can my kids play with My 3.5 months puppy which I want him to be a house guard dog?

Question

My puppy is 3.5 monthes and my two kids playing with him alot is that will give him a personality which is not good for a gaurd dog and is it OK if me and my 15 years old son to tran him seperatly

Answer 1

It was a popular old school of thought, that guard dogs , or any working dog, was not to be made a pet. The guide dogs for the blind, with the most rigorously trained dogs, want them first to be raised in a family surrounding. It has been shown to be best for their phycological health.
They are now mostly raised for their first year with a 4-H family. They learn the family pecking order, and how to be a member of family first..even though the intended sight impaired owner is encouraged not to lavish petting on them.

To play with your younger children is good for them.

Your dog should not need any guard training if he is to be a family guardian. If he is of a working breed, that will come naturally.

Do encourage him to be at least civil to all of your visitors. He will be able to detect malice in an intruder. He will also pick up your attitudes if you live in fear, and are wary of all strangers.

Obedience training is the best for you to train him right now. He won't be ready for any other training until at least a year, and should be guarding well by 18 months.

You and your son might enjoy Schutzhund work or Ring Sport.
Dogs enjoy learning this..kind of like Karate for dogs.

Check with local vets, and ask who does Schutzund in your area. You should be able to find a club or classes, as it is becoming a very popular sport.

Answer 2

at 3.5 months, it is still unsure as to what temperment the dog will have. Keep in mind, there are breeds that are NOT good for guard dogs because the temperment is not bred into the dog. Many "family" dogs, such as labradors or golden retrievers, or pointers, and even some shepherds are not guard dogs because their background do not carry the gene. Now, assuming you have a breed that does carry the guard gene, its okay for your kids to play with thim as usual up until he is about 5 months old. Once he turns 5 months, his puppy teeth are gone and now has the adult teeth which are much sharper and hurt more when they bite down. From now up until 5-6 months, teach him obediance only. You can have him fetch balls or sticks or rags but do not do anything that would and could intimidate him too much. Bite work comes in different stages and drives. Just because a dog is a certain breed does not mean they will bite. In fact, dogs not trained in protection work will usually run away from possible intruders because they do not have the self confidence from the development of training. Once he reaches 5-6 months, YOU could start the basic fundimentals such as a full and strong bite by using a rag or small piece of leather or if you can get one, a puppy tug. Tie him up to somethign that will hold his body weight and swing it around in front of him. Make him WANT the rag or tug. This develops his prey drive because he WANTS the rag or tug. Once he turns 8months-1 year old, depending on the dog (not breed), you could start some defense work. Defense work should not be done by you. This is when a trainer comes in to tempt the dog and tease him. At this point, the dog starts showing aggression towards the challenger. THIS SHOULD NOT BE YOU OR YOUR FAMILY. After a year, start the bite work with a helper and sleeve. Only after the dog has shown prey drive development and defense drive development should you bring in a sleeve. Again, DO NOT DEFENSE TRAIN OR SLEEVE TRAIN YOUR OWN DOG. So, to recap, for now, its okay for your kids to play with him as normal. Once he turns 5-6 months, start placing him in his kennel or doghouse or crate for hours at a time and start his bite work slowly with rags and puppy tugs. You and your son can train him for prey drive development but after 8 months or the beginning of defense work, someone outside your family should be doing this with you handling the dog and the other tempting and challenging the dog. Hope it helped.

Answer 3

It is actually very important that you let your kids play with the puppy. You surely don't want the dog to bite your kids thinking they are intruders. This is less likely to happen if the dog knows them well and thinks of them as part of its pack. It will also protect them from outsiders better this way. You should supervise the play though to make sure your kids don't do anything that makes the dog get agressive towards them like pulling on its ears, tail, teasing him etc so that it tries to bite them.

