I am considering getting a guard dog. I have three doxi-terriers that are excellent alarm dogs but if I'm not home I don't think they would present much of a deterent. I really can't find any info on the web as to the better breeds for this duty. The dog forums are full of animal equalist who believe a dog should be treated like a prince so they haven't been much help. I think a Doberman would be perfect but the breed is almost unobtainium, used to be a common breed.
Guard Dog
- Thread starter regal
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alaskanativeson
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Everything I say here is contingient on one thing: GET GOOD TRAINING WITH PROFESSIONALS. Dog training isn't like sending your kid to baseball camp: It's an active participation activity. What the trainers are really doing is training you. I've had more than enough experience to train dogs, yet whenever I have a new puppy I go back to the same kennel I got one of my first dogs trained at because it's a great experience, it's fun, and the lady who runs the shop is incredible. Training any dog is really important, but with protection capable dogs it goes up by an order of magnitude.
I have a friend who breeds Dobies and she loves them. Intelligent, fun, trainable. They make a great protector. Try Kimbertal Kennels, they's a pretty popular Dobe breeder. http://www.kimbertal.com/
Of course my home will never again be without a German Shepherd. If there's a better breed of dog overall, then God is keeping them up in Heaven. My two plush coat Sheps are just about all I could wish for in a dog, short of one who cleans up their own poop. Most German Shepherds automatically have strong protective instincts yet they're stable, courageous, and loyal. They're loving dogs to a fault. Strider, my big brown male, is adorable to watch when he's around babies or puppies: He's so gentle it's almost funny to watch. You can tell he's going out of his way to make sure he doesn't hurt them. Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions, mine is that German Shepherds are the greatest breed of dog there is.
Rottweilers are great dogs, they also make wonderful protectors. Between German Shepherds, Dobes, and Rotties I think you have 3 of the most popular and effective protection breeds available today.
:edited to add this thought:
Don't take your protection dogs to a Medieval fight gathering such as an SCA group, or at the very least leave them away from the fighting. Strider, the brown one above, decided that I needed to be protected from one of the fights going on. I had a good firm grasp of his leather lead so he didn't get away from me, but it wouldn't have been pretty if he had. I saw the protection come out like you wouldn't believe. It's impressive what a dog will and can do. The really funny thing was, the referee call "HOLD" so I could move him away from the fighting area. As the fighters were walking out into the center of the area (away from us) you could see the excitement on my dog's face. He was very bouncy and we could tell he was saying "Did you see what I did? I did a good thing! I scared them away!" It was really touching. Even more impressive to me was that immediately after the fighting was over I went and got him and brought him back to the area. He walked right up to the two guys he would have killed 10 minutes earlier and was as friendly as could be. He knew the fihgting was over, the guys (still dressed in full armor) were not a threat, and he was his normal cheerful, loving self. I love my dogs.
I have a friend who breeds Dobies and she loves them. Intelligent, fun, trainable. They make a great protector. Try Kimbertal Kennels, they's a pretty popular Dobe breeder. http://www.kimbertal.com/
Of course my home will never again be without a German Shepherd. If there's a better breed of dog overall, then God is keeping them up in Heaven. My two plush coat Sheps are just about all I could wish for in a dog, short of one who cleans up their own poop. Most German Shepherds automatically have strong protective instincts yet they're stable, courageous, and loyal. They're loving dogs to a fault. Strider, my big brown male, is adorable to watch when he's around babies or puppies: He's so gentle it's almost funny to watch. You can tell he's going out of his way to make sure he doesn't hurt them. Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions, mine is that German Shepherds are the greatest breed of dog there is.
Rottweilers are great dogs, they also make wonderful protectors. Between German Shepherds, Dobes, and Rotties I think you have 3 of the most popular and effective protection breeds available today.
:edited to add this thought:
Don't take your protection dogs to a Medieval fight gathering such as an SCA group, or at the very least leave them away from the fighting. Strider, the brown one above, decided that I needed to be protected from one of the fights going on. I had a good firm grasp of his leather lead so he didn't get away from me, but it wouldn't have been pretty if he had. I saw the protection come out like you wouldn't believe. It's impressive what a dog will and can do. The really funny thing was, the referee call "HOLD" so I could move him away from the fighting area. As the fighters were walking out into the center of the area (away from us) you could see the excitement on my dog's face. He was very bouncy and we could tell he was saying "Did you see what I did? I did a good thing! I scared them away!" It was really touching. Even more impressive to me was that immediately after the fighting was over I went and got him and brought him back to the area. He walked right up to the two guys he would have killed 10 minutes earlier and was as friendly as could be. He knew the fihgting was over, the guys (still dressed in full armor) were not a threat, and he was his normal cheerful, loving self. I love my dogs.
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Sorry regal, but the question of breeds of dogs is beyond the scope of this discussion group. The best we can do is say that a dog should be part of your defense in depth at home to alert you to imminent problems. The use of a dog to protect is a much more difficult question fraught with many issues related to training, liability, temperament, etc. and something that should be seriously explored on a dedicated forum.
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