Letting the dogs deal with them is always good. If you happen to be at home, it can even be a spectator sport as a friend of mine found out when his dog discovered an uninvited guest borrowing tools from his garage.
To be fair to the Gardai, they played a blinder when our neighbours were done over before Christmas, even got the helicopter out. Unfortunately the perps got away. Same crew was responsible for a string of burglaries from Monahan to Ashbourne they said. They had cars in the locality actively looking for these guys but it just wasn't their day to catch them.