Guard dog training

rocky09

Hi everyone,
i have a 6 month old, presa canario x american bulldog & to be honest hes tooooooo friendly, he will let anyone in my house, i've had a few friends who jumped over (rocky has never met them) & all he does is start to play & get excited!! dont get me wrong i like it when he loves people, but i want him to be a guard dog in MY house, outside its different, i just want him to be weary around strangers & if someone breaks in or jumps over, i want him to bark...loud!
how can i teach him to be a bit more upbeat & more protective over the house??
thanks

wvasko

You don't have a yr old boy digging ditches and a 6 month old pup has a bunch of growing up to do. Be thankful he is friendly etc as a scared pup/dog is useless, just think about a 6 month old pup that was aggressive towards people by the time he's 3 yrs old and reaches adulthood he will be more than you want to deal with. If you really want to build a pup, socialize him and start some obedience work.

alfi

ditto the above ^^^

Your dog is only 6 months old and that's how he has to be as puppy.
He has a lot more to grow up so don't worry about it yet. Whoever comes to my farm is surprised from how friendly my dogs are...but if you dare hurt my family or break into when I'm not there you won't have much luck. As puppies they were very friendly.

Truckindogmom

I agree wait until he gets older then he may surprise you. He is still to young to be protective.

rocky09

, thanks everyone & dont get me wrong, im not doing it so he can be aggressive & so that he can hurt others, i just want him to be abit better at being a guard dog , okay, ill wait & see :0, thanks everyone

fawkese1

ditto wvasko... you want to encourage him to be as friendly as possible now... he will look intimidating enough when he gets older to deter most people... focus on basic obedience and giving him positive experiences with as many different people as you can...

Mikey

Dogs can be trained to be guide dogs, or drug dogs or police dogs. Dogs do not need to be trained to guard. They have been bred for 1000's of years to be loyal faithful family members. There is no way any dog wouldn't protect their family-even a not-so-great owner can count on his pooch to protect him.

Trust me on this-you don't need to train your dog to protect And with lawsuits-it's a really really unwise thing to do. Sending your dog to a pro for training and then maintaining that professional training with upkeep is one thing-teaching your dog yourself is -literally screaming for a lawsuit. Seriously not a good idea!

alfi

Although I agree that any dog will protect you...choosing a very good trainer who will "teach" the dog when it is ok to guard and be in tune with the owner it's safer than having an uncontrolled dog who will guard at his/her will ...BUT the most important thing is SOCIALIZATION!! Then dog must be friendly at any time!! Believe me if a situation arises your dog will protect you!!

reggieroo

My GSD was originally bought for me as a guard dog & companion when I was single & living in a not so good area. He was only a pup & showed no signs of being a guard dog, seemed to friendly & nice.

One day I came home & my back gate had been forced, he was only a few months old but obviously no one had came in so I can only assume he protected the property. Then over the next 12 months he became one hell of a guard dog without me having to do a thing. He would let people in if Dad (me) said it was ok but you try to open our gate now........

In fact he has become so much of a good guard dog & so Territorial it causes me problems with my new neighbours. I have fiancee, a little baby daughter & have lived in a very nice part of the countryside for just over two years now. Every time I go out I get complaints that my Dog is barking at everybody who comes past, some of them (who think they know him well enough) are even stupid enough to try to enter my garden to see if they can calm him He hardly ever does it when I'm in but when I go out, boy does he guard!

So it just shows you that with a lot of dogs you don't have to do jack, they know it's the family home & somebody who isn't welcomed in by the owner will be told by the dog in no uncertain terms!

Wicked

When I got my first GSD I wondered about the same thing. I contacted a trainer and was given this nice little gem;

"Expecting an 8 month old puppy to guard your home[even slightly] is like giving a 6 year old a gun and expecting him to defend his family, it's just not a reasonable goal".

Now that I'm older, wiser and have done a fair bit of research on the topic, I understand that a dog displaying 'defensive' behavior at such a young age is virtually useless as a true guard dog. Such a dog is not likely to have a good, stable temperament in maturity, at least not stable enough to be able to handle the pressure of defense training.

You can always teach your dog to bark on command at this age. Make sure the training is positive and absolutely make sure your not training him to be reactive, only reward nuetral (happy) barking.