Would a rottie meet our need (or wants)?

[jobo]

We just moved into our new house about a year ago. The house is in the country sitting on a little over 53 acres of land all but five are wooded. With in the last year we have seen a lot of wild life, some of which worry us. We have seen coyotes coming to our neighbor’s farm and pluck chickens from the coop, and ran off with their cat. We have had black bear tracks only about 50 feet from our back door, and we have seen them out back in the woods. We want a good-sized dog that can “guard” our house and protect us by keeping wild animals from coming too close. We don’t want a dog that will chase after or try to attack. We want it to bark and try to scare off, but be able to defend itself if need be. Around here, if you yell at them just about every encounter ends with the bear running away. Therefore, we do not want a dog that is going to run after the bear and make it fight.

I have been doing research on dogs for about 6 months. I have read that Rottie’s are supposed to be good as farm dogs. Would a Rottie be good as this kind of farm dog or would they be the kind of dog that wants to chase?

[rottmommie]

IMHO, I think that a dog should be protected from wildlife and such on or off the farm!
I feel that no dog should be in a position that will cause him to have to fend off coyote or other wildlife.....there have even been a few dogs spoken about on this forum that have been seriously hurt trying to protect in this manner.
YES a Rott will protect family and property. I simply choose not to put mine in a position that he will have to.
Of course, if someone should get into our HOME when we are asleep, I cannot prevent that......
I suggest that if you have critters that need defending, that you have secure coops and cages for them. As for cats, if you want them, please keep them inside for their own well being. Feline leukemia is rampant and easily transmitted. Worse than a predator.
JMHO........

[Storm]

Within every breed of dog there is diversity. Sure a certain type of dog would alert , engage or flee depending on that dog as an individual. I would not leave the dog exposed to that environment, for obvious reasons, alternatively I would some how secure the dwelling and have the dog confined to a certain area e.g behind a fence, for his safety, not to assist with your needs. Also bearing in mind that the dog should be part of your family and not just left outside just to "scare" off "intruders". I personally believe that the reason for a dog is to have a special relationship with him, which is developed through various activities and companionship. In addition to this the dog is likely to display many other valuable attributes which includes from protection to the simplest of things. Primarily get a dog for you and for the simple reason of been able to have all the delight which acompanies it, looking out for his needs and in response he will look out for yours. Bearing in mind you are the person here and the dog's well being is in your hands.

[rompinrottie]

I have 50,000 acres and I have only a little over a acre fenced in but we do have coyotes, moose, deer, foxes, rabbitts, and defintily bear, bob cat, and wolves, and so on, but they guard our property real good, but I would never let them loose on any animal because my rotties know first hand they are not allowed to chase any wildlife, and I would never ever let them chase any wildlife not even a rabbitt. and I would never risk my girls life or risk them even getting hurt by a bear or deer, besides the fact that I love all animals and wildlife.... :p but around here when the coyotes get yapping ( coyotes yap not howl like a wolf)
my dogs will bark and it scars them off.. :D but with the bears thats a big problem around here in my area, they will tear up a dog! and it has happened here in my town, so we keep our dogs in the house at night .. we would anyways animals or not..
stupid people have let there dogs ( people here have all labs and goldens) attack bear and the bear always wins, people will never learn. :( but I have watch a show on the discovery channel before about the people that live way up in the mountains that use great pyreanes for bear, I guess they keep the bears away really good, but thats all I know on that situation.. sorry I couldnt help you more.. I do live way up north western mountains of maine, so we do get alot of wildlife here.

so I do wish you the best


rompinrottie mom to all little girlies

tessa 8 year old rottie
brittany 6 year old rottie
jewel 5 year old rottie
flower 3 year old rescued dog bassett/beagle

[jobo]

Thanks everyone for the input.
I’m not saying that we are going to leave the dog out side all the time. He/she will live in our house just like our cat and be part of our family. However if I take the dog out side to do his business I don’t want to have to fallow him around with a gun because there may be a wild animal out there. The same goes for if we go outback into our woods. Dogs have better senses of smell and hearing so a dog will be able to hear or smell a potentially dangerous animal before we can. Therefore, a dog would be better at protecting us then we would be protecting him.
I just wanted to know if a rottie would stand at our side and protect us, or would it want to run and fight?

thanks again,

[rompinrottie]

you would obviously have to obedience train your rottweiler and train your rottie NOT to chase or rather go after any wildlife like bears, moose or what ever, to keep your rottie from harm Im sure you wouldnt want your family rottie getting hurt? :(
when you train your rottie not to go after a bear he will just bark and most likely scare off any wild animal that is out there anyways..
my rottie girls go with me my when I check my boundry lines they run loose of course and we see alot of wildlife moose, deer, rabbits and so on, and they know what a firm NO! means and they will stay right with me and just watch the animals run off but they will NOT give chase to any creature we come across..
but they of course didnt learn the firm word over night either it took very firm training, and they trust me and I trust them very much.. but a rottweiler will scare off most wildlife and you will have to train them NOT to chase any wild animals.. rottweilers are very smart they learn fast..

good luck

rompinrottie

[Judi W]

Do you have livestock that you are concerned about protecting? If so, there are flock guardian breeds that have the genetic heritage for that job. The Rottweiler is not one of them.

