How would you know...?

Question

...if your dog would protect you in a real life encounter?

What qualities does one such dog who will protect, need to possess?

Does your dog have these qualities?

Answer 1

I don't think there is a trait, rally. My dogs are very protective.

I think the protective gene comes with loyalty and trust. I'm sure if my dogs didn't love me, and especially didn't trust me, there is no way they would protect me.

My dogs are alarm systems, but other than that (aside from Max or Sparky), I'm not sure they would stop an intruder by biting or tearing off a limb.

Answer 2

You would know after you have spend months, if not years, training him to protect you.

Otherwise, you don't know, and my money is saying he won't...and neither will anybody else's dog who wasn't trained for it.

Will they bark like mad, growl, snarl, and show true concern for what's going on?...probably.  But will they know what to do about it?  Probably not, in most cases.

My dogs do not possess these qualities.  If you want to be afraid of anybody in this house - let it be me.

Answer 3

Easy - the dog must first have the right temperament - if not, no amount of training will give you a dog that will protect you!

What qualities?  Prey drive, fight drive, and the right sort of aggression - NOT fear-driven aggression!

Does my dog have these qualities?  Hahahahahhaaaaaa - no!

Add: Golden Gal brings up a good point -protect me from what?  I will never have to worry about being attacked by a squirrel when Kip is around!

Answer 4

My husband and I have pondered many times if Max would protect us or me if someone came into the house. Now Penny? No, she couldn't hurt a fly. But Max I am not sure of.

He has shown signs of aggression before, a friend of ours he didn't know opened my car door to put something inside and Max flipped out. He had the deepest growl/bark I have ever heard from him and tried to lung.

I don't have my dog for protection. We own a gun and I know how to use it. So I don't rely on Max. But I do wonder if he could/would protect me in certain situations. I honestly don't know what to look for in him. Sometimes he is a pansy and wants to run under the bed and other times his bark alone will scare you. So I cannot honestly say I know what to look for and even if he possesses those qualities. I would like to think he would.... maybe one day we will test it with the trainer.

Add**

im sorry I put protection instead of aggression, which I didnt mean to do. So its now changed ;) Im not that idiotic, i promise

Answer 5

JJ is an absolute angel, very loving, extrovert and super friendly, the only trouble is that he meets every stranger as a new best friend whether he's out or at home, so NO, I don't think he would protect me. Not what Louis Dobermann had in my when he bred Dobermanns.

Tori? Well NO, I know that there's no way she would even consider protecting me. You wouldn't see her little tan bottom for dust if there was a hint of danger and we were out, at home she would guard from under a bed.

A previous Dobe of mine Boris had the typical Dobermann character as bred by Louis Dobermann. He would stand by my leg and rumble in his throat when someone came to the door, but would stand down on command. Would he have protected me? Maybe, he might have been in the small percentage of dogs that would protect without training.

Answer 6

Our family Black lab is one of the sweetest dogs you will ever know! But we found her protective side every early one.

We rescued her from the local KILL shelter a few hours before she was to be put to sleep. When we got her home my sister and I slept in bed with her so she would feel more comfortable (plus we were so excited to have a new dog). The next morning my dad came to walk us and as he opened the dog she began to bark. Ever since then she has been there for us when we needed her.

There was one time when my sister went for a walk to meet up with someone. She took the dog with her. When they met up she got into his van. Annie (our dog) was happy to meet him and friendly like always. But when the guy tried to pin my sister down, and she stared to struggle Annie growled. When they guy didn't stop Annie jumped on him and pined him down (as she is 100 lbs.). That's when my sister was able to get out of the van. She then pulled Annie off and went right back home.

This is something that really come from the love your dog has for you. You can make a protective dog but they are doing it out of command, its not really out of love.  

Answer 7

Good question! As far as what traits to look for, I don't know, I don't have experience with this.

As far as my dog, she'd bark up a storm, that's about it. She'd probably stand about 3-5 feet away and just bark bark bark. (I'd be worried about protecting *her*, it doesn't take much to take a small dog out of commission.)

ADD:

My dog is an furry alarm system at best, my gun and calling 911 is my protection.

.

Answer 8

My dog wouldn't, she might act as a deterent but she is not trained for protection...that's not why I got her!!!  

Answer 9

Your dog needs to be a loyal part of your pack. Dogs who are kept inside and with their family and are treated well are ten times better protection dogs than dogs kept outside or treated mean to make them attack people. I know my dog would protect me because when my friends pretend to attack me or hit me with a pillow the dog will bark at them and act upset.

