Would you consider buying a dog for its gaurding purpose?

Alec, that is very true about GSDs protecting their human children. I have seen it in both males and females. When my daughter was just a few days old my sister in law came to visit and coo over the new baby. My GSD bitch was in the room with us as was normal. Sil was holding baby when she started to cry, and I luckily happened to glance at my bitch. As CC says , GSD owners know THE LOOK and I spotted it in my girl, I very quickly called her and put her out of the room, I have no doubt that she had been about to suggest in no uncertain terms that "her" baby was put back in the pram.;)
 
MurphysMinder said:
Alec, that is very true about GSDs protecting their human children. I have seen it in both males and females. When my daughter was just a few days old my sister in law came to visit and coo over the new baby. My GSD bitch was in the room with us as was normal. Sil was holding baby when she started to cry, and I luckily happened to glance at my bitch. As CC says , GSD owners know THE LOOK and I spotted it in my girl, I very quickly called her and put her out of the room, I have no doubt that she had been about to suggest in no uncertain terms that "her" baby was put back in the pram.;)
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My mum had to give up her GSD when I was a baby because she wouldn't let my dad anywhere near me without a fight. I found out recently (When talking about our impending arrival) that she had the bitch PTS because she was just too much to hand over to someone else. My poor mum cried when she told me about it - over 24 years later!
 
CaveCanem said:
My young dog is for sport, I don't want him taking lumps out of people, he is social, has an on and an off switch but he is a brave little thing and he does wuff when the door goes or when someone goes into the yard.

BBH there is a need for dogs to have guarding bred into them in terms of the services/working purposes but not every pup makes the grade. But as Alec says these dogs are not for the inexperienced. Dilution of natural instinct for the pet market has good and bad sides, which can definitely be seen in my own breed.
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I agree with the above - I never wanted a dog that was trained to guard so my boy wasn't encouraged to do do. I was quite happy for him to act as a visual deterrent to anybody who was up to no good. One of the reasons for that was that my old JRT bitch was an absolute liability when I first got her - she was an ex breeding machine who I doubt had ever been in a house - because she was far too over protective. If anybody walked between me and her she would go for them and mean it. Nobody could lean into the car or enter the house if family were out as she would and did bite. That was a 7kg dog, imagine if she was 5 or 6 times that size, she really could have hurt someone badly... It took me about a year to train her enough that she wouldn't bite as an automatic reaction (I think that most of my grey hairs appeared in that year or so ) but she has been the most effective guard dog I've ever had. She did mellow a bit in her mid teens though :D

I do wonder how much the rott learned from her though - things like barking at hiding strangers but coming straight back to me were the things I had trained her to do a decade earlier but didn't have a chance to do with him. I did very quickly train him with an 'It's ok' to teach him that he could back off and relax. The main difference with him was that while he was very protective
he didn't want to bite -he was happy as long as the threat backed off. The one person who did try and take a swing at me, he didn't bite just jumped up and knocked them over (he was on a short lead at the time, that's how close the eejit got to us!)

I do think that training to guard has to be very carefully managed - to be safe the basic training (Down, leave, stay, recall) has to be rock solid or else you end up with a dangerous weapon with no off switch especially if this is a dog that is meant to also be a family pet in a typical house with visitors, children etc. My concern would be that a dog trained by a third party might not be as controllable as it should be when others were giving the orders.
 
littlemisslauren said:
My mum had to give up her GSD when I was a baby because she wouldn't let my dad anywhere near me without a fight. I found out recently (When talking about our impending arrival) that she had the bitch PTS because she was just too much to hand over to someone else. My poor mum cried when she told me about it - over 24 years later!
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My mum PTS also (the dog, not the bitch). Was better than him falling into the wrong hands IMO.
 
We're fostering a Boxer. He's fantastic and very loyal. I also feel very safe with him. I definitely sleep better!
I'm not sure if he'd have any protection instinct etc but just his size makes me feel safe. Eg - if a robber looked through the windows and saw him, I'm sure the robber would decide to give us a miss, just in case.

So I think yes, if we were to ever get a 3rd permanent doggy resident, I'd certainly consider something bigger than my other dogs (Cavaliers.)
 
My lurchers are useless at guarding. The terrier is ferocious though and would probably give any burglar a heart attack! I just get dogs I like, I am not really expecting them to guard.
 
After writing my post earlier I think I jinxed us! Someone tries breaking in tonight and George our foster dog saw them off! Even accompanied the police on their searches of the outbuildings! Going to go and adopt him tomorrow.
 
Wow Elsiecat what a fright and well done to George, definately a keeper and deserving of a big bone.:) You have to show us a picture of the hero.:)

All the Boxers I knew growing up were all a bit sharp and were natural guards, over the years they have been dumbed down but its nice to know George still has the right qualities.
 
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