i want to make my dog into a guard dog?

Question

ok i have a 5 month old doberman
and at night i sometimes see people in our yard and my dog like....hides,and i was wondering what can i do so i can stop the weakness out of her and make her a good guard dog so she can protect out house of intruders later in the future..so any ideas?

Answer 1

im sure that if anything was done that threatened you, your dog would jump into action.

maybe you should bring your dog out in the front yard sometimes.. make it well known that you have a big ol dobie(yea, i know its a huge harmless puppy, but it is intimidating). maybe get a door mat that says i love my Doberman or something.

some dogs personalities just arent like that.

Answer 2

You don't have to do anything. Your dog is still a baby. In time she will naturally become protective of her home and family members. Not a good idea to take a large dog and turn into a "protection dog" just for the sake of the dog barking when someone approaches the house.

There is a lot of legalese when it comes to dogs and protection training. Not to mention that if its not done right you might create a monster. You open yourself up to a mountain of liability when you train or own one of these dogs.

Think of it this way, you wouldn't expect a 3 year old to confront a burglar in your home right? Don't expect it out of a 5 month old dog either. As she grows older and matures you will see the change.

But.... If you insist on taking this course, do a google search for "protection training, dogs" in your area. You'll be amazed at the amount of results you get. Also look into certain online forums.

I've provided a couple.

http://www.workingdogforum.com/phpbb2/

http://leerburg.com/

Another thing to keep in mind is that Guard/Protection dogs don't make good pets and vice versa.

My personal opinion is that if you have to ask this question on Yahoo Answers, then you're not ready to train or own such an animal.
Good luck.

Answer 3

If you want to train your puppy to be a guard dog, it is best to get help from professional dog training people. However, if you decide to do it alone, follow these steps to ensure your dog is properly trained.


Step One Socialize your puppy. Familiarize him with the environment. Get him used to traffic, people and other animals. Teach him to remain indifferent to other animals. This means do not allow him to chase after cats or pursue a female dog in heat.

Step Two Teach basic obedience. Demand the dog's attention at the start of every training session. Teach the dog verbal commands; such as come, sit and stay. Teach these same commands using hand signals. You should also teach your dog automatic commands, such as to always sit when they come to you.

Step Three Encourage your dog to bark when someone approaches the house. Most dogs will do this automatically unless you teach them not to. When someone approaches the house and your dog barks, tell her she is a good girl and that she can stop now because you are here and the person is a friend. If the person is not a friend, allow the dog to continue barking and praise her for her response. It is important to train the dog to stop barking only when given the command to do so.

Step Four Train your dog not to run after the intruder once they leave your property. To do this, you will have to make sure that the dog knows where your property line ends. Walk the dog around the perimeter of the property until she understand the boundaries.

Step Five Instruct the dog to attack clothing not exposed flesh. You can do this by pulling your hand into your sleeve and telling the dog to "get it." Don't use words such as "kill" or "sic." When you're done, tell the dog to "drop it." Remove the dog's mouth from your arm if he does not release and expose your hand from your sleeve.

Step Six Identify the areas on an intruders body that your dog should bite. You want the dog to bite an extremity, preferably a leg and then hold onto the person until help arrives. In the last step, your dog should have learned the command to drop or release. A good guard dog will not release the intruder until either its owner or a policeman gives them the command to do so.

Answer 4

She's just a puppy and you're not in actual danger anyway. She doesn't need to be growling and snarling at everyone. There's a big difference between protective and aggressive. You don't want the liability of aggression, which could bring fines, jail/prison time, lawsuits, her death, etc

Socializing and obedience classes will help her gain confidence. If she doesn't get out and about, she'll become more fearful. Plus, such breeds most often become protective at social maturity...around age two. A big mistake people make is keeping them away from people, thinking they're friendly and therefore won't protect. That's not true, believe me.

Our Catahoula was very outgoing and loved people. He was a big playful goofball with everyone, strangers included. He was obedience trained at home (I have prior experience), but went to social dog classes and was taken out/about all the time. I made it a point to expose him to everything and everyone. Right before he turned two, he changed. He became protective of us, our yard and home. He now prefers to avoid people and mind his own business, but if there's a potential problem...he's right there. When a relative grabbed for my two oldest kids while I was in the house, he bit his hand and held him until I could get out the door.

Answer 5

First, be careful what you ask for...don't train your dog to bite, but a good bark is always a handy thing to scare people away.

Teach your dog to speak. Even if the dog gives a little bark go nuts with praise and give her a treat.

It sounds crazy, but you need to give your dog a lot of love to be scary.

Then, once you have solid "speak" trick down, start at your door and knock and say "Speak" and reward the dog, then try just knocking, then approaching the door. Eventually the dog will go nuts whenever someone is in the yard...there is no off switch.

Be careful what you wish for.

Answer 6

the best bet would be to get a professional dog trainer for this, because there is a fine line between making a guard dog and creating an aggressive dog that won't listen and may hurt someone innocent.

She may just be naturally timid. To help some of this you will need to take her out, walk her on the street to get her used to surrounding noises and people.

Answer 7

I wanted to do the same thing with my dog.

I decided that I would make a lot of noice and make a big deal when someone came close to my apartment. My dog copied me. He thought it was a game to bark and jump at the door. I would tell him "someone is here!" and he would start barking and jumping.

Now all I have to do is say "someone is here" and he will go into guard mode.

Answer 8

What weakness??? Geez, 5 months...she is just a baby!!

Take her to obedience classes. This will help build up her confidence. You DON'T want a fearful, shy Dobie...

If you would care/love/train/bond with her, let her live IN the house with the rest of the family, she will naturally protect you and your family. She CAN'T do that stuck out in the backyard...

Answer 9

All canine can develop into defend canine it somewhat relies upon on how properly they're experienced and the living house putting they have been pronounced in. they do no longer lose there playfulness in any respect all canine like to play in some way. in spite of the incontrovertible fact that in case you get a canine which will become fairly related to you, in case you're positioned into circumstances you do no longer basically like the canine would be waiting to experience this might come on your help and defend you being a chihuahua or a shepherd they are going to the two be waiting to have this reaction. its there instinct to guard there kin. Now canine that have be experienced to guard places like attack canine. do no longer play as they're learn its incorrect to accomplish that. a canine being experienced like this in my opinion is incorrect. yet even canine on the police rigidity have a playfull side merely as much as instruction manual canine for the blind.

Answer 10

Don't breed her to attack. EVER. This can only lead to heartache. Professional guard dogs (police dogs, etc.) take years of proffesional labor to train. If she truly loves you, she'll protect you should the time come. So jsut love her, and she'll love you back.