rot too playful

[ekwok]

hey dudes, i own a 5month old rot, and i liev in a very dangerous neighbourhood in nigeria, pls i want to know how to make my rot become protective and alert on any intruder in my property. out here laws dont hold and i bought the pup. strictly for security and so far its been too playful what do i do?

[Danita]

He is 5 months old, he's a puppy, he should be playful! And I don't think you should be TRYING to make him protective - that will come naturally. The last thing you want to do is try to encourage aggressiveness in an already very protective breed. I would say work on obedience and the rest will come naturally. That's just my opinion, though.

[poohbearsmom]

Please! You are expecting behaviors from a 5month old dog that simply are not possible. This is tantamount to asking a 7 year old child to protect you from harm!

Your dog must mature before he will show any of these tendencies; and in the meantime, you need to be doing everything you can to build his confidence levels (by having people NOT be a threat to him at this age!!!).

Your dog must be a proper puppy before he can be a proper dog. If you wanted instant security, you should have bought an adult dog with training under his belt. As it is, we cannot tell you if your dog will have what it takes to protect you once grown or not; all puppies are a crapshoot. If these tendencies are in his pedigree, chances are better that you will get what you want, but it's still a gamble. Most rottweilers do not mature at a young age mentally, and bad imprints can ruin a young dog, so if you don't have experience in training these behaviors - seek help - you may have to try contacting someone as far away as South Africa for help, just please do not try these things on your own.

Why did you choose a puppy over a trained dog? Do you not have firearms to protect you and your family?

[melissa143]

Sorry..ignorant people like you shouldn't own Rottweilers. Next time do your research before you look into a dog...and in my own opinion..install an alarm system and maybe that will help secure your home, don't use a precious innocent animal for a security device. Yes Rottweilers are loyal protective breeds, instinctively...they will always be by your side through any danger, but you can't force a Rottweiler to become something it is not. It is not a killing machine, and you need to really be specialized in that field if you want to train your Rotti responsibly and effectively, not saying it can't be done..but I am saying YOU shouldn't be attempting it.

[Mick Trainer]

ekwok,

As others have said your dog is simply to young to be protective in any way at this time. Poohbearmom's analogy to a child is spot on. When using a dog for home or Personal protection we work on the idea that most dogs are not truly capable to around 24 months of age (aprox 24 years in human terms). Further it will depend on your dogs genetic as to how successful at this he will be and you will not know until he gets older. As PBM has alluded too most people at this time are better off buying an adult, trained dog than taking a chance on a puppy (in an adult dog you see what you are getting, in a puppy it is only potential). Like others have said to get a rott to protect your family you will need some help with training etc.

Melissa143,

Pot kettle balck. It is very easy to come here and call others ignorant but then to come up with a statement of Yes Rottweilers are loyal protective breeds, instinctively...they will always be by your side through any danger, shows your ignorance. Whilst Rottweilers do posses a degree of genetic defensiveness to think that a Rottweiler will be intincively protective is in the vast, vast majority of cases incorrect and to think that any dog will "be by your side through any danger" is so far wrong it is a joke. A dog is a dog and any dog when confronted with an object it deems to be life threatening will bail out and leave you standing there. Dogs in the end protect themselves above all else and when the danger gets high enough will not put themselves in harms way. I have used dogs in the private security industry for just short of 20 years as well as local police dept, have trained hundreds of protection capable dogs seeing some of the strongest dogs around and I have never met a dog that cannot be broken. All of them under huge danger will be out of there and for most modern Rottweilers what they deem as "huge danger" is not high. Most modern Rottweiler do not posses the genetics that allow them to be trained for protection against a real life human threat. extremely few have the genetic strength that would allow them to protect their owner in a real life situation without training.

