Well trained guard dog

[srhoads]

I am considering buying 17 acres of wooded land which will have a 1000' driveway to the house. This land is near a juvenile deliquent boot camp which has frequent runaways and even if that was not the case no woman wants to drive alone in the woods in the daytime or night.

I would like to train a dog to stay within the boundaries of the land, guard the house and occupants and escort cars to and from the house. I plan to have a motion detector at the entrance to the driveway which will cause a bell or buzzer to ring at the house and signal the dog to run to the entrance and escort the car to the house.

I want a dog which will guard and intimidate but not be aggressive and not leave the property for any reason.

I have had 4 well trained dogs in the past but currently have none and consider myself to be a skilled trainer.

Is a Rottweiler a good choice for this task?

[chuss]

No.

I think you have the wrong attitude about this.

Do you want a pet or a guard dog or both.

You can't have both.

If you want a guard dog, go to a security dog trainer and buy a psycho spastic American pitbull terrier, German shephard or something that has been trained to go nuts. But you run the risk of it biting visitors or you.

Secondly, if you want a pet, get a rottie, train it, love it and care for it and it will naturally care for you and your property. In fact get a couple of them. But don't train them to be guard dogs.

If you are a skilled trainer and are 100% sure you'll train it how you want it to be, then get another breed of dog. The rottweiler breed has been exploited and given a bad name enough and we are all sick of it.

I have a 11 month rottie who gets spoilt, loved and trained for every day. She naturally will bark her head off if someone decides to come in uninvited of whom she doesn't know.

[srhoads]

I think you have misinterpreted my intentions. I used the phrase "escort the cars to and from the house" and made no implication of growling, baring teeth and scaring people.

I want a large dog to escort the car so the occupants feel safe that there are no weirdos hiding behind a tree.

The dog and it's bark would encourage weirdos to stay away.

[Skip]

Don't buy ANY dog for this purpose. I wouldn't buy the property if the area isn't safe. Spend your money on a safer area. ANY dog should not be allowed to run loose unsupervised on ANY property no matter how well trained it is.

[chuss]

srhoads.
But you mentioned the word "guard".

I don't know how you will train you dog to stay within the boundaries though. If your dog was away from your house and saw someone, I'm sure he'd go chasing.

If you just want it to bark, then have your dog as a pet and i'm sure a rotties appearance would scare them.

[Rott-Wiley]

I agree with Skip here. If the property isn't safe to live on you shouldn't waste you money on it.

Also a rottweiler is not the kind of dog that does well outside without human companionship.

Chuss is very wrong in his statement that a dog trained in guard work cannot also be a pet. There are dual personality dogs which make absolutely wonderful pets and true companions.

[Mick Trainer]

Originally posted by chuss
No.

I think you have the wrong attitude about this.

Do you want a pet or a guard dog or both.

You can't have both.

This simply is not true. A dog trained for personal protection and other such attributes can indeed be a very good sound pet. Many many dogs trained in this fashion also do therapy work and appear to all but those the know the dog too be nothing more than a friendly well behaved pets. To suggest that a pet cannot be a guard dog or a guard dog a pet is too show real ignorance to the type of training that is possible and done on a daily basis. A dog Personal Protection dog must be a sociable dog has it must be able to be around people in all situations and social too them so that it can be around to protect the owner when necessary.

Further too this a dog trained for this purpose must have higher nerve system activity levels not necessary for other tasks which makes them often to be the best pets as they can handle pressure without becomeing defensive at vastly higher levels of dogs bred for other tasks. This is the reason that for almost a century many breeders have insisted that if the sire and dam of their mating have not been trained for this work then they cannot be bred. Schutzund and the ZTP which both incluse this type of training have been a necessary criteria before breeding is allowed to take place for Rottweilers in Germany for almost 100 years. To suggest that a Rottweiler if bred correctly cannot do this work is too ignore its heritage and what has created the temperament we all enjoy in the Rottweiler. Without this type of work the Rottweiler would not be what it is.

Whilst it is indeed possible to have problems with such dogs when handled and trained by the wrong people as seem a few years ago in your state with a well known breeder and participant in Schutzund the fact is that most dogs that are trained in this fashion are not only safe but safer because of their training as they are the only dogs trained not too attack rather than like most pets who their owners rely on instinct too tell them not too attack.

