What guard dog breed for a woman? Which breed for me?

My choice is Doberman. My sister had Misty who always went with her in the car. One day, while returning to the parking lot, so noticed some suspicious characters milling around her car. Misty had been sleeping on the front seat and slowly raised her head to look out. When the suspects caught sight of the large Doberman leering at them, they quickly scattered, leaving my sister safe and sound.

Nobody is listening to me but even a shepherd mix that is more than fifty pounds that doesn't greet strangers all licky wag wag is all that you need. Any average mugger will not try to overtake a good sized dog, protection training not needed.

This is what my baby could look like to the average young man thinking of mugging me. It's not going to happen. No protection training required.

The best thing to do is look around rescue homes talk to the staff there or find good breeders of the dogs your thinking of having ask them what the temperament of their adult dogs are like with strangers.
The other things you have to consider is your other dog is she dog friendly & will she accept another dog in the house, then you have to ask yourself will you be able to control 2 big powerful dogs at the same time, if not then you will need to look at smaller dogs, just because they are small don't mean they don't make good guard dogs, they are more likely to bark at strangers & are very untrusting of strangers, a bite from a small dog can be just as painful as a bite from a large dog. (small dogs go for ankles & men's bits)
Finally you need to ask yourself do you want a smooth coat, medium coat or long coat dog, smooth coat dogs are better if running as they are less likely to overheat but will need a warm winter/rain dog-coat when they get older to help them stay warm.

Ok I have to be honest, I wouldn't trust a rescue in this situation, it may work out ok and may not.
As for controlling two big dogs, well, well trained dogs are not controlled by your biceps they're controlled by your voice, hand signals whatever he's trained to react to.
It's a fact certain breeds of dogs are imposing, never have the need to do more than alter their stance when under threat or think there is danger.
You don't want or need an aggressive dog, You want a trainable, imposing, balanced dog. Not one that will bite first It's not all about showing your teeth either. You also don't want one that barks at everything. You won't need specialist training for some of the breeds mentioned, just look at the guarding breeds it's in their genes.

As there's been no response or feedback from the OP it's all speculation on our part!

Perhaps she has already set off travelling in her Gypsy caravan!
There might not be enough space for another large dog.

I wouldn't say no one is listening to you. It's only that people have different wants or needs. Some are fine with only a watch dog, others are okay that they're dog might protect but not knowing for sure as most won't, some want a breed more prone to it or a trained protection dog which is the most reliable. It all comes down to personal preferences.

It's true a lot of people won't want to tangle with a dog, even a small one because they are noisy but this isn't always the case. Some people are not scared of dogs, don't have common sense, or they are high or they are desperate.

Boerboels are very imposing (imo) yet I know those that have had to protect, including one that was killed protecting his family. One breeder I know even with a few Boerboels it didn't stop the perp. He ended up in the hospital, but dogs wasnt enough to scare him. Those were home robberies, as far as muggings go it's still the same, especially if someone is armed they will shoot your dog if they have to. If the dog is trained they might have a better chance of survival and taking out the weapon hand is key (which is something trained for). The fact is most (untrained) dogs are not going to follow through they will only bark. While most people feel that's all they need (probably true enough) some want a higher level of security and of course being able to call the dog off, ect when needed.

I have to agree, if you are looking for a dog that will be a deterrent, then its best to look to a breeder.

As for controlling big dogs, I cant see why it would be an issue, as you say its not how much muscle you have its down to training, in my experience the least controlled dogs seem to be the little yappy ones !

Its not brute force I was thinking of, if there was a emergency then she must be able to bring them both under control & back to her without them running amok the same rule also applies if the 2 dogs start fighting then she must be able to control both of them at the same time by voice/click of fingers/whistle
I have owned 5 medium/large mix breeds, 6 Rottweiler's 8 GSD's & 9 Doberman's & now 6 JRT's so know to use voice/finger click to bring dogs back under control, I also know when 2 powerful dogs on walkies are intent on pulling hard to go after someone/something then you must be stronge enough to hold them back.

Well trained dogs wouldn't be pulling though would they? You'd tell them to walk to heel or close etc and that's what they would do. If they didn't obey you they wouldn't be well trained lol. Never had to physically hold my Dobermanns back, just gave commands, that's the point surely.

In all honesty I have never seriously thought if any of my dogs would protect me as it’s not the reason I wanted them, yes they are protective of their boundary house/car ect: but would they protect me in a real life threat I really don’t know, as when push comes to shove I think most dogs would fail, its far more important to me to have a well balanced socialized dog than end up in court with the possibility of my dog being killed because it couldn’t distinguish the difference between a threat or a friend running toward me arms outstretched.
Yes an untrained dog may use aggression towards a threat in an attempt to protect its self, handler or family but what happens if the show of teeth and barking isn't enough and the dog has to physically stop a threat, more times than not the untrained dog will fail,they may have the genetics, but you won't know their potential or what you have without training to ensure that it will work when you need or want it to, and even more importantly that ‘you’ will be able to control the dog in that type of situation, What it boils down to I think, is that an untrained dog may protect you or its home, but training gives you control in that you can send a dog or call them off when ‘you’ deem it necessary, and take that decision away from the dog.

The Swedes studied about 2700 GSD's.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18502884

The table shows that Hardness and Courage have an almost 0.95 correlation in GSD's.
Defense drive has a 0.8 for courage, 0.81 for sharpness (aggressiveness), and little correlation with affability!.

Sorry GsdSlave but I have heard hardness and softness, genetics, but I in true guardian breeds think bonding has just as much to play in the matter.

I see a lot when a EM or BM steps up, they call it just a case of a throw back. But if you look at forums for them the softest slobber Guardian breeds more often steps up than not.

1000% agree with the rest as far as controlling a large or giant breed, it solely training, also it must start when there small.
If Mouse was not well trained, there is no way 165lbs of wife could control 180lbs of Mouse even with a prong collar if he really wanted to get from a to b.