can untained dogs really protect? - Page 9

ok also i could be wrong but dont police because of funding have to deal with a lot of crappy dogs?

like they dont get to pick a lot of really well bred good dogs like the cream of the crop from the best litters? so they have to deal with a lot of poorly bred dogs and weed through a lot of crap? Just something a k9 officer told me they dont get the best choice in dogs in a lot of deparments cause of money issues. They are stuck testing a lot of poorly tempered dogs the best dogs land in peoples homes people with $$$ for expensive dogs.

are there any specific traits to look for in a litter of pups to find out which ones are naturally protective? would the more dominant pups of the litter be more protective or less likely to back down from a threat as they become adults?

NO never get an alpha lol but dont get submissive either go for bloodlines not litter and tell the breeder a good breeder u want a dog for pp

i think all the pups are going to be alpha just some show it more early than others if those litters stay together i bet the alpha will turn out to be something u might not have thought? just saying not totally sure on this but i dont think a dogs ability to be total alpha has much to do with its protection ability to humans

I  have found that my truly dominant dog was fearless and very protective.  I think dominance does give them 'balls' so to speak. Does that guarentee they will be protective?  I dont' think so.
  I'm know the sire of one of my dogs was handler aggressive, but not the least bit territorial.  If you have both though, you have a heck of a combination, if you can handle that sort of dog.

i think they can!
The Black tan girl on my avatar pic Chilli, was never trained beyond the usual heel sit down and retrieve, but she was an astounding protection dog.
She was the 3rd generation of her family I had owned and was totally different from all her other family members. I have three very good examples of her protecting.
The first was when she woke me up at 3am as someone was trying to break into my home by kicking the back door in. I let her and her mum out the front door because he was very close to getting in. They ran round the back and pinned him against a wall until the police arrived. Her mum hung back and barked, but Chilli had him by the front of his jacket and wasn't letting go.

Another occasion was when a group of drunken youths decided to throw bricks at our window. I went out with Chilli, and she tracked them to where they were hiding and terrified the life out of them. I warned them that 'this dog can track you wherever you go and will track you home, and I will follow you there and have you prosecuted if this happens again' (I had never taught her to track! but she used to play hide and seek looking for my son when he was small). I never saw those kids again!

The third time we were having a party and a male friend, a little the worse for wear decided to start chasing peoples children around (all the children were friends of my sons and considered 'family' by our dogs) he clumsily fell over onto a child making it scream, I JUST caught chilli by the tail as she went for his throat. Once told it was 'okay' she stopped going for him, but she never took her eyes off him the rest of the party, and she kept herself inbetween the child involved and him.

I still miss that dog every single day.

So yes, a dog not trained to protect can often do the job, and young Boo (the gold sable in my pic) who Chilli grandmothered seems to have learned a lot from her. I have done everything I can to discourage Boo from being protective, but you try getting near me if you are a strange male, she has no fear.

So all in all say you are looking for a nice dog, one that can do a little sport, and maybe be trained for PPD, at least to the point that you would know exactly what the dog would do if the need arises.  Would you choose a male or a female and what would you look for in a litter of puppies that would tell you more about a puppies temperament that could do this type of work for you?  Nan

It depends on the age of the dog. If the dog is going to be naturally protective, this desire tends to develop between 10 and 18 months of age. If the dog is naturally protective of you, then this shouldn't be a problem, even if the dog is untrained. However, this is where it becomes tricky. WL GSDs tend to have high drives, including prey drive. If your dog is untrained and views something/someone as a threat, it may go into an aggressive mode, which can be dangerous to you, your dog, and whatever it views as a threat.

I'm a vet tech, and one of the WL GSDs who frequently boarded in our clinic was an intact, untrained WL GSD male. He had been coming into our clinic since his first set of puppy shots, and had grown up with our staff. However, once he got to about 2 years old, he suddenly became extremely protective of his owner. She dropped him off to board one day, and when the vet came to greet her and the dog, he attacked her and had to be pulled off by three technicians. He had never attacked anyone or anything before, but his high-drive nature and growing protectiveness of his owner grew into a bad combination. This may not ever be the case for you and your dog (and I hope it isn't), but it is something to keep in mind.

Hope this helps!

yes macrowe1:  Basically this sounds like my boy;  that is why I am asking how would you pick a puppy to do the job for you.  My boy was the ONLY boy so I did not have a choice of any other boys,  only 3 sisters which I knew at the time I did not want a female.  But being a female myself, I like the boy GSD's.  I am looking for a boy that basically does it all,  a little herding, some SCH work;  I will train him very well in obedience, maybe some personal protection work.  That is probably all I will have time to do with him except socialize him VERY WELL.  I am a doggy person so feel at least I do have the knowledge of the dog world;  am still at a loss when I go to pick MY PUPPY what would be the most important aspect of his temperament to acknowledge first.  Do I want a high defense drive, prey drive, play drive, I know I want some natural protection, and definitely the best retrieve possible.  Of course good health.  And I know it has to be a litter that has been raised, fed and handled properly.  That is as far as I have gotten.  Maybe it's a good thing that I am not quite ready as I still do not know where I will be looking for sure, know where I won't go though and really want to stay in the US.  Know that for sure.  Nan

my dog is pretty alpha to other dogs and will bite for real in protection on hidden sleeves but she would do this at a year old she had some training mostly green dog well she was raised for the first year of her life with protection in mind as her original breeders felt she was going to be some kind of protection dog from when she was born and was always encouraged to bite/tug so maybe that played a part in her ability to protect? im not sure shes half czech and good bloodlines i think how the dog is raised plays a huge part in it though

i bet if they are raised their whole life to submit to strangers and never bite anything? im not sure but maybe that could play a part in how well they would protect?


A lot of people say protection is an on going thing u have to keep training for i dont think a good dog is going to forget how to protect you once they know how they know how its something thats inside them they have that edge in them lack of fear of biting a person for real if they have to. JMHO Who agrees with that? Maybe some dogs might need or most dogs might need constant training to keep up the traits to protect but i dont think a good dog will need it a good dog will keep it with them with or without training.


again im not sure but only looking at WG lines i think for protection u would need to look at east german west german mixed lines for best luck. Seems mix's between these lines or czech lines are the best at protection im not sure just been observation.

macrow he just attacked the vet tech out of the blue? like bit her for real a few times? was this a dog with solid nerves?


id pick female over male any day a good female from good lines over a good male from good lines that is


go all the way and say you want a dog from a parent with good strong civil aggression and strong in defense but also good prey drive biddability and very very stable with rock solid nerves so you can do sport and pp, be very cleary and determined to get this, so you savee yourself any future dissapointment lots of people end up upset with the outcome of what their pup turns out to be specially they feel it is not protective enough and then want another gsd that is more protective/aggressive. You can have a dog strong in defense drive if it comes from very stable solid nerve parents.


When i was thinking protect for real i was thinking more along the lines of a dog biting and fighting for real not barking or whatever like most dogs will bark and put on a show i think for their owners but i was thinking more of the lines of a dog actually fighting for its owner.   It is very easy to get a working line shepherd to bark/lung at a person and protect like that it comes with them naturally.