Personal protection dog?

[KMG]

From my knowledge and experience a guard dog should not be socialized outside of your family so I believe the dog park would not be a good idea.*



*However I'm not an expert.

[enginee837]

Dogs are more dangerous than guns. I own both. Even well trained dogs can have bad days and a dog big enough to protect you is easily big enough to kill an infant. Guns on the other hand are easy to keep locked up and secure and are 100% predictable. On top of all that, most breeds suitable for protection are strong bodied and strong willed requiring an experienced and firm hand.
If you are not willing or able to handle either, get a security system and keep pepper spray close bye. It will incapacitate anyone you hit with and is arguably safer than a gun or dog.
Just my 2 cents.

[KMG]

I have used and seen OC spray used a ton over the years.

I hate it!

When you use it everybody feels it except on the determined turds that it seems to have no effect on at all. I have seen guys open their mouth when sprayed and ask for more. Many LEO'S don't even carry it any more.

I also dislike the taser but I would recommend that before OC but a handgun is still at the top of the list. A good shotgun being second.

[footballpythons]

I would personally recommend a gun with training of course! And a dog will not do much most of the time! Also yes an alarm!But sure get another loud barking kind dog to make intruders feel like there is a pack of dogs not just one! And a hunting dog i recommend like a catahoula, lab, or a mix! Good luck!

[Caspian]

Everyone else has said it pretty well already. Just a few small notes - Rotties can be amazing with kids, but if you do decide to get one, make sure you look for German bloodlines, rather than American bloodlines. That doesn't mean a dog bred in Germany, just one that can trace its bloodline back to German stock within the last fifty years or so.

Get a firearm, get the education to use it properly, and when your child is old enough, teach them that it's off limits and how to handle it. My parents taught me how to shoot by the time I was five years old - I learned on a .50 caliber muzzle loader, and the firearms in my household were never locked up back then. By the time I could walk, I knew not to touch. I don't advocate leaving guns on a rack on the wall like that, but with a good safety container, you should be able to lay your hands on a pistol from anywhere in a house within a minute or so. Honestly, if you're getting a dog more for an alarm system than a weapon - I train my dogs to bark, but never to attack someone. They'll mug a person for attention. I'd rather have a robbed house and live dogs than a robbed house and dead dogs. Anyway, if you're looking for an alarm system, get something small and yappy. They're loud, persistent, distracting, hard to catch and hard to hit, usually. The downside is that most small dogs learn to hate kids, because children tend to hurt them. Make sure the child knows what is, and is not, allowable treatment and handling of the dog, and understand that any dog will bite to defend itself if it's being hurt. Some pitbulls will take an amazing amount of abuse without fighting back, and make incredible nannies for small children, but every animal has a limit.

[Gruba]

Everyone else has said it pretty well already. Just a few small notes - Rotties can be amazing with kids, but if you do decide to get one, make sure you look for German bloodlines, rather than American bloodlines. That doesn't mean a dog bred in Germany, just one that can trace its bloodline back to German stock within the last fifty years or so.

Get a firearm, get the education to use it properly, and when your child is old enough, teach them that it's off limits and how to handle it. My parents taught me how to shoot by the time I was five years old - I learned on a .50 caliber muzzle loader, and the firearms in my household were never locked up back then. By the time I could walk, I knew not to touch. I don't advocate leaving guns on a rack on the wall like that, but with a good safety container, you should be able to lay your hands on a pistol from anywhere in a house within a minute or so. Honestly, if you're getting a dog more for an alarm system than a weapon - I train my dogs to bark, but never to attack someone. They'll mug a person for attention. I'd rather have a robbed house and live dogs than a robbed house and dead dogs. Anyway, if you're looking for an alarm system, get something small and yappy. They're loud, persistent, distracting, hard to catch and hard to hit, usually. The downside is that most small dogs learn to hate kids, because children tend to hurt them. Make sure the child knows what is, and is not, allowable treatment and handling of the dog, and understand that any dog will bite to defend itself if it's being hurt. Some pitbulls will take an amazing amount of abuse without fighting back, and make incredible nannies for small children, but every animal has a limit.

I have 3 dobermans. European bloodlines so, they're stickier than the American bloodlines. I also have 2 kids, 1.5 and 3.5, the dobes are amazing with the kids. Super gentle and love laying with my boys. On the flip side, there's 3 of them ranging from 80lbs to 110lbs. Our biggest is a retired breeding female. She has a maternal protection thing going on and even though she LOVE everyone, there's not a doubt in my mind that she'd do whatever needed to protect her family. My other female is the smallest at 80lbs and she can outsmart most people. She got attacked by a rottweiler when she was just over 1 yr old, she ran and hid, which is where my male comes in. He weighs in around 90lbs and wasted no time defending our female. Despite only being 1, he took on the full grown rotti to protect our female and my husband. He's dumb but, he loves his family and would do anything to keep us safe. I love the breed so I'm biased but, its one of my recommendations for a good family dog that will also protect if necessary.

For the op, my suggestion would be to get a family dog. While a protection dog is highly trained, they may not be ideal for a family situation. 2 of my dobes grew up with my oldest son and I've seen my boy growl at a strange dog for getting too close to my kids without my permission. Just something to think about!

[Timelugia]

From my knowledge and experience a guard dog should not be socialized outside of your family so I believe the dog park would not be a good idea.*



*However I'm not an expert.

