watchdog for sale......cheap!!! - Page 1

Okay, I'm not really going to sell Trigger, but I can't believe what just happened. There was some kind of a commotion out in the street in front of my house. Lots of yelling and hollering and police cars everywhere. When the wannabee alpha male heard the scuffle and disturbance he knocked over an end table getting to the front window and started barking. He stopped barking after the scuffle ended, but continued watching until everyone had left. And Trigger? He never even looked out the window. He was laying on his back, on the couch, wanting me to scratch his belly the whole time. I guess Trigger must have figured as long as there was another dog around keeping an eye on things, he could just lay on his back and relax. Now, if there would have been a lawnmower out there.......oh well, at least he didn't run and hide? Trigger still has a permanent  home here, but think it's time to get a real watchdog. (I was just babysitting for the wannabee.)

HEY - at least Trigger has his priorities in order.  Reminds me, I got a cute t-shirt that says "We've gone belly up" and has a picture of a dog looking for a belly scratching!

Smart dog, he's not going to waste his energy barking at people he can't bite . Seriously, don't count him out, my first GSD didn't bark at anything or anyone either until he tried to take down a stranger in a campground walking toward me swinging a knife. I was shocked; I truly did not know he had it in him.

I would be shocked if Trigger steps up to the plate someday. He just didn't seem to care at all about the ruckus in the street today. Every time the wannabee dog comes over he tries to bite Trigger. Trigger just pushes him away--doesn't bark or growl or show much reaction at all. That's the only reason the 2 males get along, because of Trigger. Trigger could easily kick the shit out of the other male if he wanted to, as the other dog is twice his age with bad legs (torn ligments in both his hind legs.) Trigger is a tough one to figure out--confident but not aggressive? The only thing that bothers Trigger is beach balls. Yeah, that's what I thought, beach balls??? I had to ask the guy that raised him what was the deal with beach balls. He started laughing and said the neighborhood kids teased Trigger  all the time with a beach ball when he was a pup. I guess they thought it was funny at the time. I would have taken those kids and knocked a few heads together, but then that's me.

In my own experience over the years, my noisiest dogs were the least confident and were the ones most likely to avoid a confrontation.  Isn't that what barking is for?  To ward off intruders rather than have to fight them? 

Trigger is out of Grando, right?  If he is any thing like my guy, they are very very confident calm dogs.  But if he feels the need to protect me, he is there.  Well the only time so far has been to protect me from a woodchuck, but hey those things have nasty nasty teeth.

Yes, Trigger is a Grando son. In 2 years I have only seen the "nasty" side of Trigger once or twice when Dana kept bothering him. Took weeks before he finally had enough. He rolled her in a split second but didn't bite. I did hear one heck of a nasty sounding growl, though. I guess he needed to let Dana know who was really boss. I think it scared me more than it did Dana :-)

I agree with Blitzen.  I wouldn't rule him out.  I think he is just a very confident dog and doesn't feel the need to prove it.  Other dogs will already know this about him and won't push him too far unless trying to prove something themselves.

He probably understands the difference between a real threat to his family and one he really can do nothing about.

I like this type of dog.  I don't want one that is constantly having to prove something...to me, that's unstable.  But, I bet he'd be on target if a real threat presented itself.  Sounds like a good dog.

Before a "confident dog" was explained to me I would have interpretted this type of dog as a "woosey". lol  But now I know the difference and it's the type of dog I personally like.  Sounds like TRIGGER is a smart dog. I guess he took the approach of "not in my house, not in my yard, not my business". lol  My dog takes the "out of sight out of mind approach too".  As long as you're not in his space, his yard, his house, he isn't interested in making himself known to by passers.  When I do see him get up to check something out or he barks I know not to bypass his warning and to go see what's going on.  If he'd bark at everything and everyone all the time I'd never know when to take him seriously and probably disregard the one time I should have listened to him.  Didn't you ever hear the saying that "you should watch out for the quiet ones"?? lol