Protection issue - Page 3

Have your dog checked by another trainer then make a decision what to do.if it was me I would get gsd from working line after long research on their line pedigree or get a small house dog (jack russell) to bark his head off and hopefully gsd will learn of him , it is pack thing .

 I think your dog will do what's needed if needed.  Even labs will react if their loved ones are truly threatened.  I remember a story in the news once about a Bernese Mountain Dog that was in the back yard when an intruder was in the house and had the woman of the house tied up.  When the man started hitting her, the dog jumped through the glass of the back door and attacked the man.  (I think it was a kitchen door with a window, so the dog had to jump *up* and through *glass*...)

My dog rarely barked.  When I first got him, I "tried him out" for a weekend and took him back to the breeder's for a week as per our agreement.  When I went back to pick him up for keeps, she took me to the back where the kennels were, and all these big huge GSDs were barking at me, it was quite intimidating!  Wenig was in the last kennel and he was also barking, I was suddenly rethinking my decision... then I noticed he was pacing back and forth barking at the dogs in the other kennels, as if to say "Stop it!  Leave her alone!  She's mine!"  So we were good.  :)

The first time we were driving and he barked at a jogger, with his head right behind mine, it scared the cr@p outa me, I threw my coffee cup up in the air and got coffee all over everything!  LOL  He'd been so quiet that I'd totally forgotten he was a BIG dog.  Like I said, he only had to *be* with me, he didn't have to do anything.  One time in the Toronto airport he was laying beside me (out of his kennel cus we had a layover) and I was sorta dozing... like I said, Wenig was just lying there, just as peaceful and cuddly as a pussycat, but a man walked by and said "You certainly don't have to worry about anyone stealing your stuff while you're asleep!"

I think you and your family can love your dog and take comfort in the fact that he looks like a German shepherd, and that's usually enough.  For the rare time when it isn't, I bet your dog will surprise you in a good way.  Dogs are just absolutely amazing that way.

Do you really think that it's normal for an almost 21/2 to show no defense?

Not a blanket statement but depending on the background of the dog. Most showline dogs I've seen develop late in defense if any at all. You can't push defense in a young dog otherwise you will break him.

The issue isnt really one a defense.  This dog has little to none.  Thats been established already.

The  GSDs Ive owned were territorial by 7-8 months in a fenced yard. And one female was a holy terror at that, even earlier.

The issue is the owner would like the dog to announce strangers and bark at the door. This can be trained & encouraged.

It can be done IF the owner wishes it to and cant bear  having to replace this dog with a working line dog that will be more protective.. 

Buy another german shepherd from a known bloodline that will have the proper instincts..A lot of showline germans just will not take on that part of the duty ...not in them and you are not going to get it there...A pup at 6 months old out of my bloodlines is hackling and ready to alert on anyone strange anywhere in its perimeter...MY customers and friends who have my pups will be glad to attest to that...

Rito was 5 months old whe William went out the front garage door and put a ladder up to his roof to put his Christmas lights on his roofline.  Rito was in the back yard , fenced and didnt know William was in front..He gave a bark when he heard the garage door go up..Then William went up on the roof and went to side of house where Rito could plainly see him and he peaked over the roof to the bottom below...WOW     RITO HACKLED AND LOOKED UP AND GROWLED LOW UNDER HIS BREATH....HE STARTED TO BARK AND THEN WILLIAM   CALLED HIS NAME...RITO HAD NEVER SEEN WILLIAM ON THE ROOF AND HE DID HIS JOB....

Of course, Rito is 4 yrs old now and he is   Guard DOG SELLECT TO  his 16 yr old daughter as she walks him in the neighbor hood or stays at home with him at her feet.....this was a natural instinct and did not need any training for that to occur...

Working line dog....with show line from the old german blood lines....a sure thing with no questions..

YELLOWROSE OF TEXAS

A pup at 6 months old out of my bloodlines is hackling

Yeah.....that's a good thing.

cs:

What would you have wanted him to do,, duck and run and hide on the back porch?

YR

In my neck of the woods, we have hot burglaries from time to time. It's considered a fairly affluent area (HA! Wish I were affluent!) and hot burgarlies are the most dangerous since it means the burglary of an occupied home. I want my dogs to bark, snarl and growl when a stranger comes around. Better the dogs scare off a burglar than me having to shoot him once he's inside. I also want them to annouce I have company, but that is a totally different bark.

The OP should probably look for another shepherd from a line that has good defense instincts. Keep the original boy by all means, but get a dog that will at least bark and announce his presence to strangers.

If I get a new dog, at what age do I need to get him? I think if I get a puppy, my other dog will influence him and he will develop the same soft attitude! Am I right?

Aloof, Courage, and Nobility, are traits that certain lines no longer breed for and some breeders have substituted color, softness, and everybody's friend. Some lines produce an inordinate amount of the latter, not bashing, just statement of what has evolved...sounds like you have the latter.....just love him and learn...good Luck.