Watch/Guard Dogs

[Bluelick]

As posted above, it's more the training than the breed. And within a breed, lots of variations. I have two rescue boxers (our fourth and fifth boxers) and will probably never have anything else. My boxers have never gone after anyone, although they typically will defend the underdog if our family is wrestling on the floor. My female barks at any approach, the male just watches. Females in my experience are more territorial. With a previous boxer, a friend of ours once made a playful but fast move toward our daughter who was about six. He stopped with our dog's feet on his shoulders looking him in the eye. Other than that he never made a hostile move, but he never needed to. They are great dogs, smart, loyal, wonderful with kids, and BG's usually think they are pit bulls and give them a wide berth. I've never trained mine for watch or guard duty, and would not expect any dog to perform that work without training. But, our little girl's bark gives me all the warning I'd need to fill my hand and sounds bad enough that I doubt I'd need to do anything. BG's look for soft targets and two boxers don't look like a soft target. I'd also add that I definitely think two dogs are better than one for lots of reasons.

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

BG's look for soft targets

k two dogs are better than one for lots of reasons.




when you hear about someone with a couple dogs getting attacked its usually personal

 

[geologist]

We are on GSD's #4 and #5. All of them have been very suspicious of strangers. These two have the run of our house and our fenced in grounds via a dog door. Nothing has ever come through that extra-large sized dog door except for them and me (when i've forgotten my keys).

I am away from home 200 days per year for work and my wife feels very safe with the fellows watching the house. No alrm system, just the 2 dogs.

 

[DHJenkins]

If you just want an alarm for your yard, get some geese.

They're ultra sensitive and loud as hell.

Of course, your neighbors will hate you in short order...

 

[USMC_2674]

I breed and train Dobermans. Full obedience and protection training. I train guard dogs for the rich who need them.

Dobes are the best family dog I can imagine. Sweet, loyal, etc.

Big babies most of the time, 100% pure protector when they need to be.

If you want a watch dog, get anything and teach it to bark when it should.

If you want a guard dog, or protection dog, then you need a good breed. Dobes are the best IMO.

It is easy to introduce a new dog to the pack. The only time i have extended problems is introducing a new strong willed female to our home when we have another strong willed female currently as alpha female. They are far worse than the males.

This pic is our current family member... Teufelhunde is one year old in this picture. He is 4.5 years old now. His first litter is 14 months old right now, and the training on them is going fantastically.

Semper Fidelis

 

[highbrass]

Great thread, love the descriptions and pictures.

We use to have a pair of geese, they really do honk at anything that moves near the fence. They honked at each other too though and the poop was everywhere (we don't have a ranch or anything). They moved to a home with a very large lot much better suited for them.

Years ago we had a dog that did not bark, ever. We had things stolen from our garage and she never made a sound.

Now we have a boxer girl and a pound rescue. The rescue girl won't let anyone even imaging jumping the fence. She's protective and very loving with the family. Our boxer is a good watch dog, very devoted although I'm not as sure of her as I am our rescue girl.

Once, miss boxer girl suddenly saw one of my elder kids from behind, he was wearing long white hair and a mask for holloween. She took one look at him from behind (never saw the creepy mask, just the hair) and ran the other way.

I'm thinking a rottweiller may be a good family addition later since our girls are over 9 now. On the other hand our pound pup has been so great we may go that way.

 

[Delaware_Dan]

We have an American Staffordshire Terrier/Yellow lab mix. He doesn't bark much but man can he growl. He's a year and a half so he's only about 60lbs, but he growls like a 200lb Rotty.

 

[cleardiddion]

I don't know about everyone else but we don't have a better alarm than our little Carin Terrier.

Small, agile, and fearless. Definitely loud too and nothing gets by her.

Gotta love the little dogs

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Geologist. Great shot.

They look right at home, hate to be the one breaching thier boundarys.

Im not certain but is the one on left female and the right a male?

 

[geologist]

Geologist. Great shot.

They look right at home, hate to be the one breaching thier boundarys.

Im not certain but is the one on left female and the right a male?

No the floppy earred wonder on the left is our 10 year old male and the one on the right is our 2 year old bitch.

 

[akodo]

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.

Yes and no. The sterotypical mastiff, the English Mastiff, has muscle mass second to none. For generations generic mastiff types were bred as dogs of war and guard dogs. However, for the past 100-200 years they have had their agression bred out of them. Now, they aren't as 'agressionless' as say a Golden Retreiver, but it is definately less than you will find in a Dobie or Rottie. This can of course be enhanced with training. However, most find that Mastiff to not take very well to shutzhund. Even still, there are plenty of reports of mastiffs just seeing beyond the sport and realize it is just a game, yet become entirely different dogs when a real threat appears.

I've also heard the story of a shutzhund mastiff washout that was home alone when a burglar broke in...or more specifically, broke the glass side-window ajacent to the door handle, When he reached inside to manually open the lock, the Mastiff grabbed the burglar's hand in his mouth...then sat down. Family returned came in through the back door (close to the garage) went 'where's rover?' looked around, walked into front parlor, and there sat the mastiff, burglar hand in mouth, who looked over at them and started thumping his tail. They called police. Dog did NOT want to let go, family took some effort convincing him to do so. Whenever the burglar would twitch or make a sound the dog would emit a terrible growl. Burglar ended up with teeth imprints on his hand but his skin wasn't even broken.

