This is long, but please bear with me and read it through.

Today was my last day of classes (before finals that is), and tonight after going ice skating with my girlfriend, I drove up to my mom's place to crash and get my head together for finals on monday. Let me preface this by saying I already had an unusual day, and was a little bit on edge form some things that happend earlier in the week.

So, I pulled into her driveway and noticed immediately that the power was completely out at her place (no Christmas lights tipped me off first). I immediately jump out of my truck and dial 911 on my cell phone and pull out my trusty Gerber knife (no CCW permit yet, no firearms allowed on campus anyways though, so even if I had a concealed permit, I wouldn't have been carrying at the time).

I go in and immediately wake up my mom, then do as good a job as possible of sweeping her house with the dog, my knife, and my phone on the ready. Thankfully, she (and everything in the home) was ok, and it was just a coincidence that the power was out (it came back on about 1/2 hour later).

After trying to calm down a little bit, I started to ask her some general questions about how secure she keeps the place, and she mentioned that just a few hours earlier she came into her bedroom to find that there was a window open about 4", and she had no recollection of how it got that way. My adrenaline immediately went through the roof, but again everything seemed OK.

So, what I'm looking for are recommendations on how to keep her more secure, and give myself a little more piece of mind when I'm away.

Here's where she stands right now:

When she bought the house ~1 year ago, I went though and changed all the locks, and checked all the hardware on the doors and windows, in addition to making sure all the exterior flood lighting worked.

She has a dog, but he is 13 years old, and though agressive and fiery during the day, 9/10 times when I get to her place in the middle of the night, he doesn't even stir from his bed. I've been trying to encourage her to get a larger, more agressive dog, but she isn't having it.

Despite growing up in the country, she has never fired a gun and is not comfortable having one in her home. There are only three people with keys to her house (me, her, and her boyfriend who is an Air Force veteran, and whom I would trust with my life).

There is a security system in the house, but it's broken and she has been reluctant to get it working/get a subscription because she "Won't ever use it anyways."

Any tips/tricks pointers y'all can give would be greatly appreciated. I'll be setting aside at leas one long weekend over break to get her place squared away.

Thanks in advance,

Adam

I'm sure there must be a decent site out there that will give you a checklist with solutions.

Have you ever seen the show "It takes a thief"?  They have 2 ex burglars break into your house and trash it, just to show how vulnerable you are.  Then they come back and return your stuff and explain what needs to be done to protect yourself.  The show pays to upgrade your house and then they come back unscheduled and try and break in again in the near future to see how well you did.  Great show.

I don't even lock my doors,lol.  I have a $10k audio system in my car and even that is unlocked as we speak.  I'm the worst, too trusting, but I never been robbed either.

Good luck in making moms place a little safer.

There is a security system in the house, but it's broken and she has been reluctant to get it working/get a subscription

Theres your answer...

Get some motion lights for the outside of the house, and like Unabasser said, get the security system fixed and subscribed.  

LBH stated:

I'm sure there must be a decent site out there that will give you a checklist with solutions.

I would follow LBH's advice.  Regarding the security system, these are great if you can afford to have them subscribed.  I don't know your Mother's financial situation, but for some people, this is an expense that they can't justify.  Motion lights and a dog that wakes up and barks when anything unusual occurs at night are also great ideas which have already been mentioned.  You could rig her house like the kid did on "Home Alone."