In praise of little barky dogs

[MightyPir]

another vote for geese...other than small barky dogs you don't get anything better or more alert.

and don't forget a peacock for stealth...my aunt had one that would sneak up on people and attack them!!! really!!!

 

[regal]

We had guinea's and feral cats live in the same barn as a child, the guineas are a very wild bird that are good at defending themselves as adults. As long as you had a flock of mature birds the cats would leave them alone. If you start with chics you would have to shelter them till mature.

 

[nitetrane98]

I don't know how you guys can do it. A yapping ankle biter is like chalk on a blackboard or a colicky baby to me. I just can't stand it. I'll keep my German Shepherd. Like the old E.F. Hutton commercials, "When he talks, people listen."

 

[76shuvlinoff]

I truly love dogs, almost all of them, but living in the country with horses I prefer a larger animal. I don't mean a terrorizing bully. All I really need any dog to do is raise an alarm and any size should be able to handle that task but I prefer a little bulk. We get ours from the shelter.

 

[KBintheSLC]

Honestly, I prefer little dogs for the purpose of protecting the house... especially when living in the City. Nowadays, big dogs are too much of a liability around here, and dogs are free thinking and unpredictable. My 12ga 870 on the other hand is not. I like to have a small dog that lets me know when someone is on the property, but not big enough for me to worry about him attacking a neighbor. If an attack is necessary to protect our lives, I will carry it out on my own.

 

[rondog]

If you want a small dog that is fearless and will raise Hell, get a Schipperke.

Many years ago I was walking home from the convenince store early one morning. I was confronted by a YLD, again, off leash. I sped up my walk, which is pretty quick to begin with in an urban setting in the wee hours. YLD pursued and grabbed my left trouser leg. I was brooking precisely none of that, and so raised my right foot, shod in a heavy boot, and squashed the YLD with a most satisfying crunch. Owner had a conniption fit, which of course I ignored.

Sorry, but that's just wrong. Like that little dog was really gonna hurt your pantleg and deserved to die. If you did that to MY dog....I'd probably go to prison for what I did to YOU. If you survived, you'd suffer pain for the rest of your days. Every step you took afterwards would remind you of what you did to that dog.

 

[Jeff350]

We've got a 18 lb long-haired dachsund. She's small, but don't tell her that. She thinks she is Alpha Dog around every other dog we know (even our friends Great Dane!). Dachsunds are very athletic and rambunctious, and great family dogs. She is leary of strangers for quite a while, which is fine with me.

She barks extremely loud for a dog her size, and barks at anything that moves.

 

[jackdanson]

We've got a 18 lb long-haired dachsund. She's small, but don't tell her that. She thinks she is Alpha Dog around every other dog we know (even our friends Great Dane!). Dachsunds are very athletic and rambunctious, and great family dogs. She is leary of strangers for quite a while, which is fine with me.

She barks extremely loud for a dog her size, and barks at anything that moves.

I've got 2 dachshunds, 8 and 16 lbs. that are great "alarm dogs". They are LOUD for their size! Mine are great with everyone, even new people and kids, but will bark up a storm whenever someone comes in the door. Fine with me, I like to know when someone is coming in.

 

[76shuvlinoff]

I have own exactly two small dogs in my life, one was a beagle when I was a kid and the other was a mini/mid size Schnauzer. The latter weighed in about 10-12 lbs but when it came to strangers near the house he thought he was 210 lbs. He was fearless and terrorized my larger dogs with bites to the testicles. This was the only dog I ever owned that actually drew blood on me, I was trying to remove a mouthful of chicken bones from his snarling pie hole and I thought I was saving his miserable life but I didn't have enough hands to keep his needle teeth off me. I let him live, we had an understanding LOL!

-Mark

 

[Crawdad]

We have a miniature dachshund who is getting on in years (nearly 12 years old), but he is the best guard dog I have ever owned. He will be asleep in the back bedroom, and come to alert as soon as someone begins to pull into our driveway.

He can even recognize cars - if it's my fiancee or one of my friends that comes over on a very regular basis, he will just alert and keep his ears cocked (or in my fiancee's case, take off full-tilt wagging tail and barking like a madman to greet her). If it's someone he doesn't know, he will take off to the front door to investigate. It's honestly really impressive, he recognizes the distinct sounds of their cars. His bark will wake up everyone in the house, in any room in the house. It's scary as crap to wake up to that.