If you and your son train the dog separately it is very important that you first do some training with the dog together and make sure that you are using the same signals, commands and methods to train the dog so he dosent get confused. Consistancy is critial for proper dog training. All of your family should learn what the commands you are training the dog to obey are especially the ones that call him off when he is trying to attack in case he attacks the wrong person.

Answer 4

Actually, allowing the puppy to bond with your family if it is your own house (w/family inside) that you intend the puppy to guard when he grows up, it would enhance his training, as he would see you and your family as his "pack" and guard you very well as such. If you intend to hire him out, it is still a good idea for you to allow the dog to socialize with your kids and others. Well trained guard dogs learn how to distinguish threats from friends, and should not be trained to be vicious with all people, because then once the dog can no longer do its job, it must be put down because it does not know how to relate peacefully with anyone. Plus a well socialized dog is more likely to easier to train for any job.

Answer 5

Why wouldn't you want your guard dog to bond with your children? Unless you want the dog to guard the house from them.

Yes. Let them play with him to their heart's content. The more he loves them, the more protective of them he will be. Just make sure that they are old enough to understand how to treat a dog. Kids can be cruel sometimes, knowingly or not. If he learns to fear them, or hate them, you, and they, are in for trouble.

You should also understand exactly what a good guard dog is. Some people will point to their dog, who is trying to bite through his kennel or break his chain to get at me, and brag about how protective he is.

Really? Protective? What is he protecting them from? A conversation with a friend?

No. A dog who will bite someone without provocation, for simply being there, is not protective, and is the worst kind of guard dog to have. They are a liability that will get you sued and or put in jail.

I want a dog that will walk right up to anyone I invite into my home and ask them to rub his ears.

I want that same dog to step up if that person communicates a threat to me or my family.

I want a dog that will welcome anybody into my house that I invite in, but will bite them deep if they try to do it when nobody is home.

I want a dog that I can bring with me to my kid's tackle football game and will ignore it when everyone dogpiles on him.

I want that same dog to know the difference if someone gets serious with him, and that dog gets right in their face!

Most of all, I want a dog that I can control. A dog that will listen to me if I call him off from biting someone whom he has mistakenly judged as a threat, or someone who has had enough of being chewed on.

An indiscriminate biter that you can't call off is a loose cannon that is going to bring you and your family, as well as someone else's family, a world of grief.

Answer 6

Actually it is a good idea for you to let your kids play with the puppy. If the puppy gets used to who it is supposed to be protecting the better guard dog he will be.All you have to do is train him the way a guard dog should be trained.

Answer 7

you should train together, but most guard dogs are 1-owner dogs.

however, its totally within the dogs nature to be friendly towards its owners, and therefore very protective, but there are ways which you need to do so (train).

Try finding a place nearby that has a guard-dog training facility, or ask at a local pet store.

Answer 8

The dog should have ONE and ONLY ONE trainer. Different people and different commands will only confuse the dog. Thus resulting in disobediance. Your children should NOT play with the dog. It is okay for YOU to play with it, because you will be the trainer, and the one it desires to protect. Don't worry, it will still gaurd the family, but that will just be a "bonus". His real intentions will be to protect you! The rest of the family just happens to be there!

Answer 9

If this dog is going to live in your house, and you have kids, then the dog has to get used to the kids. In fact, his growing up with your kids and learning to love them will make him more protective of them. He will think of them as part of his "pack" and will sacrifice his own life to protect theirs. You do not want your "guard dog" to think of your kids as potential targets, but family members. It is a dog's natural instinct to protect his territory and pack. This is not something that you need to teach him.

If you are going to train him, then you and your son should train him together, so that you can both establish yourselves as "pack leaders", and not confuse him as to who is in charge. Who told you that a guard dog should not have a personality, anyway? If he is going to be around your kids, then the sooner he gets used to them, the better.

Answer 10

yes they can. In fact the more time the kids spend with the dog the more the dogs becomes attached to the family and want to protect it more, if not the dog could just be aggressive. Just let your family see the dog not any strangers. Let your son train the dog so it will be aggressive to strangers but not family.