Guarding Ijnstinct - Page 1

 1) Is guarding instintc a must for the GSD breed program?

2) Can it happen that the guarding instinct is dormant in a dog and comes out with training?

3) IS guarding instinct related to maturity of the dog.?

4) Are there guarding instinct NOT good for the sport?

5) Are there breeding programs where guarding instinct is eliminated from the breed?

Please your valuable inputs

cheers

Explain guarding instinct as you understand it.

I'm not sure if what your asking is the same thing as I'm thinking.

Basically the dog minds a stranger. automatically as a stranger approaches. But some dogs may not do this sutomatically. Training may bring this up in the dog but not naturally

regards

also more importantly barking when the door bell rings at home. I have seen this particularly totally absent in some bloodlines. IS this true & correct observation? With training yes this can be brought up but seems to be a more of a hidden talent in some bloodlines.

regards

Well it is still not clear to me waht you mean. Minding a stranger could mean a lot of things, fearfull, interested, alert, getting in offense. Can you explain a little better?

I meant more imprtantly barking at strangers naturally Also on doorbell ringing. But when the stranger comes up the dog just goes and sniffs and finds out but does not play with the stranger lets him pet him but no display of aggression towards the stranger. But little less of suspicion?

Is this correct display of temprament?

My respons is based on the assumption that I understand your question correctly

1) Is guarding instintc a must for the GSD breed program?

Yes it is. In my limited experience it comes out in a dog with maturity.

2) Can it happen that the guarding instinct is dormant in a dog and comes out with training?

Don't really understand that one. Some dogs show it early  while in some doges comes out with a passage of time.

3) IS guarding instinct related to maturity of the dog.?

Yes in my experience it dose, not just maturity but experience through out it's life. Some dogs will be more alert than others.

4) Are there guarding instinct NOT good for the sport?

I don't belive so but I am not into sport, I am into real every day situations. Guarding or protectivness can be controlled and molded by socialization.

5) Are there breeding programs where guarding instinct is eliminated from the breed?

I never heared of any one breeding for that specific things. Guarding will be more present with a work lines, with confidence level of a dog, with amount and extent of socialization etc. It will be different in every dog no matter weather it is a work line or a SL it is an individual thing controlled by enviroment to some extent and genetics pridisposition of some bloodllines. Hope this helped.

Well, a good dog alarms. Still not sure what you are fishing for. But a good GSD is supposed to be aloof. Not run to each stranger and beeing a petting s***t, nor is the GSD supposed to display unwanted agression towards any starnger. especially if the owner is with the dog.

GSDs supposed to be territorial. Meaning, yes they should alarm when a stranger approaches or rings the doorbell. (In a regular home setting) Same usually goes for the vehicle.

In the developement of the dog are different stages, like huntdrives usually don't come out before 6 months of age, Defense is even later, In my experience the defens displays arround 16months of age (with regards of lines and breeding) -some are faster some are slower. It can take a dog up to that age to start activly guarding, besides just alerting. And with all it depends on the genes and on how you train a dog.An ideal GSD is for me that looks through strangers, notics them but isn't very concerned with them, in either way,(when the owner is present). But I need to be able to turn the off switch on. Meaning, If i decide this stranger is a threat, I sure want my GSD to guard me and my property.

A lot of the barking on doorbells and in vehicles is habituation,too. If a dog spends a lot of time hearing the doorbell and having strangers come in and out, they will most likely not raise hell for each time the bell rings. Same for dogs that spend a lot of time in vehicles or areas with lots of traffic arround them, they get alert when there is someone comming "too" close.

Am i getting close to what you mean or is it something different?

ok that solves it

cheers

As an afterthought I will raise three points

1) From an Instinct theory perspective, barking at the door bell is really not part of guard instinct

2) Aloofness let the stranger touch the dog but not over pally with the stranger

3)Outright aggressiveness at the stranger:>>>> Is this a part of guard instinct? Please clarify

In all above I'm assuming that it is totally instinctual behaviour and no training has been done to bring and channelize the instinct

Please comment all knowledgeable folks

regards