Having worked at a dog train facility I'm going to interject here. If you don't socialize your dog outside of the family it will likely become aggressive to strangers. This may sound like a good thing until you consider that you need to be able to walk this dog, take this dog to vets and groomers, and you need to be able to let appliance workers and friends into your house. If you do not properly socialize the dog you will not be able to control the dog around strangers. This would be putting your family at risk for being sued when the dog mauls your neighbor's kid. It is also unfair to the dog, since it will likely end up being put down. For a guard dog you want a dog that is well-trained, so the more socialization and experience it has the better.

[KMG]

Having worked at a dog train facility I'm going to interject here. If you don't socialize your dog outside of the family it will likely become aggressive to strangers. This may sound like a good thing until you consider that you need to be able to walk this dog, take this dog to vets and groomers, and you need to be able to let appliance workers and friends into your house. If you do not properly socialize the dog you will not be able to control the dog around strangers. This would be putting your family at risk for being sued when the dog mauls your neighbor's kid. It is also unfair to the dog, since it will likely end up being put down. For a guard dog you want a dog that is well-trained, so the more socialization and experience it has the better.

Perhaps "overly socialized" would have been better word usage.

Socialization and training are two different things. My dogs do not like strangers and that is how I like it. Yet, I can take them on walks (off leash) and have complete control, because of training. I can take them anywhere without issue and they have never been to a dog park. That is because of training. I can also take them to the vet and they never give them any issues, which is again training. They are also always the best behaved dogs there. There is socialization that goes into this but it is learned by training them from early on.

My friends come in without issue and my dogs are friendly because I am. I do tell everybody that comes over to ignore my dogs until they come to them. This allows them time to read the person and me and decide how to act. My breeds are known for being stand offish so this puts them at ease.

I have never had an issue with a service person entering my home either. I can leave them out but usually choose to put them outside or in their crate, which is done by a simple command, training again. I don't do this for the person's safety. I do it because I don't want them to be friends with a person I don't trust, I don't want them socialized with them. Not overly socializing a dog will not make them aggressive, balanced socialization is what is needed. Having a dog that will lick a burglar is no good.

As a LEO I have been around a ton of bite dogs. They are not overly socialized and yet their handler is able to control them and take them to the vet as well... Again, because of training. You won't find them at a dog park.

As for the neighbor kid getting mauled. Why did this happen? The dog was irresponsibly left or let out? The kid jumped the fence? What? I can tell you right now my dogs would never do such a thing. They are not overly socialized but the are socialized. But more importantly they are trained with a good balance of socialization. They are not killers, not aggressive, not let out to run loose. They are protective, loyal, trained, and responsibly owned. They are not wild street dogs.

Everywhere is different but down here it takes more than a single bite incident to destroy a dog. It may be taken but can usually always be returned. Overall, imho it is a larger liability taking an attack trained dog to a dog park. My dogs are not attack trained and I know I could take them to a dog park, Petco, or wherever without issue. I don't because they have a purpose to me and that is to be a reliable alarm system and family protector. I have no use for a dog that will allow their property intruded on and then show them where the silver is.

[KMG]

I have been to a dog park before. It was with my 120lb OEB I had previously. That ended with her being attacked by a small dog. She didn't bite it or even snap at it. She simply ran it over and knocked it silly. It went running back to mom who called me and my dog a monster and left crying. I haven't been back. I don't need some frivolous lawsuit because my dog did something, even if it was provoked.

In general people don't know how to train their dog and think them "being a dog" is acceptable. Small, medium, or large all dogs should have a basic level of training. When you call your dog it should come. It amazes me how many don't and won't.

[Calider]

We had a few PPD over the years that we bought from a K9 training center in Minneapolis, and two imported from Canada, the most memorable being a czech shepherd named Nitro, and while I loved him dearly, he was not at all like having a normal dog. There were times when he would "protect" us when we didn't ask him to and family and friends were afraid of him. He would not bite, but barked and lunged very threateningly. He stopped INSTANTLY when we told him to, but he would scare people without being asked. This is the norm for PPD, there are very, very few who will not automatically try to protect their owners, regardless of how they are trained. Some of them won't play with you, some of them are easily startled when woken up, some of them bond so strongly to 1 person that they are intimidating to everyone else, and some of them will go after anyone who isn't their handler. Some sites have several "classes" of dogs advertized, from just a well-trained family pet to a multi-purpose police dog. I'd strongly recommend going with a lower class, as most of these dogs aren't trained to actually attack someone, but just to frighten someone by barking and baring teeth. That reduces your liability considerably if someone gets bitten, who was not intended to get bitten. The "sentry" type dogs are by far the most dangerous to have, because they are literally just looking for any unusual disturbance in their area, and they are going to bite first and ask questions later. Granny comes over to drop off a basket of strawberries? Granny is hamburger now.

When I was tiny, like a toddler, we had just a very well-trained female black lab that knew every single dog trick known to man. She was the best family dog ever, because she was still a normal dog who would play and be nice, but when you told her "Watch 'em, Bonnie." she would hold someone where they were by standing and growling, herding them kind of like a sheep. If you told her "Get 'em, Bonnie!" she would snarl and nip and chase them out of the yard. Once they were gone, she'd go 100% back to normal, and she never attacked anyone out of the blue because she wasn't a guard dog, she was just a pet. She was raised and trained and treated like a normal dog, she wasn't like a canine soldier. Different training facilities have different training methods, and anything that raises their dogs like a soldier, where the dog is not allowed to be a dog, is probably best to stay away from.