friendly guard dog

[ruthcatrin]

Some dogs are more guardy than others, its a temperment issue, some have stronger guard instincts than others. I'm not sure its an either/or black/white issue.

 

[chuckorlando]

Well first and for most some folks like natural attack dogs because we dont want you to get any chance at all. None. For example, someone comes up selling cable. Talks to you for 20min and all seems fine. Now that excepting dog just lost the fight for you. Now another reason for say a fila over a neo, well you know the fila will do it's job with a much higher degree of certainty. Why, well because as dd said, many of these dogs are watered down versions of what they were. Then we come to trained verse natrual. Well you can train a dog to jump out a window but that dont mean it will jump when theres a fire. Your dog can be tapped with all the little bamboo sticks and bite all the sleaves and still ball up when a gun shot goes off or someone comes in and slaps the hell out of them. Where some dogs are designed with that nerve set naturally You can train a poodle to heard but it's rare one would out heard a natural herder. I mean the fact is, unless your dog is trained to do what you want, your rolling the dice on them saving you. We love to think they will. WE LOVE IT. But few breeds that are untrained, even know when to or how to stand in the the paint.

All that being said in another famous run on paragraph. ahahahahaha. Theres nothing wrong with any of these dogs or how the guard, dont guard, bite or lay down. Long as that dog fits the bill for you. If you want a no questions asked kinda dog then you buy one known for that. If you want a trained to comand dog, well then you train for that, if you want a friendly dog that "knows" a real threat, then I would say socialize, temp test, work, test, work and hope it does the job

 

[masteneo]

All i am saying is . Is it so bad if your guard dog likes people. Not like a lab not one that seeks it out so much as is just indefferent. Is it the owner or the dog that wants the dog to not want strangers around good or bad.
Maybe i am not being clear.

I think the problem here is kinda a misunderstanding. In order to have a dog that has natural guard instincts be ok with SOME folks and not others requires a ton of training. the reason for this is , dogs are typically more simply wired. They either want to hang with everyone including folks not from their pac. we all know dogs like this who wander around the neighborhood, running up greeting everyone. The other type of dog is more of what i call a "pac " dog. this dog knows it belongs to a group of people and knows naturally to protect his "domain". This is natural in more "guard" type breeds. The problem occurs when you try to blend these two types of dog in one meat head. This type of training when really put to the test , requires a huge amount of time and skill to perfect. Many dogs frequently do not have the brain power to understand this training. So what you are purposing is not impossible , just a big ole undertaking. remember that the dog has to have a bit of natural brain to them to understand whats being taught. Second the dog may also be vocal but not ready to hold their ground when push comes to shove. we have had a few discussion on pups that seem like they would guard the house, but in reality we were fooling ourselves with vocalizations by the dog. It was untested , unfounded security. Something that when thought out is kinda scary. So having said all that, I hope I shared a bit of my migraine with you , LOL

 

[Geisthexe]

May I ask all that have replied do you do protection work?
Have your dogs learned to guard?
Do you honestly believe a very well socialized dog will guard?


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[chuckorlando]

I own a fila so no I dont see a need to teach how to attack and honestly feel it could hurt more than help

 

[DennasMom]

From Mike's description of the perfect BB (my ignorant interpretation anyway) - they are a guard dog at home (snapping at the fence line definitely sounds like guarding to me!), and when they are 'off-property', they are interested in being more social and laid-back, as they are 'off-the-job' - although, I bet they'd be back 'on-the-job' if an obvious threat presented itself.

I'm hopeful that Denna has some instincts in the watch/guard category, but I'm comfortable with them being well buried. She's not expected to guard anything, and her bark is big enough now that if she makes a fuss, our neighbors will be looking to see what the problem is. As we live in suburbia, neighbors are under 50 yards away in all directions, so they'll probably be calling us to get her to be quiet, too!

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

just curious...what "category" of "guard dog" does the DDB fall under? from what I've read the DDB is more of a "watch dog" not so much a "guard dog", meaning he will watch and alert me to intruders, but not so aggressive; or that DDB's are guard dogs simply because their size and features are enough of a deterrent to intruders. Just curious about the experiences of other DDB owners...I'm curious if as Kujo matures will he become more protective of me and not so friendly to everyone, right now he thinks everyone and their mom is his friend!

---------- Post added at 01:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

and sorry for interrupting the flow of this thread...sometimes I can't help myself...

DDB's like most of today's mastiff's are watch dogs, not guard dogs. Their size like most mastiffs will deter most would be criminals. Barking or growling at an intruder also doesn't mean its a guard dog. IMO unless the dog has the bite to back of the bark the dog is no different than an ADT alarm.

May I ask all that have replied do you do protection work?
Have your dogs learned to guard?
Do you honestly believe a very well socialized dog will guard?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

1)Nope, planning on it though.
2)Thor is a good alarm system and puts up a bluff that scares most. However he is far from a "true" guard dog. :lol: Stone is too young to be tested, when he reaches maturity I will assess him as well.
3)I think if a dog has a good "switch" meaning its been trained. Then yes. Otherwise I think most are good alarm systems that bring their owners a false sense of security.

 

[ruthcatrin]

May I ask all that have replied do you do protection work?
Have your dogs learned to guard?
Do you honestly believe a very well socialized dog will guard?


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1. Nope. I own a TM, like Chuck said with Filas, with very few exceptions TMs being trained in protection work results in bad things

2. Learned? Nope. Instinctively guard and require teaching to learn that some things are ok? Yup.

3. Yup, though I'll admit that it depends on a dog, but the better socialized the dog the better they understand what is and is not normal.

