GSDs and guarding Discussions

I am surprised you weren't reported tbh Jeagi

Max - very much, showed up early and seemed to peak 7 to 8 months, only in the last few weeks has he been happy for me to step forward instead of him, if you know what I mean.

l
Apparentley she is more like her grandfather, Zaks father

I NEED to see some new piccies to make my mind up ;-) Do you mean in looks or temperament? Do you have a copy of Cuba's pedigree that I can have a peek at please?

Zak's father, Strike

I know. I was so scared at the time. I think the bloke was just glad to keep moving. The weather was horrible. I suppose the rain coat was "good quality" Could have used it as an advert!!" He never meant any real harm, i knew that, and he would have more to worry about with me, rather than Jeager.
I was always Soooo protective of my Boy's.

So those with dogs who have strong guarding behaviour - is it inherent or learned do you think?

With my dogs, my first GSD was incredibly protective, but it was fuelled in the main by fear aggression. She wasn't the best bred bitch, and had a tough start to her life, being pushed from pillar to post and ending up in police dog kennels but rejected for police work.

Flame was well socialised and came from good breeding. Her dam was quite barky when I arrived to collect her, but was also friendly. Flame became more protective when I lived on my own and I believe it was her instincts at work, rather than any learned behaviour, as she was only only dog for a few years.

Yogi was a very laid back chap until he hit the 12 month-ish mark and then I believe his territorial behaviour was part inherited (his dam was also quite guardy when I went to collect him) but also partly learned from noisy Flame.

I was rather taken aback when I visited Zak's breeders kennels as the dogs there all seemed really laid back, quiet and friendly. I think Zak's warning bark in the garden has been learned from the other dogs, but hopefully that is as far as it will go. I have had him nearly 12 months now and his character in that respect hasn't changed at all, so I am confident he will remain as he is.

Both Margaret had her whilst I was a way. pm me your e-mail and I'll send you a copy tomorrow when I get back from training

My first shepherd Sharna once jumped up at a bloke in the half light when we were walking in woods and he gave me a real mouthful (rightly so I guess) about keeping my dog on a lead if I couldn't control her I am so glad he didn't take it any further!

On it's way.

When I met Max's Brother he seemed to have the same temperament, so it seemed inherent to me

There is got to be a genetic predisposition to the behaviour - otherwise ALL dog breeds would be guardy ;-)

The question is how much can it be shaped by enviroment, like you said Moobli if I took on a GSD and right from the word go he had to deal with complete strangers all day every day i would hope this would shape his temp enough coupled with me choosing a laid back type like Zak in.first place.

I know. We just want to protect them. They want to protect everything else!! But.. Nothing matters, so much, if people will just Talk!! So many DO NOT!

Like PB&J our dogs (fortunately) have had no reason to be protective and they are friendly to accepted visitors. They do tend to object to pigeons and rabbits on their patch. Now we have dog owning neighbours on 3 sides who bark at the boundary fence when they see us but as long as my dogs have a ball or frisbee in their gob they ignore them. Out of the 4 I would like to think that 3 of them would step up to the mark if needed.

Sadie is guardy of property/car but more so of me, though she is not overly barky with it- she will bark when people knock at the door and approach the van but that is about all the barking she does.
She will let people into the house and garden if my body language says its ok. She is very self assured and confident and I think she doesn't feel the need to bark unless really necessary, she is also very tuned in to my body language so if I am scared/nervous she will pick up on this especially out walking and wouldn't let anyone approach in those circumstance unless I put her in a stay at a distance.

A lot of people have told me my dog has natural aggression. Remember I have never taught my dog to guard the house or the car.

Anybody can touch me when out and touch him if it is appropriate.

I am told he takes after his very famous Grandfather the WUSV Champion Asko von der Lutter who was an extremely strong dog (although fortunately he is a lot better looking)

You do make me laugh Smokey. I think yo could be a big softy.. on the quiet!

We know nothing of Molly's breeding as she was a rescue. She is protective of our home and can be quite intimidating with all the noise and bluster. She is not particularly protective of me outside the home, but on dark nights she is not comfortable if a stranger (usually men) get between me and her and she will dart back to my side. She does not guard the car as long as I am with her (unless they peer through the windows).

I read about a Tv show in the states that held tests under controlled conditions to see whether dogs would protect their owners ...
I think a lot of folks were surprised that their big scary dogs went awol or froze..


PS
And i have spent the last 15mins trying to find the article and i cant find it .. plus it might of been a newspaper running the tests ....

I remember watching the video after someone posted it on here... I think it was a news channel running the 'tests'.

To be honest I don't think it's that simple - my bitch Bijou has the most laid back temperament of any dog we've ever had you could set off a firework under her nose and she'd barely respond - she loves every living thing and displays no guarding instincts at all - Angel, from her first litter, is the opposite - if anyone so much as breathes near the house she'll let us know although she's happy to greet anyone who does make it though her barrage of noise to actually come into the house whereas Hawk from Bijou's second litter is much more like his mum he hardly barks at all and welcomes everyone into the house with a grin before trotting off to fetch his toys to show them but he's noise sensitive and hates stuff like gun shots, thunder etc

They've both been brought up the same way and were sired by dogs chosen for their easy going natures