Answer 10

I would not be as foolish as to expect my dogs to protect me from anything.  How they would react if not trained to do so would be anyone's guess.

I don't know if they have these particular qualities they have never been put to the test really.  We did at one time during a walk encounter some Coyotes and my dogs did place them selves directly in front of me and barked a bark I had never hear before.  But if the Coyotes were to have attacked I would not know what they would have done!  They have never been trained to protect me in any way.  

I think it is wishful thinking on anyone's part to think their dog would jump right in to protect them.

ADD:  The only real protection I carry on my walks now is heavy duty pepper spray per. Greekmans suggestion when I told him of this incident with the Coyotes!

Even with that it still doesn't guarantee me anything much!

Answer 11

all my dogs have protected my family and yes they posses all it takes to pe protective...My dogs are treated as part of the family and will stand up to anyone who wants to harm us...

Answer 12

l'm not sure if they would, and l don't think l'd want them to, l'd be too scared of them getting injured.

Milly would definitely hide behind me, she's a bit of a weed, she gives her deep bark when anyone's at the door, but she tends to be hiding at the top of the stairs.

I think Amy would try and deter any threat, she tends to protect Milly when any dogs bark at her, she's never chased a dog, but she will stand her ground until it backs off. Not sure what she'd do if they didn't, thankfully that's never happened.

I think the only way to know if a particular dog will protect you, is if it has been specifically trained for that purpose, most dogs are family dogs and so wouldn't be trained to know how to respond in a threatening situation.

Answer 13

thankfully i have never had to see if my boxer would do this but if i had to bet on it i would definitely say that he would protect me. if anyone comes into my yard he goes crazy and if they come to the front door and he doesn't know them he definitely lets me know there's someone there

Answer 14

I think Kip's mom pretty much said what qualities would indicate a dog would be a good candidate to be trained in this.

Without training...who knows.  My mix would probably put up a fight and make an attempt to protect me.  I already know what my lab would do since I had been standing outside in the dark and he saw my outline through the back door but didn't recongnize me.  He freaked out and ran and hid upstairs....Good thing I'm not one of those people that aquired a dog simply for protection.

Answer 15

I had a Doberman once that tried to protect me several times, but the 2 have now would probably just l**k the adversary. The little one may bark a little, but my lab would just be happy to see someone new in the house.

Answer 16

with 13 dogs on the property (6 personal), i'm alerted to EVERY unusual activity.

but Rocky, my ridgeback x, is the only one who's proven his abilities and protective instinct.

i owned my own video store for a bit and Rocky went to work with me everyday. he prevented 2 robberies.

Answer 17

While I don't have trained protection dogs, nor dogs who would fair well in protection, I DO have dogs that have an extremely high prey and pack drive.  This has become apparent in a few occasions -- some may argue that this wasn't, in fact, protection, but aggression.  You make the call... and after reading Greekman's answer, I do have to question the motive here in this particular incident... but I'm pretty sure I know what my dog was doing, and that WAS protecting me.

My fridge had crapped out so I had to get a repair man in.  My dog, one of our low-content wolf cross (x'ed Malamute) stood by this mans side while he repaired my fridge.  But she didn't lay there all happy-like, as if to say "Look mom, a new friend!"  She layed there, on guard.

It should be known that this dog has never been an aggressive dog in any sense of the word.  She's a very well-rounded, socialized, non-fearful dog.  But she stood guard - her eyes fixed permanently on this man until his job was done.  The thought crossed my mind many times to put her away, but because I was a single mother at the time, an hour away from any town, I felt that I was better to be safe than sorry.

Anyhow, once the man had finished, Kira (my dog), came over to me and kept this man at distance by standing between us, not once was there a growl, but just her presence there was enough -- she is a big, big girl.  But then it all changed, this man came closer, she let out this deep-throated low growl.  As fast as I could think to reprimand her, he stuck out his hand to shake mine and she lunged.   A bite to the arm, and he back off... she didn't continue, that was it, she got her message across.

Oddly, the man didn't report this, and I of course questioned my dog and wondered if she was safe to have around now...I *thought* I knew her, and I was extremely upset by this.  Until I heard this:  nearly three months later this man had been charged for three counts of rape!!!

Did she know??  I swear to this day that she did.  "Experts" may disagree, of course...

