Watch/Guard Dogs

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GrandMoffBrandon

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I live in the great state of Indiana
Right now, I have a female black lab. She is a very good dog, loyal, dependable, and barks like crazy when strangers show up. However, she is old and blind now. I’d like to get her two friends to back her up. So, my question is, what dog breeds (large, medium, and small) make for good watch dogs? I’m more interested in their ability to hear sounds, bark like crazy, etc, but I don’t really much care about the dog’s ability to take down an intruder.

I’m also having trouble getting the women of my household to agree to additional dogs, so perhaps smaller is better, though by all means make any suggestions you want.
 
my beagle makes the noise, the rotty does the work
seriously a small beagle is a great dog and nobody will ever sneak up on mine
 
Now this might not sound Ahem...tough but my dauchund, yes weiner dog is a great little watch dog. Their eyesight is pretty poor so I think they make up for it by listening very carefully almost all the time, I have yet to sneek up on him and I have tried many times:evil:. Also my little buddy Ruger is a fun little fella to take out in the woods and to my buddys amazement brought back a duck a few weeks ago, it was a pretty long retreive but he paddled out there and brought back a GW teal. He is also great with kids and puts up with bear hugs and being drug about by every part of him and has never been snippy once.
 
my neighbor, who is also my brother in law has 3 yappy dauchunds. no one comes near us without one of his or my beagle alerting us
 
Do you work from home? Is someone at home during the day? Makes a difference on what kind of breed you should consider.

You want to try to match your dog to your life style. Example, if you hike all the time and want to take the Dog along, you shouldn't get a Yorkie or the like.

Anyway, let us know and we can make some better suggestions.
 
I'll check out some dauchunds and beagles. I know they’re not small and convincing the ladies to accept them will be difficult but do mastiffs make for good watch/guard dogs? When I was a teenager a buddy had one. The dog was huge and when I first came over to his house, the dog barked loudly, cornered me, and wouldn’t let me move until his owner came in and reprimanded him. I was, needless to say, impressed.

guinea hens
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That's an interesting recommendation, why would guinea fowl make good watch/guard pets? Thanks. :)

Do you work from home? Is someone at home during the day? Makes a difference on what kind of breed you should consider.
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No, I don't work from home but someone is usually home during the day.

You want to try to match your dog to your life style. Example, if you hike all the time and want to take the Dog along, you shouldn't get a Yorkie or the like.
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In January I start EMT training at my community college and will be gone several days a week for large parts of the day to do that. In general, I do take walks around the city but seldom in natural areas these days. Most of my free time is spent doing indoor stuff with friends, etc. All usually at my house, which is seldom empty for more than an hour or two at a time, once or twice a day. Gone for a few hours each Sunday morning...I really don’t know what else to say about my lifestyle.
 
I heard a story about a guy who has 4 breakins in one month, got an alarm system and had some breakins after that... Well, he got fed up and imported some bees and put the hives in the house. His family and him wondered around with insect repellent on until the bees got used to them.

No problems with b and e's after that.
 
My Lab/Shep is 10 and has been the absolute best guard dog there can be. We also have to face facts and will need to get a younger one soon. But Magnito is part of the family.
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If you get emotionally attached to your dogs, a mastiff is not the best idea. They are huge and intimidating, but they have a lifespan of about 12 minutes.
 
guineas are noisy and nothin can sneak up on em
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I once had a black colored chicken that was similar. She grew to be quite huge and even the neighbored cats feared her. Would a guinea fowl be a good idea around cats? I have several cats inside the home and an army that lives outside.

My Lab/Shep is 10 and has been the absolute best guard dog there can be. We also have to face facts and will need to get a younger one soon. But Magnito is part of the family.
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That’s been my experience with my black lab. She is great with kids (and cats!), fiercely loyal and protective. She’s about 11 ½ now, so I fear the day will come when she will no longer be with us. That’ll be a sad day, because she is a family member.

If you get emotionally attached to your dogs, a mastiff is not the best idea. They are huge and intimidating, but they have a lifespan of about 12 minutes.
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Yes, my family and I get very attached to our pets. They become members of the family and are treated as such. What is the average lifespan for a mastiff? One website said they live 10-12 years but are prone to many health conditions.
 
