Based in Columbia, S.C., SDM 100 26th-ranked Electric Guard Dog (EGD) was founded in 1973 by inventor Bill Mullis and soon became one of the largest guard dog companies in the U.S. Changing the business model from guard dogs to electrified fencing was necessitated by Mullis’ need to protect his own business. In 1991, after getting broken into twice, Mullis developed an electric security fence. When he realized it was more effective than the dogs, he soon phased them out, and Electric Guard Dog took off.
EGD has three layers of protection — physical deterrent, shock deterrent and alarm deterrent, says Electric Guard Dog CEO Jack DeMao, who was hired as CEO in 2007. Built inside a regular, existing fence, the 10-foot high electric security fence provides a physical deterrent; a 7,000-volt electric current pulsates through the fence every 1.3 seconds to provide a shock deterrent; and, in the case of an extreme scenario such as a truck driving through the fence, a drop in voltage will trigger a siren and alert the customer through a central station, providing the alarm deterrent. “Of the four levels of security — deter, detect, delay and respond — deter is the most desirable,” DeMao says. “Ninety-five percent of our customers report zero crime after having the system installed.”