Don't have anything valuable. Or at least, don't appear to.
Look like you care about upkeep and security. You don't have to outrun the bear, etc.
Secure your air conditioners if they're in-window. That's so easy to do.
Avoid doors which have glass near the doorknob. I watched This Old House putting in a beautiful glass door in a crappy part of Boston and all I could think was smash and twist.
Watch out for other means of entry — popping out screens and windows can be avoided if you keep the area around the window clear (no garbage cans to stand on, no shrubs to climb), or if you're really worried, bars on the windows(!). A large dog door can be a way in; secure it.
But mostly, don't look like a target.
A search for "electronic dog door" and/or "selective dog door" turns up several products ranging from $80 to $200 (though they are others that go up to $500), depending on size you need, for example:
There's lots of small selective cat doors, they do seem to get much more expensive as you go bigger.
As far as DIY, there are several ways to do this, and the complexity will really depend on exactly what you do, and how much experience you have doing electronics and embedded programming. An instructable on an RFID cat door may get you started.
Effectively, you just need to buy/build the actual door, which is capable of being locked by some mechanism (I would suggest not using one of the flexible flap ones).
Then you need a lock mechanism that can be controlled electronically, such as a solenoid, linear actuator, or servomotor.
Finally, you need the sensor and control circuitry. An Arduino is probably a good staring place for the controller. For the sensor, RFID has a lot of benefits, but as some of the off-the-shelf products show, you could also use infrared and/or magnetic sensors. I would think those would be more finicky to get working reliably, whereas RFID is pretty simple: just mount the antenna so it can pick up the tag attached to the dog's collar when close to the door.
Here's another instructable on interfacing RFID to the Ardunio. All that needs is an output hooked up to the lock mechanism you build, and the software to hold the lock open for a few seconds after detecting a valid RFID tag.
Note that the hardware to do this DIY isn't necessarily cheap, and in fact, probably approaches the $100-200 price tag on some of the off-the-shelf doors. Great learning experience but don't expect to save much cash DIY here.
Best Answer
Forget securing the door, and install a security system with a motion sensor. Put labels up outside saying there is a security system (some people only put labels up, and don't have a real system).
Even if you have a door with a locking mechanism, if someone manages to defeat it (eg, kicks it open) or you forget to lock it, you still have the alarm go off.
Most motion sensors are "pet safe" in that it takes something over eg, 40 lbs or 80lbs to actually trigger (they have a rating and there are different sizes, so you can get a lower rating if you have a poodle and a bigger one if you have a great dane).