Mastiffs have been used to add size to a LOT of breeds. Rotties get there size from mastiffs, same with the above mentioned Fila's (basically take a fast running agressive coonhound and cross with a mastiff for size)

A fila is a not a dog I would want to keep if I lived in the city or around other people. They are good at their jobs just like Malinois but both dogs are for a select crowd IMO

I can see that definately with a Fila, and also with some of the eastern asian Flock Guardian types. However, not the Malinos. Yes, most people's experience with them are through their roll as police dogs. Remember, they are basically German Shepards with a little less size, straight backs, and less hip problems. To be fair, in the 1940-70s, German Shepard Dogs (GSDs) were demonized as bloodthirsty attack monsters the way Dobies, Rotts, and Pitbulls today are. Truth is, they are herding dogs with big drive, smart, and great at taking instructions. This is why they make good police dog. If anything, think of them like Border Collies, just with a little less GO GO GO. They are best with a job, even if that is chasing frisbees (on a very regular basis) or competitive flyball or agility competitions.


People have mentioned their dogs being pushovers etc, or just not noticing the owner when the owner comes home late at night, etc.

Dogs don't understand logic, and the live in the moment, and they live for the pack. A dog is VERY good at sensing a person's underlying emotional state. Don't discount a dog that is 'likely to lick you to death' simply because they great peaceful guests with slobbery kisses (heck this may well be the dog trying to tell the guest that said guest is below dog in pecking order of the household...unless he is licking at the face, then the dog is saying "i am below you")

This counts both ways. Just because someone claims their dog is nothing but a big push-over, you as a stranger they may alert on and treat entirely different.

The only dog I'd worry about would be the dog that when it sees a stranger coming stays silent and goes into hiding.

I notice this topic is about 3 months old, so the poster will probably have gotten his dog by now, but it sounds like you want an 'alarm dog' and there are a ton of small breeds that are just fine for that. Note, they aren't necessarily better than larger breeds, it's just that us humans seem to be more tollerant of a small dog running hither and yon yapping up a storm, or growling fiercely at the mailman. Many humans laugh and think it is cute because the dog is small. News Flash! Dogs aren't logical, they aren't very aware of their own size, and 99.99% of their brain is still wired in basic 'wolf'. If people have a German Shepard or Black Lab or whatever that goes bonkers, runs around from window to window and barks like crazy it is a MUCH bigger commotion, and we tend to displine them to stop that. Same with bigger dogs growling, people are much more likely to give them commands to stop, or even seek professional traning if the Dobie does it, but not the Maltese.

 

[akodo]

Ahh, so many dog breeds interest me. I'll throw out a few here that I think get overlooked because many go well in different aspects of the watch dog.

For you German Shepherd and Malinos lovers, I'll give you two other options I know you will LOVE.

Dutch Shepard. Probably a mix between the German Shepherd and the Malinos (more properly, Malinos = smooth coat Belgian Shepherd, but there is a long coat and curly coat Belgian Shepherd...same with Dutch Shepard)

The Dutch Shepard is a little larger than the Malinos and a little smaller than the GSD. It's got the same features you love in both. Like the Malinos it hasn't been overbred so there is a less chance of hip problems, or just of getting a back yard mistake or something churned out of a puppy mill. Also, as they weren't bred for the GSD 'slope' they move a bit better. So why get them over say a Malinos...besides a little bit more size?

All Dutch Shepards have a striking brindle or 'striped' coat. Long hair version and cury hair version too, but the short haired version is just strikingly beautiful

here's one with a GSD for size comparison

The other Breed I'd like to highlight is the Beauceron. Think GSD x Doberman

The dog has that same general Shepard look, but is bigger. It also oddly enough has an extra claw on it's dewclaw. As with the Malinos and Dutch Shepherd, it isn't bred at all for a slope back, so lesser chance of hip displasia. It is rare, so no puppymills, low chance of back yard breeders with no concept of the breed, and generally less inbred showdog problems. As it is bigger than the other two, the POTENTIAL for hip displasia is there, but the breed community has been 2nd to none for xraying and keeping track to avoid the issue.
These dogs can do it all with style.

While the GSD and Malinos have pretty much seperated themselves from their herding roots, not so with the Beauceron. Many cases one littermate will find itself working for the police and anohter in the sheep pastures, and still another tracking for the local hunters. These dogs are even used for draft (pulling)

Note, some have erect ears ala the GSD, but most have a bit of flop (semi-pricked) like this

Many times they are cropped just slightly to get them to be pointed

Of course, with the floppy ears they can look even more like rotts

 

[SquirrelNuts]

I have a pack of three.

The German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix (Bear - standing in photo) is probably my best watch dog. He has his own chair by the window he sits in and looks out over the neighborhood. My house is on a hill in the cul-de-sac, so he can see EVERYTHING out there. He will back at anything near, so I had to learn the difference between kids down the street, squirrel in the yard, and something of interest to me.

The Chihuahua (Gizmo - with spiked collar in picture) is a close second. If he alerts to something, he gets the other two VERY excited, as he will only back at something of serious interest. If he sounds off, we all know there is something there.

My Australian Shepherd/Collie mix (Reagan (after the late great President) - laying down in picture) would find my keys, open the door, let someone in, and go home with them so long as they rub his belly. He will really only join in if one of the others bark.

I like having three dogs, even if only two of them are good watch dogs. My house is far less appealing by having multiple barks, when two are obviously big dogs.

I have also heard of geese as great watch animals.