aggression - Page 2

I work with my dogs to make sure I can take food and bones away from them. Be glad you can do it without having to assert yourself. As far as the dog not attacking people comming into your yard, thats also a good thing. I currently have 7 GSD's on my property. They bark and alert me but they greet people friendly. They are all bite trained and one is a trained police K-9. It is a wonderful thing when you don't have to worry about your dogs attacking the next door neighbor or the paper boy. As far as someone breaking in the house. The dogs will do what is necessary as would yours I am sure. A nice social dog is a joy to work and own. A dog you always have to worry about isn't.

I would be very proud of him if when someone enters his territory like you say he will approach that person and check them out.Too many shepherds I've seen have such weak nerves they will almost always fail this test and run the other way.Anyone in their right mind seeing a GSD barking behind a fence should not enter the gate in my opinion without the owner there.Your dog barking and standing his ground when someone is outside your yard should be enough of a deterrant to anyone "up to no good",I.M.O.If this is still not enough for you then you could always tie him and have different people agitate him to make him more aggressive and distrustful but as already said this is setting yourself up for a lawsuit.

If someone who wants to harm you enters your yard and your home despite the presence of a large barking dog, they would not be deterred by that dog anyways, they would do away with it quickly and proceed about their business. A dog will also not be able to tell the difference between: a) it ok for certain people to enter the yard on their own like your friends, and b) it is not ok for certain people to enter the yard on their own like strangers, or thugs. I doubt very much that the average stranger would willingly enter the yard and open the gate that holds back a large barking dog. So the people coming in probably all know the dog. Put a wireless door chime on post by the gate (order online, battery operated, you have a receiver with a gong in the house) and keep the gate locked, so that you have to let everyone in. That way no one knows that one could possibly enter the yard safely without your assistance. Your dog may react naturally protective during a personal confrontation when the dog senses your fear or agitation, basically once he senses your adrenalin and change in body language. If you want a reliable protection dog, it needs to be trained to specific situations and needs to learn to act from a specific trigger. That training is costly and few owners. For most situations a dog like yours that goes woofwoof at the gate is enough to keep small time criminals off your property. Someone with serious issues against you or hired will not be swayed by a dog.

Amen

I never thought my first GSD would protect me either. He just loved everyone, never met a stranger until one dark night camping in a VA state forest. I was walking him in our campsite when a man approached me carrying a large knife. Dylan barked, growled and lunged at the end of his lead with teeth bared. I have no doubt were he able to reach him, he'd have tried to take that man down. The man with the knife couldn't get away fast enough and I never saw him again. Dylan was a dog that anyone could handle without restrain or muzzle including a chemo vet. Still he recognized danger. I sure do miss that darned dog; he died at only 7 1/2 of lymphosarcoma.

Hello people, Thanks for your comments, suggestions and advise. I am glad that my dog is not biting people coming on to his turf but the main point of my worry was if something was wrong with his behavious, being a gsd. I was under the impression that gsd's are very protective about the territory, or anyother breed for that matter. My neighbour had a gsd who died sometime back, he was very aggressive. I thought it was a general behaviour. But thanks to the opinions of all of you, I am now not worried about this kind of behaviour. The point I was worried about, again, was basically when strange people enter my home, like the workers, technicians etc. He would not bark at them. Should I train him to bark at such people? If yes, then what should be the technique? About him not being food protective, it was a part of his basic training that I have given him from the starting. I am not training my dog for Sch as it's still being worked upon by the KCI, India & I just have basic book knowledge about Sch. So, will see if I work with my dog later on Sch. Thanks again for all your suggestions.

If you do protection training of any kind without knowing much about it you can create more of a risk than any good - not just to other people but also yourself and family members. Be careful what you wish for... Strange people like workers and technichians will not enter your home by themselves. You allow them in, have invited then in, and therefore your dog accepts that as such and behaves. That is exactly how it should be. Especially people that are supposed to be on your property will not expect or accpet getting bitten. It is your responsibility to make your house a safe environment for people that you allow/invite in. You can teach your dog to bark on command for food or a toy and then use that if you must, but whats the point? If you want to give the impression to other people "don't come here on your own, or else the dog will get you", then have people ring and wait in front of the gait until someone comes to escort them in, put the dog on leash before you open the gate and tell people not to interact with the dog because you don't want them to get bit. They don't know that the dog is basically friendly - you do this for the image you want to create. Keep the dog close to you while they are in the house or lock him away, make sure no stranger has any interaction with the dog. Again just for impression. Locking the dog up during that time is quite safe as any incident at that time can easily be traced to such person and is very unlikely. If you live in such fear, hire a security company for additional security measures.

thanks dh. But its not about living in fear. It was just, you may call it, lack of knowledge about this behaviour of the gsd. But thanks to you experts on this board that people like me can get their doubts cleared. I will make sure my dog remains friendly with people & let him react or behave on his natural instincts. Thanks to all