Our cat is a good watchcat too, he'll take off 100mph for cover if he sees or hears anything that's out of the ordinary. Some of my friends didn't know I had a cat for a while, he hides whenever anyone he doesn't know is nearby. The cat is neurotic. He's hidden under our bed for days before when we had guests over. If he needs food or water, he runs out, drinks and eats as fast as he can, and takes off back under the bed.

It's pretty accepting of us, though

The lab/pitbull mix we have, on the otherhand, is completely silent. He doesn't bark unless he's playing with me, or someone's about to be taken down. He follows the dachshund's lead, too. If the dachshund freaks, he goes on alert. Otherwise he lazes around and acts like a 90lb footrest . He's also completely mellow and gentle compared to the dachshund, but when he gets serious, he's incredibly strong and I would seriously hate to have him coming at me. I'm a big ol' 6'4" 320lb boy, but he can knock me flat on my seat.

 

[Starcheck55]

my pug Gizmo acts like Dino from the Flintstone's anytime someone comes into the house. She has no intention of defending anything, but visitors giver her treats so she reacts every single time.

 

[zeaken]

I dont have any small dogs which are noise makers to let me know if some one would come to my house but i do have a 120lb male Akita.

He doesnt go off like an alarm and "yip" like little dogs all the time. he stays quiet until a stranger comes in the door at which point he lets them know they are not welcome unless i tell him otherwise. He is about as fearless as those little dogs are as his main source of enjoyment is he tries to chase down and eat wild turkeys and deer. he isnt quite fast enough for the deer but he tries

 

[chris in va]

I'd hang myself if I had to live around those little yappy things. Give me a good GS or Doberman any day.

 

[Prophet]

Yup. I've got two Jack Russells, a male and a female. There are a lot of interesting stories I could tell, but since I really don't have time at the moment I'll just post a picture;

 

[Loomis]

-1 on small yappy dogs.

They bark at too much. Too many false alarms ruins the purpos of the alarm. I prefer my big dog that simply growls deep and soft when something's in the yard that shouldn't be. I don't wanna know when a bird flies past the front window. So I'll pass on the dumb little dogs.

 

[Loomis]

Oh, I should add that a jack russel is one that I might make an exception for. Those are some cool little dogs.

 

[Prophet]

This is the exception that we made when we decided on what kind of dogs to get. I can't speak for everyone else, but our jacks are pretty serious. They do bark more than a larger dog, but they have distinctive barks for different things that they hear. ie, if they hear the deer triapsing through the woods they give a particular bark, or if they hear/see a person they give a particular bark, or if its a car coming up the driveway, etc. but we have learned to differentiate between each kind of bark. They've caught people on our property who had absolutely no business being there, and they've given the same particular bark every incident. Every time they've ever barked like that it has never been a false alarm.

 

[innerpiece]

yepp, we got 2 dogs, a lil pomeranian/chintsu (sp), and a big chesapeke/germanshepherd.

perfect combo.
the little guy lets us know if the wind blows.. but if our big boy barks, its time to see whats going on!

 

[J.R.W.]

We've got 4 total. The Jack Russel is the switch that turns the two lab mixes and the pit mix off. When she gets going along with the other 3, it actually sounds pretty terrifying. If anyone did make it in, they'd probably lead them to the fine china and everything else of value. My GF's roommate on the other hand has a 3lb Chiuaha (sp?) and a 90lb Doberman mix. The first time I stopped by and was greeted by the latter, I damn near had to change my shorts. My pit mix, Wrex, can walk clear under the Dobe and seeing him run reminds me of Drew Bledsoe, but the noise that comes from that dog when he barks is downright scary.

 

[brisendines]

Our 18 lb dachshund/pug mix is ugly as sin, but he alerted my wife to someone that was breaking into our house. I'm sure the guy wouldn't have had any trouble with the dog, but as he ran away with the barrel of a 38 following him I don't think his pant legs were in very good shape. They scattered shoes all over the living room scuffling around...

 

[The Deer Hunter]

As far as tactics in these troubled times I highly recommend everyone keep a a few small alarm dogs. They are almost as good of an alarm as ginuea fowl.

Lol!