All of the above is tempered by the the fact that my preference is for TMs and like type dogs, and thats where most of my experience lies.


And I still think the OPs problem is a miss understanding of the words 'friendly' and 'tolerant'.

 

[Smokeycat]

I think you did, I was trying to use what you said as an example, sorry.

Not a problem.

 

[lilliesmomma]

Guard dogs are meant to do that, guard. For most people this is their home or person. When I got my corsi I wanted a breed that I can take out in public but that has no real interest in greeting random strangers, I don't require it and if I had wanted it I would have gotten a lab as opposed to the breed I did. That being said a correct temperament in any of the breeds (unless we are talking a fila or primative) is aloof but stable. No where would I think a stable dog is going off attacking or lunging at random people or kids when out in public. I have both ends of the spectrum in my home, corsi that like most people and ones that don't give a rats a$$ for anyone but our family. Both can be taken out in public and know they are to behave with manners whether they like people or not. If I have my dogs that aren't into strangers and people go to pet the dog I block them and explain that this particular corso doesn't really like being pet by strangers, if I have my friendlier ones and they ask and show sense on how to properly greet a dog then I will have no problem with them petting my dog. That being said my dogs whether it is the ones that like strangers or don't know the difference between a child that wanders up to pet them and an adult that knows better. I think the biggest issue is people don't read the standard for their breed and understand what the true temperament is, they see a dog the like the look of it but want it to behave contrary to its nature. Most people also don't seem to understand "aloof or discerning of strangers" or crap stability either at this point so are surprised when their dog reacts the way it is supposed to in regards to suspicious things.

What she said!!!

 

[DDBsR4Me]

Was the thread the OP is referring to in the initial post on this forum? Or a different forum?

 

[Kelly]

May I ask all that have replied do you do protection work?
Have your dogs learned to guard?
Do you honestly believe a very well socialized dog will guard?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just saw this thread so responding now.
I haven't trained either my lab/pit or EM to guard, and no plans to.
Have they learned to guard? No, lab/pt mix brings shoes to most strangers. Unless they put their hands on the gate, then they better not come in. My EM barks at them, but she's never really done anything physical other than blocking with her body. I usally take over though.
Do I believe a well socialized dog will guard? Oh yes. As someone put it on another forum, when they are well socialized they learn that not all mustachio'd men, bearded men, women with spiked hair, people in uniforms, etc are bad. They learn to use that "other sense" to judge people. I walked out of a store a few months ago and there was a border collie tied up there, and when this dog saw my white stick (blind stick) it FREAKED out. that's not a properly socialized dog, imho.

 

[ruthcatrin]

Was the thread the OP is referring to in the initial post on this forum? Or a different forum?

Down in Training, GlasgowDogTrainer wrote up a long post about how he feels all mastiffs should act like labs. Titled 'proper behavior for mastiffs' or similer

 

[chuckorlando]

Well if he will sign a waiver and a gag order on any damage, I absolutly let buddy come labafie Kona. And frankly, it kinda pisses me off when any one pushes their thoughts on others. Oh your wrong cause you aint doing it like me. To each their own

 

[DDBsR4Me]

Down in Training, GlasgowDogTrainer wrote up a long post about how he feels all mastiffs should act like labs. Titled 'proper behavior for mastiffs' or similer

Thanks! ....I gotta say I don't agree with his/her view if that's what he feels - if I wanted a dog that acted like a lab, I'd buy a lab!

 

[ruthcatrin]

Thanks! ....I gotta say I don't agree with his/her view if that's what he feels - if I wanted a dog that acted like a lab, I'd buy a lab!

That about boils it down. GDT basically insists that if the dog isn't friendly he's aggressive. I think whats getting the OP here confused is that she doesn't understand the difference between 'friendly' and 'tolerant' as she keeps refering to dogs liking strangers as 'tolerant'.

 

[cwayaustx]

Aloof........

 

[lilliesmomma]

Ok, my two cents here: Abby (EM) is 10 months, well socialized, loves kids and adults. The other night we were out front at night when a neighbor boy was walking really strange past our house, Abby barked, front feet jumped off the ground and she ran around the parked car in front of the house and started chasing him. She stopped when I called her, I don't know what she would of done had her turned around to meet her. She may of run behind me.
Lillie (EM) my 2 yr old, was not well socialized, barks at everything that walks in front of the house and barks at ALL strangers that come in my house and will either get between me and the "stranger" or will stand across me if I'm on the couch.
Two different up bringings and I'm not sure which if either one I'd trust to really protect me. I just hope their size will deter someone from breaking in. Lillie sleeps with me so if someone does come in to my room she would bark and stand over me hopefully long enough for me to grab my ballbat!!

 

[masteneo]

Well if he will sign a waiver and a gag order on any damage, I absolutly let buddy come labafie Kona. And frankly, it kinda pisses me off when any one pushes their thoughts on others. Oh your wrong cause you aint doing it like me. To each their own

yeah chuck, being I am an old countryfied texas boy who taught most of my doggy school stuff to myself, I get alot of the " well my way came from his majesty sir specials training, so its the Right way." remember they all have this look they get when they say it too. makes me kinda giggle when i think about it. Oh well

 

[Duetsche_Doggen]

Well if he will sign a waiver and a gag order on any damage, I absolutly let buddy come labafie Kona. And frankly, it kinda pisses me off when any one pushes their thoughts on others. Oh your wrong cause you aint doing it like me. To each their own

Is it too much to ask for a youtube video if this happens?