I was reading a dog profile guide and one of the questions it asks of each breed is " If someone broke into my house this dog would...". Interesting question, how do you feel your canine companion would react to an intruder based on personality and breed? If a strange human appeared in front of our Sophie she would definitely run and hide. At 60lbs she is an impressive size. But she panics easily. She would find a safe spot and curl up into a trembling ball. Our boy on the other paw would greet a burglar with such force, he would need to be restrained...if only so the police still had something left to arrest. Very different personalities indeed.
A few years ago when I had Chloe my tiny Tibetan Spaniel and M'boi my first Pei we had some break ins in the village. Chloe woke me up around 2 am barking, then ran into the living room and woke up M'boi, who as usual was snoring her head off. She then ran to the front door and stood there barking her head off. M'boi started to growl and for the next half hour patrolled round every room (I live in a bungalow) checking every window for intruders and also on me to see if I was OK. Once they were satisfied no one was going to break in, they both came into the bedroom. Chloe parked herself on the bed next to me and M'boi sat on the floor facing the window until she was absolutely sure the danger had passed. I'm quite certain that had someone got into the house, M'boi would have gone for them, aided by my 9lb Tibbie snapping around their ankles! Gwylim, my Miniature Schnauzer is a brilliant little watch dog ... no stranger gets passed my front gate without him letting me know and unlike Chloe if he's not sure about someone, he'll growl at them.. Georgina my Pei girl, wouldn't make a sound, she'd circle round them, watching their every move and waiting for a sign from me to let her know whether they were friend or foe. Fortunately, I've never had to find out what would happen after that! It's a great feeling though having two dogs in the house, knowing if necessary they'd protect you ... but that's why I chose to have a watch dog breed and a guard dog breed, because they work as a team! .
I think it all depends on the personality of the dog not the breed, a lot of people think that a GSD or other guardian breeds will automatically protect them when in reality that is not the case. Heiko is a prime example; he barks at every little noise and looks the big macho. He knows when OH is due home from work, if on lates its dark when he gets home when he hears the van he looks out the French doors then he runs and hides behind kitchen wall peeking round till OH speaks, so no he wouldn’t protect the home, he’s all mouth and no trousers but he looks and sounds the part so that’s good enough for me as I don't want him making decisions about what's dangerous and what is not. Unless specifically protection trained I think the number of dogs that would truly protect would be very small.
As above, I'd advise anyone not to count on their dog to back them up against a serious threat unless its already proven itself. I can say with some confidence I could bolt 90% of peoples dogs. Breeding outweighs training here, a dog that is sound in this regard should not require any training to defend although naturally both human and dog should be trained to keep the situation under control. You see plenty of dogs in the protection game that are beautifully trained but wouldn't cut it out in the field.
All my GSD 's were useless guard dogs they would go hide behind me if someone knocked on my door, 2 of my Rotties well the word scaredy cat springs to mind they would try to hide under the sofa/bed if someone they didn't know come into my house, my other 3 Rotties were all mouth if someone knocked on my door & would run & hide as soon as I opened the door, now my Doberman's they would let anyone into my home but wouldn't let them back out again, this leads on to my JRT's if someone dares to step onto my drive they go hide behind sofa, then will slowly creep out & jump on anyone who sits on sofa baring their teeth, accept K9 he will run upstairs & watch from the landing to see who's at the door. so in all I think I have only had whimpy dogs over the pass 35 years x
Yes and sometimes Callie goes overboard. Like the other night the front door was accidently latched when hubby came home. He tapped lightly on the door and Callie was immediately on the floor...."GRRRRRRROOOWWWW"...It's Daddy you dingbat...MMMM I smell Jehovah's Witnesses
Breed AND breeding play an important role but a lot of people assume all individuals of whatever breed will be identical. Thinking about my dogs APBT would protect me if told to do so but wouldn't likely guard the house alone. At least I'm not confident in that. She would probably be friendly. APBT would protect me, the home alone, the vehicle alone. She's the most serious, reliable of the bunch. APBT it's a possibility that she might protect me in home but she doesn't have any formal training, I don't know that she would protect the home alone at all but she will protect me within a vehicle. Her Dad sure showed he'd protect me also, he was an extremely friendly dog with solid temperament that I thought for sure would lick someone to death. But when it counted he did show a completely different disposition. APBT I know she would bark and realize that person probably doesn't belong but once they were not thwarted she'd likely make quick friends. I wouldn't even count on her to protect me. She is very loving dog but not with just to me. She likes people in general. If someone was trying to harm me I think she might bark at them and be confused but not bite and protect. APBT youngin, pretty much average pup / Pit. Making super strides in obedience and I would love to work in protection as I see some great potential even with prey oriented bite work but I'm not going to be able to do it at this time. I can say he wouldn't guard the home or protect me at this time. With my Cane Corso I didn't get to train her how I wanted so I don't know if she would come through or not for 100% but she did start to show instinct and be more territorial as she matured. Her prey drive is on lower end but she shows some defense. Her bark is also completely different for "there's my family, I'm excited" vs "you don't belong here, go away" it isn't a fearful or nervy bark either so at least she sounds scary. My Malinois I'm sure could have been depended upon. I had to call him off of potential attack due to altercation right in front of my home. I was outside with him and not involved but he became extremely agitated and aggressive when they got closer to my fence he was set to attack I'm sure since he was gearing up to go over after the lunging, whining and barking didn't send them away and they stepped more onto my property so I had to call him to me and take him in. Don't think he was going to go play nice. My CO I would bet money on too. I know the breeders dogs had appropriate temperament and protect naturally and she showed that same defense drive, territorial nature with me.
