Its time to get one, Please help me decide on a dog!

[hso]

I don’t think you are going to get this combination in the same dog. A dog that will actively protect your homestead is going to have to be bred and raised to be aggressive. This is especially true if you want the dog to protect your property outside your house, or protect your house when you are not home. A dog aggressive enough for protection is going to be too aggressive for kids pulling its tail, etc.

We may be in disagreement on a question of degree, but my personal experience with this contradicts this statement. We've had dogs that would alert, but let someone that they don't know try to enter the house without being introduced they've blocked them and raised hackels and bared teeth and backed the person off the porch. This from a Collie, a Lab and a Golden.

I do believe that a family dog with all the protective characteristics comes from the herding breeds.

 

[Matt G]

I'm afraid that I'm going to disappoint some of y'all, by finding that this is off-topic.

Sorry.

-Matt G.