Is it possible to Over-Socialize your dog?

[RubenZ]

One of the reasons for having rotts is their ability to be good natural defenders. I live in a neighborhood that usually has a lot of theft. And I dont my girl to be so friendly she invites punks into my yard and home.


Is it possible to over-socialize your dog meaning she'll think everyone is good ?

[Denise L.]

My dog is an absolute wimp for dogs and people. He adores everyone. However, he does bark when he hears noises outside or if someone walks by.
To my mind the bark is plenty good enough as a deterrent.

That being said, I do not expect my dog to protect me or my property. That is my job. I have a 6 foot locked privacy fence to protect him...and I keep my kitchen door open if he is hanging out in the yard so I can keep an eye on him. The way I see it it is my job to protect him.

Get an alarm system and good locks on your doors. Please don't put the responsibility of protecting you and your family on your pet.

[BeverlyC]

Originally Posted by Denise L.

My dog is an absolute wimp for dogs and people. He adores everyone. However, he does bark when he hears noises outside or if someone walks by.
To my mind the bark is plenty good enough as a deterrent.

That being said, I do not expect my dog to protect me or my property. That is my job. I have a 6 foot locked privacy fence to protect him...and I keep my kitchen door open if he is hanging out in the yard so I can keep an eye on him. The way I see it it is my job to protect him.

Get an alarm system and good locks on your doors. Please don't put the responsibility of protecting you and your family on your pet.

I absolutely couldn’t agree more with every word Denise L wrote. Lothar is a big wimp too. Someone comes up to him and he falls to their feet on his back with all four legs in the air for a belly rub.

If someone broke into my house I would grab my dog and run or take him with me if I had to hide in a closet. I would not take the risk of someone injuring him; he means more to me than that. Just the sound of him barking at the cats keeps most neighbors from even walking down my driveway and they know he is friendly.

[groupieindenial]

I think well socialized dogs mature to be able to distinguish the difference between non-threatening situations or people and ones that are. Although I do think an under-socialized dog can develop confidence problems, and become fear biters. All in all, I think it depends on the individual dog. My pup is super friendly, and very confident. He's not afraid to try anything! It's gratifying to see him stoked when he accomplishes new things.

Same too, barks at odd noises with instinct to sound alarm to unuasual things going on. If he doesn't stop, I check it out what he's barking at, if its nothing of concern as usual, I tell him to quit it. I don't want him to be totally conditioned to not be alarmed by odd sounds. What if someone is tryin to break into my house? stealing stuff outta my garage? breaking into my car? snabbing one of the neighborhood kids?

[babybluetx23]

It is not a good idea to have a "Defender" For a dog. You want a dog that is willing to Alert you to something but that is it. Harley is 8 months old and he will bark when he hears something. But the first time someone comes over to my house, he will LEAN against them and give them this sweet loving look like "What are you waiting for?!?! PET ME!!!"

[RubenZ]

ya thats what I mean. Barking. My neighbors house was broken into a month ago, they have a little terrior, but criminals dont seem to care about them or their weak bark. My house has never been hit, but thats because I have my huge rott/gs mix as an outside dog. When I went to my neighbors house to check it out for them, the policeman said the greatest anti-Theft is a good dog. Alarms are great, but by the time the alarm company gets the call out to the police its usually like 20-30 minutes before the cop gets out there. Because:

1.) The alarm goes off
2.) 1-2 minutes later the Alarm co calls
3.) After no one answers they call police
4.) by the time police get to house

All that takes way too long.


But if you have a good guard dog that barks, they wont be in there in the first place.

[Patty1231]

Rocco is very well socialized, as is Perle (except for dogs which is greatly improving but we're still working on). However, if someone comes up on our porch they both flip. They put on a pretty good show to the point no one in their right mind would want to try to break in. If it's someone I know the dogs are fine once that fact is acknowledged. Same goes with the back yard.

A young man came to the door the other day with some lame story about having left over steak and seafood from the VFW to sell (from a large town 20 miles from my little town - yea, right). The dogs, of course, did their thing and put a stop to whatever he may have been up to.

That being said, I agree with the others. These dogs are a great deterrent. If you want to ENSURE your safety, buy a gun and learn how to use it.

[diddybopper04]

You cannot oversocialize your puppy. Socialization teaches your puppy what is good and what is normal so that later she can determine that reasonably.