Further before we judge others seeking such things too harshly let me say this. It is very easy for us all to sit in a suburban houses in our first world countries and judge those that don't have the things we take for granted everyday and call them ignorant when what it really shows is a lack of understanding of their circumstances. ekwok is a bit ignorant to what is required of a Rott to protect his family however we have a number of options as to how to handle this, we can call him names and get pissed at him or we can answer his question and try to point him in the right direction. If we don't understand his circumstances (of how he lives) we can ask him some questions to better answer his. I understand here that people want to help the dog but calling someone names is far more likely to get them to leave here without taking the information that they would benefit from and in the end this is what will best help the dog.

Mick.

[Melsmom]

Hey dude, send her to me, I love playful Rotties. Seriously you should get a gun instead, why put your dog at risk if you live in a dangerous neighborhood?

[Mick Trainer]

Whilst a dog and a gun have many positives for protection that the other doesn't have and whilst I certainly don't know the law regarding guns in Nigeria, but it is very rare outside the US that being allowed to own a gun for protection is allowed and affordable. I know that in the US guns are pretty main stream but it is not the case in most of the rest of the developed world and often in less developed countries the cost to purchase such a thing is very high when compared to salary, cost of living etc.

Mick.

[imjuss2nasty]

Ekwok, why didn't you purchase or adopt a adult dog? Just for the record, I am from a third world country and its not too uncommon that people have dogs for protection purposes. To guard land, houses and family when they are away.
Mick, very well said about not understanding peoples circumstances especially in third world countries and not to disrespect someone or fault them but to give them the insight that they are looking for. What do you really gain from calling the OP ignorant? Absolutely nothing. If you just give him the answers that he is looking for and point him in the right direction, you actually get to help someone and help the breed that we all adore.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by Melsmom

Hey dude, send her to me, I love playful Rotties. Seriously you should get a gun instead, why put your dog at risk if you live in a dangerous neighborhood?

Sorry..ignorant people like you shouldn't own Rottweilers

Ladies, this gentleman is not living in Suburban Seattle... he is living in Nigeria, and we must take these things into consideration when responding to posts like ekwok's. The political climate is different, and his need for protection is likely very, very real. Having a dog to alert to danger and buy his owner some time to defend can mean the difference between life and death in many instances like his.

[Rokmelon]

Originally Posted by melissa143

Sorry..ignorant people like you shouldn't own Rottweilers. Next time do your research before you look into a dog.

Melissa that comment was not called for. You came to this board with many questions and people assisted you, if you can't be helpful perhaps you should not post a reply.

[Melsmom]

Originally Posted by Mick Trainer

Whilst a dog and a gun have many positives for protection that the other doesn't have and whilst I certainly don't know the law regarding guns in Nigeria, but it is very rare outside the US that being allowed to own a gun for protection is allowed and affordable. I know that in the US guns are pretty main stream but it is not the case in most of the rest of the developed world and often in less developed countries the cost to purchase such a thing is very high when compared to salary, cost of living etc.

Mick.

Actually it is legal to carry a gun in Nigeria for protection as long as it is registered, in fact it is encouraged. Many will own guns that are not legal as the OP stated, it is a very dangerous place to live. We had a good friend who lived most of his life there.

While I can understand he wanted a dog as protection, it may have sounded to some of us as if the OP is disappointed the dog is friendly and playful, I think this struck a nerve with some of us as lovers and owners of these gorgeous animals, it may have seemed he did not appreciate the phenomenal animal he has.

My girl is still goofy and playful and she is almost 2 years old, however, she is an outstanding watchdog. Although she is not aggressive toward people, she is a very strong deterrent, so perhaps if the OP realizes this about Rotties, perhaps he will not be disappointed and embrace his playful puppy as she will grow to protect him and his family as her natural instinct develops.

[poohbearsmom]

Originally Posted by Melsmom

Actually it is legal to carry a gun in Nigeria for protection as long as it is registered, in fact it is encouraged. Many will own guns that are not legal as the OP stated, it is a very dangerous place to live. We had a good friend who lived most of his life there.

