While some individuals have dogs as pets to protect them from loneliness, others get dogs with another purpose in mind. They have dogs to protect them from any unwanted or uninvited guests entering their homes or coming on their property. These type of dogs are called guard dogs, and they undergo a special kind of training to make them fit to serve and protect the masters who own them.
Training Guard Dogs
There is a big difference between a watch dog and a guard dog. A guard dog is trained to attack an intruder who has made their way into the house. A watch dog simply alerts its owner to the presence of an intruder on the property. It’s important to note the difference because you may not want a guard dog, but a watch dog, or maybe vice versa.
There are only certain breeds of dog that work well as guard dogs. These breeds would include Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherd dogs. The reason these two breeds make such excellent guard dogs is because they have a very strong instinct to guard and protect things. It’s as if they were programmed to be that way by nature. Good guard dogs are also dogs that can still be controlled despite their instincts, as it would be very dangerous to have a guard dog around that was out of control.
Guard Dogs Help You Stay Safe
There are a few different methods of guard dog training; depending largely on what it is that needs to be guarded. Another factor that plays a huge role in guard dog training is how you want your dog to react to a specific type of situation. Some people train guard dogs to protect their homes from being broken into. Others may train a guard dog to protect farm animals, and others train them to watch over a specific piece of property.
A dog should never enter into guard dog training without first attending obedience school. It is extremely important that a guard dog understand and obey commands of attack and when to back off an intruder. Obedience training is the foundation for learning how to be a guard dog. The better your dog learns to obey, the faster your dog will be able to catch on at guard dog training.
One important aspect of guard dog training is helping your dog learn to not be easily distracted. Your dog should not lose focus or concentration when faced with mice, cats, or other dogs while on the job. Communication is another important part of guard dog training. Teaching your dog to hone his bark is a great way for you to be alerted to the presence of an intruder, as well as scaring away the intruder if possible. No one wants to come into a house where a ferocious sounding beast is waiting in the darkness. If the barking should fail to scare off an intruder, the attacks skills learned in training will come into play.
The type of training your dog will need to be a guard dog will depend largely on the amount of protection you feel you need. This will set the level of the training and will prepare your dog to protect you. The most basic level of training will test your dog for his temperament and will equip him with watch dog skills. If you need more protection than this, then you will want to put him into a higher level of training. Keep in mind what it is you need to keep safe when choosing the right training program for your dog.
I Want my dog to not only gaurd my home and property but also himself there is a big german shepard who constintly attacks my 1-1/2 yr. old pitbull puppy who can be aggressive but will not fight back i believe he is intimidated by the size of the shepard
My situation is similar to Tyrone’s. I have a 4 month old Shepherd/Lab mix puppy. My wife and I live in a 4 plex with a community backyard. One of our neighbors also has a Shepherd mix who constantly attacks our dog. It’s been 3 times already (2 in less than a week). The last time, the dog drew blood. We’ve notified Animal Control on the last 2 occasions but they’ve offered no assistance. We’re sick of it and would like a possible solution to the problem. We plan to get him obedience trained and socialized asap. How long after his obedience training should we wait before enrolling him in Guard Dog training? And are there self defense classes for dogs?