Does anyone have a stupid dog, that is almost useless?

[umaggb]

The fact that you haven't seen protective behavior from your dog doesn't mean you wont.

I had a German shepherd mix back in 1985 that was a good dog, smart dog, a real lover dog. I didn't think she would be much help in a danger situation.

One rainy night in a campground she was on a chain staked in front of the tent doorway, under our rain tarpaulin. When the park ranger started to come into the camp she started her impression of Cujo. The ranger called in hello in the camp, I'm the ranger could you come out here please cause I' m not going in there.

I had never seen that side of her before but since my wife and I had already retired for the evening she took on the responsibility of guard duty. If I had been up she wouldn't have made a sound. Since I as alpha dog wasn't there she stepped up to the plate. They know when and when not to be protective.

 

[ilbob]

Current beagle is not real interested in being a watch dog. She spends most of her time sleeping and only really cares about squirrels invading her yard. Would probably slobber on a burglar.

I was pretty proud of her a couple of months ago, though. Was watching something on TV and a lion roared and woke her up. She absolutely demanded I let her go outside to deal with the cat.

 

[gripper]

Shaina looks like a good girl....I still have a soft spot for the breed in general.

 

[rondog]

and this is Ralph, in addition to barking he will pee the floor if someone comes in.

Atta boy Ralphie!!! Laying down a slip hazard for the burglar to break his neck!!

 

[blkbrd666]

I have a 17 year old Cocker that is completely deaf since a stroke a few years ago. Got lucky by associating sign language with voice commands all his life...so we can still communicate now. He has adjusted to detecting my arrival by feeling the pressure change in the house when the door is opened quickly, or if I am careful to try to sneak in, he can pick up my scent and come looking for me. He was an absolute terror to visitors when he was young, but he's mellowed out over the years...still barks at strangers approaching the house though.


Treo,

Yes, he knows sign language.

 

[telomere]

Useless?

Would you rather have a dog that barks at every little noise in the yard, and keeps you up at night? Than get a Jack Russell or something like that. But then again you would probably then think that dog was "stupid" because he wouldn't stop barking at everything.
Danes aren't generally thought of as guard dog material. A great Dane has the inherent value of being F'ing big. That should be enough to scare quite a few people off anyway.
And since your dog doesn't automatically attempt to kill anyone on your property he is stupid/useless?
My guess would be that you are so overly excitable about activity around your house that the dog doesn't think he needs to alert you to anything.
I actually think he is probably much smarter than you give him credit for. He probably knows it is you coming home and figures if he barked in the middle of the night to tell YOU that YOU were coming through the door, you would probably not be to nice to him/appreciate the warning.
I'd also say that calling someone stupid and useless doesn't sound very much like any sort of love I have ever heard of.

 

[Frog48]

My 3 1/2 year old Boston Terrier, Dixie, is the smartest dog I've ever had or met. She obeys perfectly, and knows when it is OK to bark, and when it is not. She's very friendly and sweet, but becomes very suspicious and protective when strangers come to the door, or when she's surprised/startled. Even though she's only 20 lbs, I have no doubt that she'd try her best to fight off an aggressive intruder. You honestly could not ask for a better dog than her.

 

[CWL]

In addition to my beagle (who would bark up a storm), my Border Collie is the protector of the house.

She is a rescued animal and really understands the difference of her current life v. her abused past. Really sweet animal, would let anyone pet her for hours if they had the time.

We have good neighbors who are very well-known to our dogs. I gave them a set our our keys so they could drop-in anytime to check-up on the dogs while we are at work. The only time our neighbor tried, the border collie met her at the door, didn't bark, just stood there and bared her fangs, -our neighbor just backed out the door and left. No hint of any aggression since then to our neighbors, just knew her duty to protect the house when me or my wife are not there.

 

[Pilgrim]

If you want a dog that'll raise hell at bumps in the night, get a Schipperke. Very small, looks like a black bear, but fearless and very territorial. Too small to do any real physical damage, but they'll wake up the whole neighborhood.

The now ex-PMS brought home a Schipperke from a dog show. The darn thing 'ate' the kitchen floor. When I came home from a seven month deployment, the dog had worked on a small nick in the vinyl flooring and pulled every bit of vinyl up exposing the sub floor.

Pilgrim

 

[gregormeister]

My Chow is deaf as deaf can be.....I can literally walk to his box and yell his name and I still get nothing but his snores in reply....:banghead:

 

[gotime242]

How does your dog act when people it's never met come to the door?

It doesnt do anything, its just kind of thinks people are coming to play with him or something.

 

[Wang]

I have a Beagle and he barks at anyone that comes into the yard.
He has one bark for people he knows and one for strangers. I might add that he would open the door for a burglar that offered him food. He would help them carry things out if enough food was offered.

 

[ShunZu]

Pound rescue this past November. Great little gal, fully grown in this pic, believe it or not. Combination of Shepherd and Corgi.... instinctively protective but isn't hostile to family or friends, doesn't use up room in the bass boat and travels great. <bragging mode off>

 

[highfive]

I have a white German Shepherd and she is only 6 months old..but she already barks if a stranger gets near, she even growls...she don't bark at the neighbors though. so far, so good I'm loving that dog

 

[Noxx]

I noticed that the OP's dog is a Harlequin. I don't know if you've ever had his hearing checked, they are genetically inclined to hearing problems and deafness.

Both of mine are fine for making a lot of noise, but only Jimmy (big dog) is serious about intruders / strangers. Rose would just lick anyone to death.