Srhoads,

Although my reply gives support to training of dogs for protection tasks and it is indeed possible to train your dog for this task I would suggest too you that this really would not be a good idea as you leave you and your dog open too problems. A dog trained for such things must be under control at all times with you and I would not encourage it to be escorting people too and from the gate under it's own say so. Whilst you can get a dog that will protect you and your direct household I would have real problems with a dog protecting a property of this size. I suggest that you find a good trainer who specialises in this type of training in your area and talk to them about what is possible and practical in your circumstance. Although you state that you are an expert trainer if you have not trained a dog in this fashion before and learnt to minipulate drives etc then in this case you will need to find someone who has done so many times. Training a dog for PP work etc is amounst the the highest relms of dog training around and requires years of experience and behavioral knowledge before you become proficient in it.

Mick.

[srhoads]

I used to own a 50 acre farm and the house was 100 yards from the road. I owned 2 golden retrievers which were easily trained to stay on the property. They would go no further than 30 feet from the road and to the best of my knowledge never left the property and never followed or harrassed anyone that walked on the road. I could come home at any time of the day and night and the dogs would always be right there at the house.

This is typical of a "farm" dog. The dogs learn very quickly where the boundaries are and stay nearby to "guard" their home.

[Mick Trainer]

If all you seek is a dog to create a presence like your Golden Retrievers did then any dog will do fine but a dog that truly guards would for me require greater control. I have no problems with them not leaving the proterty, thousands of dogs have done this for many hundreds of years but too allow it too decifer who is too be escorted onto the property and who is to descourage is where you will run into problems. The dog could definatly learn to hear a buzzer and run too the gate etc. But what it does it it finds someone there is what I do not like. What is the person in the car decided to get out and they were seen a the stranger?

Really it is up to you as I feel most of us here will defer in terms of what we require to dog too do and what is responable. Is the dog too see anyone not in a car as a potential threat? Where does it draw the line? This is the grey area and the danger area with such a dog. The dog needs clear peramiters that it must be able to undertand and follow and that does not endanger innocent who posse no real threat. This is what you need to work out.

Maybe I just cannot understand your situation properly as I cannot see your property but I see a lor of grey areas that will leave you and your dog open to litigation and placing someone is harms way.

Mick.

[lblax]

i agree totaqlly with mick...... the true protection dog is a good friend and family dog when trained properly. if your family is established you might resurch and look into a phila brasilerio---they are naturally protective, territorial easy to train and loyal and excellant witrh your kids but they can only be socialized to a certain extent.... but my opinion why move somewhere you wont feel safe

[alexav]

My goodness, if it's so dangerous that you can't feel safe in a locked car...Go somewhere else.

My protection dogs are my pets. They live in the house with me where they are most useful as a deterent and for security.

We use motion sensor lights outside and have secure locks on anything we don't want messed with. That takes care of the outside.

I think to use a dog as a car escort is dangerous and unnecessary. How will the dog know if the car is driven by someone who intends to run him over?

A Rottie would be a great choice for companionship and security as long as you keep your expectations within the realms of reality.

[chuss]

Actually a better thought, Get a Rhodesian Ridgeback.. They are naturally protective. They are normally used in hunting and keeping Lions at bay..

[chuss]

http://www.akc.org/breeds/recbreeds/rhodrdge.cfm

Ridgeback link.

[Judi W]

I have to wonder what people you would be having come to your house and for what purpose? Strangers who you have never talked to and told they should lock the doors of their car when driving down your road?

Fence your property, put an electric gate at the road with an intercom. (just as easy as wiring a bell that could be heard at your house). After identifying them, release the gate which will close behind the car or you can go and escort them yourself (with your dog if you have one).

What you describe might make a great movie scene, but is impractical. A protection trained dog works with a handler not on its own unless it is an area guard who expected to protect against any and all intruders.

[Beckysmom]

I agree with comments about don't live there if it is that dangerous, or get an electric security system.

But I will add a few more comments. I am a single female living on rural acreage. No Juvenile facility here, but anything can happen anywhere and there was a double murder locally 0a few years back.

I do feel safer walking in the woods when I have a dog with me, but the golden retriever did as well as the rotties for that. But mostly what they provide is companionship.

Not all rotties are all that great as protection, they can be fearful types, all love types, etc.

And I always feel especially secure when I get out of car and see Geoffrey my fraidy cat sitting on his shelf in the garage. Means no one, not even a big bad racoon, is about.