Quote Originally Posted by Caspian View Post
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!