Whether the dog will go off after something will vary greatly with the individual and the level of training. If the wildlife is a prey animal, you'll need a fairly sophisticated level of training for the dog to simply ignore it's presence. You can't on one hand indicate to the dog that the wildlife is something to be run off, and on the other hand, that it shouldn't go after it on what could prove to be a long and fun chase. If the intruder is a predator, depending upon what kind, don't assume the dog will come off the winner in a fight.

Guardian breeds are bred specifically to live with their stock and scare away predators, but not to give chase. They have virtually no prey drive, but a strong guardian heritage. The do not relish joining battle as their prime desire is to stay with their stock and tend to its well-being. Again, those are not Rottweilers - even our excellent herding Rottweilers would not be left unattended with livestock.

So, since most predator intruders are likely to trespass at night or early morning, if your dog is with you in the home, he is not going to be scaring them away. If he is outside unattended you run a big risk of him being dead or seriously injured should he be the type to want to join a fight. If the intruders are the hoofed kind and are garden raiding, you'd need to have your dog in the garden most of the time and that is not a good practice with this Rottweiler breed either. It's rather like making one a junkyard guard dog. Yes, the junkyard will be guarded, but you certainly won't have a companion animal.

So, what to do? Select the breed that you wish to own. Protect your chickens if that is what you have, by building good fences and a good coop that they are confined to during the nighttime. You don't want your dog mixing it up with a badger either. My money would be on the badger as far as getting off the the less damage.

If you have sheep, and have predator losses, get one of the breeds developed for flock guardian work.

[angrygenius]

Well said, Judy W. I would agree, although I have Rotts as all around workers, I would'nt suggest that to someone that is'nt already pretty good at training working dogs. If the person is a neophyte with larger dog breeds, they would probably be better served to find a good natured Komodor or Sheepdog, and still go to lots of training classes with them. It takes a VERY well trained animal to be called off the chase, and the higher the dogs prey drive, the more likely it is that they will chase anyway. While you can't always stay on top of any dog(or kid, or worker,etc), its much easier to handle an animal that would rather stand and watch than one that thinks it rules the world. JG

[JD102175]

I agree with Judi W. If you want a dog to help keep a major predator at bay then I don't think a Rottweiler is the right dog for the job necessarily. From things I have seen, heard, and read the dog that you want when it comes to dealing with bears is called the Karelian Bear Dog, I believe Yellowstone has a few of these dogs that they use to chase off problem bears. It is said that there is something with this particular dogs bark that has a greater effect on a bear than say your average lab, shepherd, golden, etc... Since this dog is a rare breed here in the states it will probably cost more to get one. They are a medium sized dog that are from the Spitz family and have the look of a Spitz or Siberian Husky type dog.
The only website for a breeder I could find is for Bear Paw Kennels. If you do a search it will come up for you.


Jaime

[Ramon]

Personally, I think there are much worse things to do to a dog than giving it the job of guarding the farm. Afterall, the dog's job is to protect you, not the other way around.
Actually, I think the rottie is a pretty good choice. They are territorial, capable of defending themselves, loyal to their owners, and don't have the reputation of roaming like other breeds do. Yes, there are other breeds with a more recent history of being bred as farm guardian/utility dogs so if that makes you feel any better you can choose one of them. Some of my favorites among these breeds include the Kuvasz, Great Pyrenees, and Kangal dog (also known as the Anatolian Shepherd) which were bred to guard flocks. Also, my personal favorite, the American Bulldog was bred to guard farms in the south from wild dogs and other animals. The South African Boerboel is still being bred to protect its owners from African jungle creatures (leopards, hyenas, baboons, etc.), and it's an awesome looking dog.

[Judi W]

The difference being that the flock guardian breeds have no prey drive. They must not, for to leave their charges in order to go on the chase, would be to leave them in peril. The Rottweiler is in my opinion the finest of all round breeds and capable of doing an excellent job of more varied activities than any other. They are however, a breed of high prey drive which is counter to flock guardians. Most herding breeds are high in prey which is the drive they are working in when herding. It is not a matter of excellent working abilities, but rather of design for the purpose. They are a guarding breed out of territorial desire. They are not a flock guardian which is tied to their flock rather than territory.

My comments were not whether the Rottweiler is a good property guard, but if there was stock to be protected from predators and if so advice upon selecting the best breed for the job.

[Major]

Please keep the discussion focused on whether a rottweiler meets jobo's criteria. I have moved the discussion of drive theory to - http://www.rottweiler.net/forums/sho...threadid=17440 .

[Grendl]

I agree with Judi W and others that the Rott is not the best-suited breed for the job described. One of the guardian dogs, Great Pyrenees, Komondor, etc., seems to me, would be a better choice. The Rotts I have owned all thought that wildlife, from squirrels to otters, looked pretty interesting. And I know from experience that it takes alot of training (or a strong leash) to keep most of them from pursuing the quarry.