I tell people that if they have a Rottie, the territorial displays will be there. It's like Ragu. It's IN there. Most well socialized dogs will be approaching a year of age before you see much territorial or defense drive. Young dogs need a lot of guidance when these instincts start coming out. Encourage alarm barking that you think is appropriate. I encourage barking at pedestrians, anyone who approaches my vehicle, cars that drive up at night, etc. I go to the dog, pat them on the side, and I WHISPER to the dog, "WHO is that??", or "Did you SEE somebody?". I have always whispered to alert my dogs, because I figured that if there ever were an intruder, I would not want to be shouting to turn my dogs on. They learn so fast to run to the door and look if I whisper "WHO is that?"

While I am encouraging this, I am also putting a "stop" command on my dog. When I have had a few good barks from the dog, and I've gone to see what it's barking at, I praise, give a treat, and say "that'll do". That is my "OK, you've done your job, now it's time to relax and get quiet" command. They learn this really fast when they are puppies, and it's something they remember all their lives.

I am sure you may get many hints on how to handle the territorial drives in your pup as they start emerging. This is just how I do it.

[Urika]

Diddy, I do the whisper too. Who is that? Is anyone there? That's something I learned from my Grandpa. Most of the time it's a bird or cat in the back yard LOL. He also barks when someone is at the door.

[RubenZ]

Awesome advice everyone. My older Rott/Mix is like that as well. I'll say "Duke, who do you see" or "Duke, whats there boy" and he'll go into full ALERT and search the yard.

[Paul (Dozer)]

My dog loves people, and will be very friendly to anyone he meets on the street or who get's invited into my house.

i was a little worries about the same thing for a while... until the other day.

There were two men that needed to come into by yard to do some land surveying (landlord is selling) and my dog was staring at them through the window, all tensed up with his hackles raised and he was GROWLING at them loudly. I have full confidence now that he'd protect me and my home from any uninvited guests.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by Paul (Dozer)

My dog loves people, and will be very friendly to anyone he meets on the street or who get's invited into my house.

i was a little worries about the same thing for a while... until the other day.

There were two men that needed to come into by yard to do some land surveying (landlord is selling) and my dog was staring at them through the window, all tensed up with his hackles raised and he was GROWLING at them loudly. I have full confidence now that he'd protect me and my home from any uninvited guests.

Growling with hackles up at a window does not a protector make. Hackles up are a sign of fear and discomfort with the situation. Putting one's confidence in a dog that has not been proven to protect is risky at best, and dangerous at worst.

Please do a search on this on the forums here... MUCH has been discussed regarding this.

[majicka]

Am I the only one disturbed that he has a Rott/GSD mix as an outside dog?


First off, if someone wanted to break into your house, dog or not they would. They could poison or shoot your outside dog in an instant. They could poison or shoot your inside dog in an instant. There is no 100% foolproof preventitive from keeping someone from breaking into your house.


Honestly if your neighborhood is that bad, MOVE. Or get your neighbors together and develop a neighborhood watch program. Speak to your local police to find out what you and your neighbors can do to make where you live a safe place. Make yourself part of the solution.

Get an alarm by a good company. They will usually respond in minutes. You want protection? Buy a gun and learn how to shoot it. You are putting your dogs in danger, especially your outside dog. I do not believe in having 'outside' dogs.

[spidey]

I agree with majicka.

Anyone who is willing to break into a house with a barking dog (regardless of how big the dog/bark is), is prepared to deal with the dog. Dogs who are not trained for protection work should not be expected to be protection dogs, and the dog should not be the one who decides who is okay and who is not, that's your job, dogs do not have magical powers. The only way you can over-socialize is if you expose the dog to too much, too fast, and stress it out, but your goal should be a dog who is well-socialized and well-mannered with everyone - they will still alert you when someone comes on the property, and you'll be less likely to end up with your dog creating yet another bite statistic.

[leonberger]

I fully agree with everyone here. You can never socialize a dog eough. I am a professional petsitter. One of my clients is a canine police officer. He ownes three dogs, one of them his working police dog. The first time I took care of them (yes, I had already met them and thought they were friendly) I was very nervous about entering the house when I heard the GSD start barking as I opened the storm door. Once inside the house, I just stood in one place beside the closed door, I was afraid to move because the GSD was growling at me. As I talked calmly to him, he quieted down, came over to me, stood on his back legs and gave me a lick on the lips. This police officer had worked hard, trained a great working police dog but the dog was socialized enought that I was able to enter the house to take care of him.

I have heard of too many dogs being shot by police because the owner is ill or injured and needs medical help but the dog wouldn't let anyone get to the owner to help him/her. All dogs, from the smallest to the largest have teeth and need to be taught that teeth are not to be used on the public, or the owner. If the dog is being trained for protection, it needs to be trained to use its teeth only when told to. A dog that will protect its home/ owner without training is a dangerous dog and only adds to the bad press that our and other breeds get.