What would your GSD do??? - Page 1

Let's say you were home alone cooking in your kitchen or working in your garage with your GSD only footsteps away and an intruder walked right into your home armed with a gun and ready to do serious harm....what do you think your dog would do?  Let's take it even a step further and say that the person coming into your home to harm you was someone you knew, had been to your home before and your dog has been expossed to....do you think the dog would react the same way or differently?

My dog reacts to the threat and it doesnt' matter if he knows them or not. We have trained similar scenarios and I can be certain beyond 100% that mine would attempt to rip the intruder apart, giving me enough time to get the .45. A properly trained dog will fight until he is no longer able, but you had better have another way to defend yourself against the armed robber. The dog gives you time to either escape and call for help or grab your weapon and stay to defend.

Melissa

Edited to add: The other 2 would cause an awesome distraction, barking and causing mahem, but would not commit to a bite, at least I don't think. Dogs act differently in packs.

I think mine would all have warned me there was someone about long before they got into the house - whether they knew the person or not - giving me more time to act! However protective the dog is, I would not want to put them in a race against a bullet.

I'm assuming you are asking the question based on a "trained dog"??  If that is the case the answer would be hard for someone to honestly answer unless they have tested the dog in that type of situation to REALLY know how the dog would react.

Also most people that train a dog for personal protection typically do not allow the dog to interact in a social setting in the home with people outside the family so that the dog is never too comfortable to trust members outside the family circle to be "friends".  If I allowed my dog to interact with everyone that came to visit me in my home he would never be suspicious of anyone and probably never even bother to get up when someone came to the door.

I can say I know for sure 1 of my dogs would do their damnest to buy me time to either dial 911, get to my gun or get the hell out of the house to safety IF he didn't get shot dead first.  No one can react faster than a bullet; not even a GSD is bullet proof.  Would he bite someone in that situation....absolutely IF he had time to.

Would he bite someone he knew coming into the home without being given a command???  Probably not!  But I also don't allow outsiders full reign on dotting on my dog when they come to visit.  He knows the drill...doorbell rings, he approaches the door, I see who it is and if it's someone I know the dog is put on a down stay in my foyer til I let the person in and I tell him it's ok.  If it's not someone I know I allow him to stand next to me to make his presence known til the person is gone.  If it's a service man the dog is put on a down stay and I do not tell him it's ok so he knows he's to sit there and assess the situation until the person has left.  Family members like parents, in laws, grandparents or children the dog is free to relax and socialize the same way he does with my immediate family.  All others are off limits.

An untrained dog may not react at all to either situation; maybe bark, if you're lucky growl and if you're REALLY lucky bite

At this point in time, Echo would greet the intruder with licks and tail wags and happily escort him into the house and probably show him her favorite toy, the TV, computer, etc.   She thinks everyone coming into the house is there to see her and love on her.   She alerts readily enough when she hears something suspicious and has a thunderous bark but since we have not trained for aggression towards anyone coming in the house I don't really think she would be protective.  Hard to say.  Right now, she is exactly what I want for where she is in her training.

Ares works out of defense and already reacted to a perceived intruder, so I believe he'd go and try to bite the intruder.  My 5 month old pup would probably bark a lot and keep her distance.

Not a smart robber at all if he chooses to find out what would happen.  Choose a different house.

I don't know what my girl would do, she is 14 months old and she loves everyone.  However; my husband and I were playing around the other night and he was acting like he was hitting me and she grabed him and started growling.  But not sure what would happen if someone came in my house.  She would probly show them her ball.

I'd have to ask them to hang on a  tick whilst I got him out of his kennel