Answer 18

Actually, I am focused on protecting my dog, and we always avoid any bad situations we possibly can. I would never expect my dogs to "protect" me in a bad situation, I would want us all to get out of their safely and avoid any confrontation! What if someone had a gun? No dogs are bullet proof. I did not adopt my dogs for protection.

LOL Golden Gal mentioned the same thing too, only typed quicker than me!

ADD- My dog did bark at my dad who was going to spank my son..... Does that count?

Answer 19

I think many of your readers are underestimating the dogs ability to sense danger.  

I have a 5 month old golden retriever (not a protection breed) and we had a "Traveling salesmen" come to the door one morning.  He may have been perfectly legit, I don't know, but my Golden certainly wasn't going to find out.  He has never growled or shown teeth at anyone, but before my wife even opened the door he was standing there in full rage ready to knock the door down and go after this guy.  

In hind sight we didn't get the dog for protection, but I think most dogs will do their best to protect the pack if they sense danger.  Obviously some dogs are more physically able to do this than others.  

If you are in an area where protection is your priority, I would recommend a protection breed dog with professional training.  Otherwise, I think its safe to count on the family do to at the very least look out for "the pack" and make your home a very unfriendly target for anyone with ill-intentions.

Answer 20

If the dog is truly bonded to you I believe that the dog would do anything to help you if he/she sensed fear.

Answer 21

My dogs are well obedience trained on and off leash and protection trained I socialize them well, you wouldn't know they where protection trained unless I was in fear or I gave them a command to protect me.

Answer 22

Great question Amanda!!!!

First, I KNOW, without a single doubt, 1000% guarantee that my dog would protect me, period.

How do I know this? Simple, I trained and proofed him that way.

A good protection dog must have a huge amount of pack drive, good amount of prey drive, clear, stable head, excellent nerves, be very well environmentally social and then possess both active and reactive aggression. Defense is also something that some people desire.

When you put all these qualities together and you go through a really good training program, you will end up with a dog that will respond properly to a command or a visual threat and WILL engage a human.

Before I say anything else here, let me state, for those who are delusional about their dog protecting them because "he loves them", that NO dog will protect out of love, that is not an emotion in the dog world. Dogs perform a behavior because they seek drive satisfaction, period, end of conversation. In this case, the dog will get his satisfaction because any one of the drives mentioned above will come into play and you will have a happy dog.

Does my dog have these qualities? He has them in excess, I assure you, otherwise he would not be my dog.

PS: Fear based aggression does not count here and it is the worst quality that a dog can ever possess.

Hope I helped!!

Answer 23

Mine wouldn't. I don't know how to tell if they would or not, but, Eli won't even take his toy away from Molly after she's stolen it from him. He's 100 pounds and she's 9 pounds. He greets everybody who comes in my house with a toy at the door. He thinks everyone is there to play with him. Molly would bark at someone who intended me harm, but, she'd do no more.

Answer 24

My dog would rip somebody's face off. I know that because he is really loyal, and once, this story happened to me:

I was walking my mutt that I have right now in the park, and what do you know, a couple big dogs came up to us and started growling. My mutt started growling back. He jumped on one and finally mangaged to get it away from us. It had injuries when it left, because I could see some blood on the ground from it. I was whacking the other one with my walking stick (I just happened to bring it), and it went away, too. Of course, it was nighttime, so no one was around to help me.

My dog sure does have these qualities. Because that story is a true one that happened to me and my dog. And yes, he was Ok, except for a huge gash on his shoulder.

Answer 25

Frankly, short of careful training, or actually getting yourself into trouble, you *can't* know.

Ideally, a protection dog should be intelligent, courageous, confident, and strongly protective, without undue aggressiveness. Not an easy list to match, but there are plenty of breeds out there that will match that list.

My dog, I don't *want* her protecting me - Her job is to warn me (which she will, quite effectively), but it's *my* job to do the protecting. It's different with my children, though - Them, I want protected when I'm not around.

Interesting to note, just this morning, my neighbor approached me, and asked to test something while I was walking s**a - He wanted to see if she'd get hostile towards him in my presence. Nope - Not a moment's hesitation or hostility. However, he tells me that yesterday, when my daughter was walking the dog, she wanted to eat him... Apparently, she think she needs, and is ready to, protect my daughter.

So, aparently, s**a has *most* of the qualities of a protection dog, excepting that she's too agressive when in protective mode.