The issue is that, especially with popular breeds, you have more breeders who breed away from appropriate temperament and dilute drives. They are not breeding for those traits so they will be lost. In some cases instead of just losing traits and producing friendly or neutral they go to the other extreme because they have bred nervy or fearful dogs. Without proper socialization you might see some fear behaviors but even with socialization and exposure you can't always overcome the genetics basis of the behavior.
This actually happened (years ago), except it wasn't an "intruder", it was a contractor working in the house, he entered unexpectedly: Border Collie/Golden Retriever Mix lept up and attached himself to the man's sleeve. The labrador rescued the intruder from the border collie with a snarl and a body check before we could even get to them. We watched in horror, but the contractor was actually laughing as the dog dangled from his sleeve (he was a huge man). Thankfully, he was unharmed and we weren't sued! Good thing the lab came to the rescue! My pit mixes are more like someone mentioned above, if no one is in the house, they would likely be fairly non-reactive or even friendly. I'm fine with that. If my house is on fire when I'm not home, I'd like the firefighters to be able to go in there and save my dogs instead of getting attacked! However, if family members are in the house, they do bark when strangers approach the home and upon entry, would physically get between us and the stranger. One of the dogs would continue barking incessantly once inside the home (they have demonstrated this behavior when I've stupidly let salespeople in, until I tell them to settle down). I like to think his bark is loud and annoying enough that an intruder wouldn't want that attention drawn to himself, and he'd move on to a quieter house! That may be the extent of their reaction. I don't think either pitmix has an "attack mode" like the border collie did! But then again, they haven't had been tested by an actual intruder (or surprise contractor visit) so who can say? I wouldn't have thought the border collie mix was capable of that either, he seemed even less "protective" leading up to the incident.
Now that is an interesting question, what would happen at our house if there was no one home to protect? I think based on how wound up they both get making noise that an intruder would immediately decide on a quieter house. If you were going to break into a house. You see one fairly ramshackle with a "Beware of Dog" sign prominently posted and hear the baying from hell inside, is it worth it to you even if you're armed? Probably not...
I'm sure that's a good thing! I read an interview of a former burglar who said small yippie dogs were more of a deterrent to him than large dogs, because of all the noise they make! I'm not a small dog person, so I'm kind glad my big dogs make some noise when necessary. Even if they are all bark no bite.
No one home, Mouse is fairly care less, unless you tried to steal his food bowl. Someone home, he gets up about every 2 to 3 hrs and circles the house and yard. He's extremely protective of the wife, not so much with me.
All my Dobermanns would have stopped an intruder in their tracks especially Syd the male. My staffie would lick them to death, Frankie the terrier would probably burst their ear drums with his high pitched incessant barking. The Pugs work by stealth and as a team, gawd they do bark but the plan would be to trip the intruder up so Diesel the staffie could pin them down and love them till help came lol they wouldn't be getting up in a hurry with that nutter on their head and chest.
I lived in South Africa for many years where many people own multiple dogs, one of which will be a small or even toy breed. Several of my friends owned Maltese plus much larger breeds. The thinking behind it is that generally speaking small dogs have better hearing than their larger counterparts and will be the first to hear anyone approaching. It was only when I came to Hungary and was looking for a dog, my son insisted that I had a small one and a larger one. I bought Chloe, a Tibetan Spaniel and M'boi, my first Shar-Pei. Tibetan Spaniels make wonderful watchdogs because they were originally bred to sit on the window ledges of Tibet monastries watching for approaching strangers and their job was to alert the Tibetan Mastiffs and their guards. I now have Gwylim, my Miniature Schnauzer who's also an excellent watchdog and boy can he make a noise! He has the most unearthly howl which is enough to waken the dead or at least convince any potential intruder my house is haunted! This is Chloe on sentry duty!\
That's a smart idea if you need to protect your home, small plus big dogs, you have the alarms and the muscle! Chloe is the cutest sentry ever! She looks like she takes her job very seriously!
That's so sweet! Our Sophie is like that with the vocal. Callie for all his brawn sounds like a cranky cocker spaniel, something common with AmBulls. But if you get them together it sounds pretty fierce. Someone stupid enough to break in would see a face that can make a grown man scream like a little girl... My poor baby boy... http://i1232.photobucket.com/albums/ff369/fureverywhere/DSCN0772.jpg
I forgotten about Prince he was a Collie X Afghan, now he was very protective of me no one including my hubby could come near me when he was sitting next to me, or if I was holding his lead (hubby was the one that normally that walked him) Don't let that cute look fool you, he would attack without any warning.
I have thought about this before and I came to the conclusion that he would do one of two things either greet them and hope they had some tasty treats or protect his home and "pack" with vigor either way I think most people would see him and not want to take the chance.
