long ago.

The gate to get onto the beach is locked manually.

I don't get random door knockers because my place is a few K from the nearest town and off the main road.

I have seen the odd idiot rattling at the beach gate from time to time though and can't figure out why they do it when it's clearly there to prevent them entering the property and has a small sign on it saying PRIVATE PROPERTY.

[cq_tech]

Oh, and should have said, CQ, so sorry that happened to you, it is such a terrible invasion of privacy and leaves you feeling so vulnerable.

Thank you, monsters, I must admit that it's a very disconcerting thought to know that somebody has been prowling through your personal property, despite their apparently having taken nothing from beneath the house, although I shudder to think what might have happened had they gained entry to the upstairs section.

Around 10 years ago, the woman living 3 doors down from me was bashed to death with a clothes iron when she disturbed somebody inside her home, and because she lived alone it was a few days before anybody missed her so by the time her body was discovered, the trail had gone cold, and to this day the offender has still not been apprehended. 😞

Anyway, I'm pleased you've already padlocked the gate, although ultimately a remote controlled electric gate with intercom would appear to be the ideal solution, albeit a little expensive, but the sense of security provided would be worth the cost IMO.