One website said they live 10-12 years but are prone to many health conditions.
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Yeah. Before I posted that "12 minute" comment, I checked a couple of websites. One said 6-8 years. The other said about 10 years. I don't know. My buddy Joe is on his 3rd mastiff. I'm pretty sure the first couple died (had to be killed) at 5 or 6.
 
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I have a 2yr old pit mix (please avoid vicious dog comments) and he is a terrible watch dog. When the Jack Russel gets going as to a visitor, squirrel, or leaves blowing, he chimes in. He's poppep up in the front window and scared the mailman to the point he's requested we move the mailbox to the street. At the moment, he's asleep at my feet and is awesome with children.
 
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weiner dogs do make fair guard dogs. They can get snippy, I convince myself everyday not to shoot my neighbors, she's bitten me 3 or 4 times. I have read that most times they are a 1 person dog. Also I think they were breed to go in badger holes.

Guinea hens are excellent watch ahh dogs. I don't know how to spell chiuahua correctly but the taco bell dog breed i also good for watch dog. I've always loved shepards for guard and watch. Most herd watching breeds do great for watch dog work. I have a pit bull outside for watch duty. He's great for sounding the alarm but I have a rat terrior X pomeranian that would be more apt to attack than him. I bet a lab/shep. would suit ur purposes. But to slide by to woman maybe a doxie or mini doxie. (weiner dog)

Mastiffs live for about 12 years. My sisters bf had one and he was the laziest thing on earth.
 
Ive got a Golden Retriever and he is the best darn dog ive ever had (ok im a little biased there). Hes friendly to everyone, except at night when he sleeps in front of the door and goes ballistic at anything that comes around the house. Ive come home late at night before and you would have thought the whole neighborhood was awake by the time he realized it was only me.

But in the day light hell be as friendly as all get out to anyone. Hes afraid of storm though, so during a storm he no help because hes hiding under the barn, LOL. Hes very protective and loyal, what more can a dog be.
 
In the dog world, the consensus king of guardian and estate protection dogs is the fila brasiliero. You'll only need one. They are bred for guarding against human intruders, and have quite the formidable reputation. Very faithful to family, extremely distrustful of all strangers, and utterly fearless. If you invite a lot of friends and strangers over though, the breed will not be for you.

Banned in some countries.

The national dog of Brazil- there is a Portuguese saying, to be as loyal as a fila.

The hound of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Hound of Baskervilles".

The legendary jaguar-hunting ma deuce of guard dogs!

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The Fila! :D
 
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Any terrier will work...

I have heard that Corgi's (either pembroke or welsh) make terrific gaurd dogs.
 
Another vote for the dachshund breed, though the pedigrees can be nippy. They are super alert and were bred to go into badger holes and get the badgers out so can be very brave and fierce. Their advantage is also that they are small and easy to care for (short hair, eat less, don't mess up the garden/house as much as bigger dogs) and make a lot of noise.

Forget the guinea fowl...get a goose/gander if you want something that will make a lot of noise, and they can take on a adult male as well...and if you want a silent guard, get a peacock...males a highly territorial, and sneak up and attack strangers...they are the ninjas of the animal kingdom, seriously!!!
 
I have a vicious looking 90lbs. Doberman. People cross the street when they see him walking. Little do they know, he will just lick them to death. As long as he is awake he will bark if someone comes to the door, but if they walked in he will just lick them and try to play. He has not one mean bone in his body, so I enrolled him in a schutzhund class, making progress slowly. even if he never becomes a "mean guard dog" he still a great friend.
His father now was a mean SOB. His mom a marshmallow. We know who he took after LOL.

Best guard dog I ever had was a poodle mutt he had a bark/growl that sounded like a rabid werewolf, was great at detecting visitors before we knew they were there. He was only about 40 lbs.

Here is the Dobe:

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@-TheBigBulgarian

Thats an awesome dog you have there. Great 2nd picture to.
 
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