 

[garlicguy]

Here's a picture of one of our canines (Sarge) helping me improve my groups.

gg

 

[Exmasonite]

does the dog hear other things? i have a merle (black/white/grey) great dane who is deaf... clinically, categorically deaf. doesn't here a thing.

some dogs also have auditory deficits at certain frequencies (can't hear low vs. high noises). something to keep in mind.

 

[CajunBass]

My wife has two, not one, STUPID, WORTHLESS, sacks of...........well you know what, who's only purpose in life is to turn dog food into dog ......... well, you know what and shed hair all over everything (American Eskimos). The only bark at three things. Anything, everything and nothing.

But ONE day, my wife, who at the time had a bad back and could bairly walk, much less run, and surely couldn't fight, was attacked by two pit bulls as she walked her dogs. She threw the leashes and told the dogs "GO HOME!" One of the pits, just stood to the side and watched, but the other pressed the attack toward my wife. Those stupid, worthless, sacks of "protoplasam" threw themselves at that pit like tigers. One attacked the rear, and when the pit turned to ward off that attack, the other one attacked the now re-exposed rear. The Pit kept twisting and turning to meet the threat, only to find the other one knawing on him. The pit couldn't decide which was the bigger threat. The running battle went on for a half block as my wife hobbles back home using her cane. I heard her crying and screaming as she was finally backed up against the apartment and couldn't retreat any further. Right in front of her was a very confused pit bull and two flying balls of fur. My wife screamed at me. GET A GUN AND KILL THAT SOB!! (She may have used some more colorful words.) About that time an old woman from across the street came out with an industrial strength broom stick. I took the stick and cracked the pit across the head, and he decided he belonged somewhere else.

Neither of my wife's dogs got hurt. Man were they proud of themselves. I relunctantly admitted they had earned their kibbles and bits for a while with that stand.

 

[Sistema1927]

Here is the watch dog, hard at work:

 

[springmom]

ShunZu, that is a GORGEOUS dog. I love the eyes.

No dog is useless. Because in the eyes of the bad guys, they're a potential threat. YOU may know they have marshmallow where their aggression centers ought to be, but the bad guys don't know that. The existence of the dog itself is a deterrent.

Besides, if you met my Irish terriers, you'd swear that I had no hope of help from them. Yet they were already a part of deterring an attack last month (again, the BG's look at dogs on leash and think "maybe we'll go pick on somebody else") and, were I attacked and they smelled fear?..... It wouldn't be pretty, and Pippin, in particular, wouldn't stop until I was no longer in danger.

And that from a dog that's 19" at the shoulder and 40 pounds only because she's too fat.

Dogs, even marshmallow dogs, will not stand by and let their owners be attacked. (Besides, the reason the OP's doesn't stir when he comes in is because the dog knows the sound of the car, the sound of his footsteps, and his smell as he comes in the house. He already knows it's not an alarm situation.)

Springmom, and Pippin and Dempsey too

 

[Hardware]

One thing you folks are missing about dogs. Dogs are pack animals. You are their pack. When the pack is threatened, they defend. It is hard wired into them.

I knew a girl about 20 years back who had one of those beagles, you know the type. Lazy, managed to cram 28 hours of sleep into a 24 hour day. Only got up to eat or change positions. Lived to be pampered by his owner. One night, strange man at the door. She goes to answer, when she opens the main door stranger reaches for storm door handle and the beagle channels Cujo. Repeatedly attacking the storm door, growling and baying like the hound of the Baskervilles to get at the stranger. Stranger bolts.

She called me after the fact to come over and look at the dog. Same old happy-go-lucky farting machine I expected to see. That doesn't explain the slobber and nose prints 5 FEET UP ON THE INSIDE OF THE STORM DOOR!

Meanwhile, a woman a block and a half away was attacked and raped by a man matching the description of the stranger. Trust your dog's instincts. Their nose and their ears are far better than yours.

 

[Thernlund]

I dunno. Sometimes when I'm doing something and get frustrated, I may mumble a curse word. My little Beagle goes and hides. She thinks something's wrong or she may be in trouble. Funny thing... I've never cursed or even shouted if "newspaper discipline" was to be handed down. Hmph.

I expect she would run and hide if I was attacked. My wife, maybe another story, but I can't see a counter attack coming from her direction.

My OTHER Beagle is sort of the stout quite type. She'd probably just watch. But she has Addison's Disease (messes with the flight/fight instinct) and, due to the steroids, is rather heavy for her size. So she's not the fastest car on the track (in more ways than one if you get my meaning).

They're good dogs though. Love 'em.


-T.

 

[herohog]

At the last gun show one of the book/bumper sticker/sign/whatnot guys had all these humorous "This home protected by (insert silhouette and name of non-threatening breed here) security" signs and actually had one for Greyhounds and we put it in the front window right next to the front door. Folks unfamiliar with the breed are always very wary when we first open the door. (meanwhile, we are laughing our [rear ends] off inside as Wanda, the dog, thinks "PET ME!")

 

[bikerdoc]

have two, one beagle that we rescued 8 years ago, And a rotweiller we got as a pup last year when we found him in a apartment my daughter was cleaning
Both are great dogs. very protective of the family and grounds. the beagle will bark at the least little thing and
the rot, now much bigger, will go nuts if anyone approaches. and dont even try to get close to the grand babies, until I say sit.
couple them with the alarms, a cranky wife, several handguns and a my perpetual bad attitude and you have a true multi layered security plan

 

[W.E.G.]