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Would a Fila be the right dog for us, advice please?

Hi all, I've been reading the forum for a while but this is my first post, so I'm sorry if I've put it in the wrong place.

I've been looking at Filas for a long time, and we're now in a position to get one, but I wanted some advice really on whether they would be a good breed choice for us.

Some background, my husband and I live in northern Canada and own 150 acres of mixed forest, river valley and grassland. We have a large open plan house with ten acres of land immediately surrounding it securely fenced with a seven foot high fencing.

We have a toddler son who is very rough and tumble but who is incredibly gentle and respectful with animals (we've been very firm in teaching him this) he adores all animals. We currently have two dogs and two cats. The cats are used to dogs and not at all bothered by them,they're both very gentle too, and just hop up out of the way if they've had enough of the dogs.
Our dogs, we have two adult Caucasian Ovcharkas, amale and a female, both neutered. We've had both since they were pups and they are highly trained and obediant. They live in the house with us (sleep on their own mattress at the bottom of our bed), but are free to roam and play in the ten fenced acres as much as they want. They are also walked twice per day.

We would like to get another dog, and whilst we would happily get another Ovcharka (we adore the breed) we though it might be nice to have a different breed. Filas appealed because of their distrust of strangers and their loyalty/affection for family. I am at home all day with our son (and will be a stay at home mom until our son goes to college), and having dogs capable of protecting us makes me feel a lot safer. I've had bad experiences with living in remote locations without protection before and I don't ever want those situations again.

Given all of this, would a Fila be suitable do you think? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

aceoutdoor

Well-Known Member
With your acreage, proper fencing and previous experience with Ovies, you sound like the perfect Fila owner. The one area of concern would be your toddler. Filas would never purposely hurt anyone in the family. However they are amazingly agile and precise dogs when focused such as a pursuit or when hunting, ironically they can be clumsy goofballs when relaxed at home and knock a child down by mistake. The most dangerous thing about a Fila to their owners is their claws. Filas can never get "too close" to you, even if their head is laying on your chest. They constantly offer their paw as a way to get closer so to speak, and can unintentionally scratch you. With kids especially you must keep that in mind. Keeping their nails trimmed and filed helps a bunch. Good luck, its an adventure.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
I think you would be perfect. The only problem would be having two same sex dogs from breeds that can be very Alpha. There will be some that will tell you that as long as you are a strong leader and establish yourself as Alpha, you won't have any problems. For the most part that is true. HOWEVER, almost every trainer and breeder that is worth their salt has a story about "that" dog or the two dogs that could never coexist.

Fila's are different from the Caucasian's. While both are excellent guarding breeds, Caucasian's will allow people around. Most well bred Fila's will not. Anytime you have visitors your Fila must be restrained. If you child is going to have friends over, you will always have to make damn sure the Fila is put up. A visitor is anyone that does not live with them.

They are wonderful dogs. Please keep us posted if you decide to get one or have more questions.
 
Thanks very much for your reply and advice. Our son is very tall for his age (wears age 6-7 years clothing) and he has had the pawing on occasion from our dogs, he's not fussed and we always supervised him with them (for everyone's sakes). He's also been bowled over a couple of times, so we're careful to make sure he's out of the way of charging dogs on the rare occasion our dogs do charge.
That's great news, I've admired them for years. Our vacations are always taken hiking in national parks with our dogs (and our son in a sling on my back) so hopefully that would suit a Fila too.
 
I should have added that our Caucasians will not allow anyone around, we deliberately chose two pups (not littermates, our female is nine months older than our male) with very antisocial tendencies.
They treat anyone not living in the house with absolute suspicion and distaste, they will sit and watch once we assure them that the person or people is to be tolerated,but they do not like strangers.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
Depending on the temp of your Fila they may or may not just sit and watch. Most with a strong temp Fila will keep them restrained by keeping them leashed or crating them. Fila's, when they think a threat is eminent will react. I also would not be taking my Fila hiking off leash if there is any possibility that people will be around.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
You own COs and you've succeeded in training them. A fila, in my opinion would be easier to train than a CO. The only things I would worry about are rank issues within the pack and some resource guarding between your family members and the other dogs. Other than that, go for it.

Uh, but if your fila has a true temp - hiking off leash in the woods could be very dangerous.
 
Thanks angelbears, our Caucasians are leashed when we hike so that wouldn't be a problem, we only tend to go over very gentle terrain anyway. That sounds ideal, leashing wouldn't be a problem when we have people around, we've had quite a lot of problems with bad news drifters over the last year, and getting worse, even with our Caucasians I would feel safer with a Fila, I think.
 

