Guard dog or no?

Lillybob

Lillybob

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Now just a disclaimer, this is PURELY RESEARCH at the moment as I haven't the financial means to get a dog yet. So everything here is all planning for the future when I know I can 100% give this animal the financial security it needs.
Anyway..

I'm moving house this summer with a friend of mine. We're both female (19 and 20 years old) and the house is likely, for university and work reasons, to be a pretty rough area. Now, I've always loved the idea of a dog again one day after my little Pomeranian passed away 3 years ago. Then when I realised that our radius for where we're going to be living is a bit rough it got me thinking about the idea of a guard/protection dog.

I was just looking for people's opinions really. Other than making me feel a million times safer, is this a situation you would reccommend for a dog like this? We thought about a German Shepherd or something along those lines.
And also, if any of you have dogs that are trained this way, i'd love to hear about your experiences! How your dogs behaviour is, temperment, how it's training went and if you would reccommend it :)
I'd say the thing we're worried about most is robberies or personal attack on the streets if this helps at all (the dog would come out with us to the shops etc).

Thanks everyone
 
A chap I met years ago trains this type of dog. They were 4k plus to buy.

Not sure how student life/hours would fit in with a big powerful dog. A decent alarm, locks and something legal in your pocket might be easier.
 
My GSD a was trained by an ex police dog handler, not as a guard dog although she was very good at it, but to be 100% obedient. It cost a fortune but worth every penny. On top of her cost, insurance, food, vets and kennelling when we were away it wasn't cheap to own her.

In addition she came to work with me every day so was never left home alone, had an hour walk at lunchtime and then at least the same every night. GSD's are very intelligent, can be quite dominant and need to be stimulated and the last thing you want is a bored, destructive or aggressive dog.

Do you think as a student with all that goes on at Uni you will be able to give the dog the time and attention it will need? That's not a dig but a genuine question. If not please don't do it just use the money you would have spent on the dog and move to a nicer part of town.
 
what will you do with the dog when you are in the shop/at uni/out in the evenings/hanging from a night out/want to go home/in the holidays/when you leave uni?
would probably be cheaper to rent in a safer area than own a large breed dog.
a guard dog can make it very difficult to allow visitors to be comfortable coming and going in your home.
I think it is a very bad idea dogs are not an accessory just there for the owners convienience the dog will have needs too and a student lifestyle is hardly likely to fulfill them.
 
Lindylouanne said:
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Do you think as a student with all that goes on at Uni you will be able to give the dog the time and attention it will need? That's not a dig but a genuine question………
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^^^^ This, and a pertinent question too! Dogs which are used for personal protection, aren't an old coat on the back of a door to be taken down at will, they call for knowledge, a degree of skill, and a great deal of maintenance. The best advice for you Lillybob, is that you give the whole question, serious thought!

Alec.
 
A trained protection dog is not something to be taken on lightly, you can't just sit back and push buttons, you have to keep putting work in. I feel very safe with my GSDs and they aren't trained to guard at all, they do it instinctively, but they do still need a lot of work to keep them well behaved and also to keep them happy, they are a very intelligent breed. Unless it is a course with very few hours of lectures I don't think student life is suitable for any dog other than perhaps an elderly one that will mainly sleep.
My daughter lived in a very rough area for one year whilst at uni, think barbed wire coils on the wall round the back yard and burned out cars on every corner. You just have to keep your wits about you, not come back late at night on your own etc, or alternatively as others have said, find a slightly more expensive area to live.
 
There are various types of German shepherd. I am 75 and a farmer living alone in an isolated situation and have received unwelcome visitors in the past. I have two GSDs, both from working lines, but their characters are quite different. One is East German x Slovak breeding, the other pure Czech. Both dogs are fairly hyper but the Czech more extreme. They are definitely not for the novice owner. I have various helpers come in to assist the training of the Czech in man work. My latest Hungarian helper has pointed out that dogs are easy to poison! And, yes, they do require a level of expertise, not so much to teach them to be suspicious of strangers but to be under perfect and instant control which is needed if they are to be safe. Having said that, these dogs are fine with visitors once they know they are friends. I've been training dogs for over 60 years but I suspect even Alec was a bit taken aback by the little video I sent him privately of the Czech doing his stuff.:D

In short, don't! Get yourself a can of pepper spray and go to judo classes. If I had my way, all horse riders would do the latter anyway so they could learn how to fall. Me? I don't go any higher than four feet with out a hard hat and scaffolding!:D
 
Dreadful idea, for lots of reasons. Try a tape recording of a dog barking, you can switch that on and off at will whilst you are at home if you feel worried about intruders.
 
I just hope nobody will be unscrupulous enough to sell you such an animal. If you have the money for it, spend a bit more on your accommodation. Or use precautions and common sense to keep yourself safe. Believe it or not, many women have to live in such environments and they usually survive! Do your shopping before coming back home, use taxis after dark and invest in home security. It does not need to cost the earth, do a bit of research.
 
planete said:
I just hope nobody will be unscrupulous enough to sell you such an animal. If you have the money for it, spend a bit more on your accommodation. Or use precautions and common sense to keep yourself safe. Believe it or not, many women have to live in such environments and they usually survive! Do your shopping before coming back home, use taxis after dark and invest in home security. It does not need to cost the earth, do a bit of research.
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This.

Dont buy a trained guard dog, it will be like you are walking around with a loaded shotgun, it will be too much dog for you and if not handled corectly could turn on you. Use the money and pay for better accommodation.
 
I'm a student in Belfast and although I live at home and travel currently I have lived in rough areas previously as a student. I'm sure everyone has seen what goes on in belfast & bomb threats/scares, gang shootings etc. are pretty commonplace. No one I know who has ever been a student or currently been a student in belfast has ever considered getting a guard dog - much cheaper to just pay a bit more and live in a slightly less rough area!! Plus, if it is a real student area you definitely won't have the space for a German Shepard!

As other's have said it would be much easier to just pay for a good security system and if very worried about personal attacks then take the usual safety precautions and always walk in pairs etc. and use rape alarms.

as an additional note, a LOT of landlords especially for students will not allow pets in the houses. A gold fish or a hamster may be fine (and could be hidden!) but hard to hide a dog!!
 
You work and you are a student, you don't have time to give a dog the mental or physical exercise they require - if anything a guard dog will need more mental stimulation than a family pet.

I'm sure you will have researched the cost of purchasing and keeping a dog as large as a German Shepherd, so I would reinvest that money into renting a house in a not-so-rough area.
 
I've got two GSDs. I think the point of a guard dog as with a police dog is that you have to be prepared for the animal to be hurt instead of you (that's their job). I'm not prepared for it. It's what worries me in the darkest hours of the night, whether someone would break in and hurt my dogs, or poison them, or threaten them - because I know I would do anything to protect them; we're a pack!

If you want a guard dog to do its job properly, you need to have a lot of experience and time and be prepared to sacrifice the dog for your own safety. I doubt you would be prepared or experienced enough to treat the dog as a tool first and foremost - as others have said, it'd be much more practical to invest some more cash in alarms, safety equipment etc. Maybe a good self defence class as many unis run these for women?
 
Just no....I don't see much difference to what you are asking than if you had come on looking for suggestions for what knife to carry. The world is really not that much of a scary place ......
 
Thank you all for your imput and I appreciate that you all think it's a bad idea, like I said I was just looking for opinions because I'm not completely clued up so at least I understand a bit better now.
I would hate for anyone to think I was being rash and not thinking carefully about what i'm doing because that's exactly why I'm asking these questions, to thank you all.
 
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