Post by: helpless on June 05, 2007, 12:48:52 PM
I work late at night and I was looking for a dog to stay home with the woman for security reasons. I have had dogs before and have experience with obedience training. As far as bringing up a dog with home security in mind do you guys have any advice on raising a friendly yet protective dog? i.e. some badguy wont be able to just slip the dog a treat and and "Good boy" to get past the dog.
You guys see that show "it takes a Thief" on Discovery. The guy breaks into peoples homes to show how easy it is and he never has a problem with dogs. Even when the owners think of their dog as being tuff.
Any advice?
He seems to have some German Shepard in him and the vet said today that he will prob get to be about 80 lbs buy the looks of his knees and paws.
Post by: onions! on June 05, 2007, 01:49:56 PM
No ideas on the training.
***THREAD DRIFT***
condolences Mike
Post by: mountainclmbr on June 05, 2007, 06:20:15 PM
Our other long-time dog is a Humane Society mix of Lab, chow, others. She barks at cars going by, but would lick a burgler to death. It must be in heredity somewhat! She is about 14 now.
In the summer last year I got a Border Collie/St Bernard mix female from Humane Society. I thought our older female was sure to go first and the Belgian Shepherd would always get so upset and chew the furnature if left alone. He ended up leaving us first and we had two females with no real protective instincts (at the time). The puppy is beginning to overcome her fears and challenge other dogs and humans in our yard. At 8 weeks (guess) she was 12 pounds and huge feet. She is now 10 months old and 65 pounds.
Last Christmas we got a 1YO male Belgian Tervuren. He is like the Belgian Shepherd only black/tan instead of solid black. Within a week he was protective of our property. When hiking on city trails he will not let his guard down enough to eat dog treats others may offer. Our problem is to socialize him vs. protectiveness.
Your dog's German Shepherd heritage is good for a protective instinct. For training for home intruders and the tricks they may play, have an unknown (to Norm) person come to your door/fence and act aggressively while offering treats. Praise your dog if he is aggerssive and let the situation slowly de-escalate. Walking Norm around the house and around the property boundary will imprint his territory and make him more likely to be protective.
Very nice looking dog by the way!
Post by: helpless on June 05, 2007, 09:54:15 PM
Post by: mountainclmbr on June 07, 2007, 07:03:10 AM
The protective instinct will probably take a while to develop, but imprinting territorial boundries is something you can start with a puppy. Many puppies will have irrational fears that they eventually outgrow. Our Border Collie/St Bernard used to run and hide under the bed if anyone came to the door. It didn't take too long before she was too big to fit under the bed. at about 9 months she suddenly stopped being afraid of other people and would bark if someone came to the door. She is still afraid of thunder, just like our 14YO dog. During a thunderstorm it is a race between them to get to a good dark spot in the bathroom to hide. The Belgian Tervuren just seems confused about why they ran away. It is really funny how their personalities can vary.
I am starting to work with our Belgian Tervuren on agility training. A Tervuren (Maxwell) almost won the 24 inch class Eukaneuba Invitational national championship last December. Maxwell was fastest, but was disqualified for stepping off the "see-saw" obstacle before the far end touched the ground. I attached a link to the video of this match. If you click on "Diesel and Maxwell" you will see the overlay video of the winner, Border Collie Diesel with Belgian Tervuren Maxwell. Maxwell is the one that looks like a long-haired German Shepherd. Note that the dogs are responding to the handler's commands. The dogs don't get to see the course layout before they run.
http://www.akc.org/events/agility/invitational/2006/videos.cfm
Here are also some good dog training articles:
http://www.dogtrainingbasics.com/articles.htm
Post by: Pew pew pew on June 08, 2007, 10:01:52 AM
Post by: helpless on June 12, 2007, 06:46:39 AM
Post by: mountainclmbr on June 12, 2007, 07:31:40 AM
Post by: ilbob on June 12, 2007, 08:15:02 AM
The newer beagle, doesn't have much in the way of territorial instincts yet, except where tasty looking rabbits and other small critters are concerned.
Personally, I think unless you want to spend a lot of money on dog training, your best bet is not to rely on a dog for much more than a trip wire. They are pretty good at that, but unless you have expensive professional training for the dog, you are best off not trying for an attack dog. Most dogs have some instinct to warn their humans if someone is sniffing around and shouldn't be, but you really don't want the dog to attack except on command. A dog attack is potentially lethal and needs to be considered in that way, similar to owning firearms.
Post by: K Frame on June 12, 2007, 08:32:11 AM
Post by: mountainclmbr on June 12, 2007, 09:16:44 AM
Did you get a new dog?
We got a new male dog pretty quickly last December because spring time can be a very bad time for bear break-ins. We found a dog show breeder that had a 1YO male Belgian Tervuren that had a slight teeth alignment problem develop as he matured, a disqualification in silly dog shows. He saw our yard as his territory by spring time and would have raised all kinds of commotion if a bear was sniffing around the house.
Post by: K Frame on June 12, 2007, 10:17:17 AM
No, I have not gotten a new dog yet, and I likely won't for quite awhile.
Post by: mountainclmbr on June 12, 2007, 02:29:39 PM
Post by: helpless on August 15, 2007, 11:00:56 PM
My dog Nikky died Saturday morning.
No, I have not gotten a new dog yet, and I likely won't for quite awhile.
No, I have not gotten a new dog yet, and I likely won't for quite awhile.
We just had a rott die on monday. Sucks x2, he was part of the family.
Post by: Jamisjockey on August 16, 2007, 02:48:00 AM
That's a good looking pup. I imagine the German in him is going to be a huge asset. Dogs have deep rooted instincts in thier training. My Brittany pup points birds.
Post by: jnojr on August 16, 2007, 12:54:25 PM
My dog Nikky died Saturday morning.
No, I have not gotten a new dog yet, and I likely won't for quite awhile.
No, I have not gotten a new dog yet, and I likely won't for quite awhile.
That's awful. You shouldn't rush right out to get another companion... but you shouldn't wait a long, long time, either, unless you really need to. You won't be "replacing" Nikky, and there are good dogs that deserve life sitting in the shelters.