DDSK

Well-Known Member
I have no experiance with Filas, but from my reading here in this forum and other places on the net, Filas are no joke and are serious dogs. Filas also could become quite a liability. A moment unattended and the postman, ups guy, plumber or whoever, maybe a family member visiting could become the victim of an attack.
Sounds like you have the perfect compound for this breed, but I would make sure your homeowners insurance policy would cover you should your Fila attack an innocent person on your property.
Personally I think I would rather have a less intensive dog maybe something like a Borborel. I think they would cover your needs for protection and security.
Why use an elephant gun when a deer rifle is more than adequate to do the job.
 
Thanks Hector, nope, no way would we hike off leash - off leash is reserved for our own land where we can be certain that there are no other people or dogs. Good news that a Fila would be easier to train, COs certainly are strong willed! We were worried about rank issues with our two, but with careful introductioins, time and supervision they live together very harmoniously now. We were thinking about a female Fila, does that sound sensible?
 
DDSK, we have an intercome and locked gates at the edge of our land and then again at the edge of the compound (sounds like Jurassic Park when put like that!). Nobody can get in without us activating the gates. I haven't ever owned a boerboel but we wanted a dog with a stronger dislike of strangers than our COs, after looking at all of the other characteristics a Fila seemed a good fit, happy to be advised otherwise though.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
I would not go with two females. Females will fight to the death and just like women they don't let a grudge go. Males don't tend to hold a grudge the same. At least with Fila's females are much nastier. Most will say that female Fila can be sneaky about a bite(on a human), males give you more of a warning.
 

Hector

Well-Known Member
Thanks Hector, nope, no way would we hike off leash - off leash is reserved for our own land where we can be certain that there are no other people or dogs. Good news that a Fila would be easier to train, COs certainly are strong willed! We were worried about rank issues with our two, but with careful introductioins, time and supervision they live together very harmoniously now. We were thinking about a female Fila, does that sound sensible?

I would probably lean towards what your COs will be more accepting of.
 

Ivan

Active Member
I don't understand why your ovcharka's can't give you a safe feeling included locked gates?

Never experienced the breed but felt like they were strong defenders of property? Excellent guarding dogs outside on the land?

Purebred authentic Fila wil defend convincing but good fila is hard to find...
 

Ivan

Active Member
knew them from movies like this: [video=youtube;oMWj29k6WaI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMWj29k6WaI[/video]

seemed prety agressive to strangers or be trained that way?

kangal not an option?
 

xcrazydx

Banned
If you want protection get a shotgun, rifle, handgun and some training. Humans protect their animals, not the other way around.
 

angelbears

Well-Known Member
If you want protection get a shotgun, rifle, handgun and some training. Humans protect their animals, not the other way around.

I see it more of a partnership. I have his back and he has mine. I would never put one of my dogs in danger on purpose. For example, I would not open my door and send my dog out just because I saw someone breaking into our truck. However, if someone is breaking into the house, my dogs just might buy me time to get my gun and protect both of us.
 

xcrazydx

Banned
I see it more of a partnership. I have his back and he has mine. I would never put one of my dogs in danger on purpose. For example, I would not open my door and send my dog out just because I saw someone breaking into our truck. However, if someone is breaking into the house, my dogs just might buy me time to get my gun and protect both of us.
I agree with that
 

fila4me

Well-Known Member
I would suggest a male.
You have amazing protectors already with your Caucasians . I have many friends with them and they are no joke. Many of them have gone from Filas to CO's.
The Fila will not leave you and will stay even closer in the face of any f type of danger. In regards to being careful with your son, my children were born into a home with multiple Filas and have brought new pup home to young son. Never an issue, he just had a crash the other day while riding his bike and he got flipped and thrown after being plowed into by his 120 lb girl she went over to scan him for injuries. The stories I could tell of my Filas and how amazing they are with my kids would take days.
 

SG1

Well-Known Member
My question is the same as Ivan. The two COs are more than enough to handle any man or beast that may present a problem. Why pour gasoline on a fire?

If you do get the FB you will have one huge problem from day one which is keeping them from fighting. The two COs have established themselves with each other and simply raising them together is not gong to unify them unless you know what your doing. Upon meeting they will recognize each other as a fighter and will want to find out who's who and what's what. If you get a pup the CO that is the same sex as the pup may want to take him or her out immediately before he or she is old enough to pose a problem. Not that it will matter to the CO or the FB if the situation was reversed. If the FB survives to be of sufficient size to defend itself he will still have to deal with two dogs. It does not matter which two of the three starts the fight the second CO will help the other one.

To answer your question Would a Fila be the right dog for you my answer is no. You are already loaded for bear don't create a problem in your pack were one does not exist.