While I can understand he wanted a dog as protection, it may have sounded to some of us as if the OP is disappointed the dog is friendly and playful, I think this struck a nerve with some of us as lovers and owners of these gorgeous animals, it may have seemed he did not appreciate the phenomenal animal he has.

My girl is still goofy and playful and she is almost 2 years old, however, she is an outstanding watchdog. Although she is not aggressive toward people, she is a very strong deterrent, so perhaps if the OP realizes this about Rotties, perhaps he will not be disappointed and embrace his playful puppy as she will grow to protect him and his family as her natural instinct develops.

Because of the reputation of this breed and other breeds like it, and because many people simply don't undertand that a puppy does not display territorial behaviors, this type of question is commonly seen on this board.

Mostly this lack of knowledge is due to lack of exposure to good information, which I believe is largely due to the huge amount of bad information that exsists, if that makes sense.

The average dog owner simply owns a dog; they don't often make it a passion in life to educate themselves in regards to canine behavior, developmental periods during maturation, etc... how many parents in this world truly educate themselves or even have access to the same type of information regarding their own children??? Really take into account all populations in all countries, and I'm willing to bet a week's pay it's really a very small percentage.

Having an open mind is important when receiving questions like the one in this thread - sometimes these types of questions are asked by trolls just trying to start trouble, often they are not - instead these are folks who are really trying to learn why their pup is not behaving in a manner they *think* it should be. We owe it to the dog to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[melissa143]

You have to understand where I come from. I volunteer in animal shelters, I donate to the ASPCA, I research and study animal abuse cases all of the time. When I hear about a person trying to raise an innocent dog into a killing machine, it kills me inside, and the only thing that comes out of my mouth is anger and hurt. Do you know how many cases I have read or been involved in that included a person trying to raise a dog for protection reasons, and how it all went wrong: next thing you know the dog attacked a little girl and had to be humanly euthanized because the dog didn't know right from wrong, and the owner was not trained properly in training his dog? I don't want to see anything happen to a dog, because of human actions, or not taking the proper responsibility in training a dog the correct way. The only person training a dog to become a guard dog should be a licensed professional in my opinion. And yes, I do believe that Rottweilers are natural guard dogs, it is in there heredity and that is why i said "instinctively." How many cases have you read about when a dog saved a child's life because she senses when the little girl/boy was about to have a Seizure and that particular dog wasn't even trained to do that? Dogs have a natural instinct to protect their owners, they live and breathe to please their owners and work for them, especially Rottweilers, after all they are a working breed.
And I do apologize for over reading the fact that this man is from Nigeria, I completely skipped over that part and I do realize that 3rd world countries are a completely different lifestyle than ours here, so I know the comment such as getting a alarm system put in was inappropriate. Perhaps the safety in this city is dangerous and this man does need help, and he is not like all of the other cases that I have read: but before you help a stranger, make sure you believe him before you help out a potential animal abuser, because by answering his questions isn't helping anyone in the right direction, it could only be leading the dog into a life time of misery. After all, this is an online community, and for all I know, he could be living in the slums of NYC selling drugs and wanting a guard dog for protection. Don't always trust who you speak to on the internet: would you still give advice to a drug dealer?

[chicatropical]

Why not answer a querstion to a drug dealer? If he is concerned for his dogs wellbeeing for example, it
Doesnt matter if he is a drug dealer or if she is a prostitute, just different ways to make money, so what?
Question is question.

[melissa143]

different ways to make money, is that all you think it is?? oh yeah, a job is just a job, don't judge...yeah OKAY. And it is not for the dogs well being, it is for his well being, for what ever well being it may be for..his family, his house, himself, his illegal drugs perhaps, or maybe just to get some money for dog fighting...who knows now a days, i don't trust anyone i don't know on the internet..especially from someone from Nigeria, who has a computer that has internet yet lives in an unsafe neighborhood, who's username is a town in Alaska.