Looking to get a "guard" dog

[Watrdawg]

Whatever breed you select make sure you research any medical/genetic tendencies that are common to that breed. For Example I run labs in field trials and hunt tests. When searching for a puppy I research the parents medical clearences. I looks for OFA rated hips and elbows as far as dysplasia is concerned. Labs also can have neuromuscular disorders. I make sure the parents have been tested for them also. I look through 2-3 generations to check for those disorders and history of dysplasia. So check the medical history of the breed and specifically the parents and at least a previous generation.
The most protective dog I have had was a female Lab. She slept under our kids cribs when they were born and slept in their rooms later on. If someone was walking around out front she would go to the door and sit there quietly. If they came to the door she'd start barking until we came to open the door. Once I told her "It's Ok" she was the friendliest dog in the world. One episode I will always remember. We were outside of my moms house in the driveway and my 12 month old son fell down and started crying. My mom started to run over to him to pick him up and my dog saw what was happending. To her this woman was/had harmed our son. My dog ran over and stood over top of my son. I quickly told my mom to stop where she was. She asked why. I said look at Chelsea. She's going to bite you if you move any closer. She was one of the kindest dogs I have ever owned unless you were messing with her family/pack. The good thing though was that she never reacted until she knew something was really wrong.

With all of that being said, if I ever get a dog other than my Labs it would probably be a Chessie. As was stated earlier they are great dogs, very protective and woould also satisfy my hunting and trialing requirements. There are very few hardier breeds out there.

[Koenig041]

You asked for it and you got it. Every opinion known to man. First and fore most for me personally, I just expect my house dog to give me a warning. So that I can get to equipment to handle the situation myself. For breeds, pound for pound a well bred pit bull goes a long way. I had one in college a "Carver dog", well socialized, athletic as hell and a great bark. They mature quickly so you can do grip work training early if so desired. In '96 I picked up a fawn brindle Cane Corso (Hunter). I learned a lot about schutzhund and tracking from that dog. Canes' are natural athletes but not a dog for the beginner handler. They are also very intimidating looking. Making them a natural deterant. They are very protective of the home and very leary of strangers. We just put hunter outside or in another room when we had company. We now have German Shepherds. We have bred a few litters. Not all GSD's are created equal. Just having papers is not enough. They must have working titles, from working lines. Show lines will give you titles but some are very suspect. Stay away from breeders that say champion blood lines,they are talking about looks not work. GSD's are not the best protection dogs, they are not the best dogs at obedience and they are not the best dog at tracking. But they ARE the best at being able to do all three. No dog has been asked to wear as many hats as the GSD, herding dog, guide dog for the blind, guard dog, military dog, detector dog. The Malinois is a very good working dog. But you don't hear many stories of them being house dogs. They are built for speed. Well that's my 2 cents. good luck in your search and let us know what you decide.

[SilentReaper66]

Canis Panther is grouped in the guard dog arena. Here is some info about them. "The Canis Panther is a very sensitive and loving animal to its family pack. They are very intelligent, easy to train and extremely loyal. They excel in obedience, agility and personal protection. They are very good guard dogs. They are very defensive of their territory". One note I have read time and time again, it is good to have all family members and friends to meet the dog preferably when he/she is a puppy because when they get older they truely are a protector of the family. If you do have new friends or family that come over when the dog is older bring the dog to a neutral area that is not on his property to get to know that person before they come on to your property. There are no known health problems, because the dog has short hair it must be kept inside, exercise ... long long daily walks. The dog needs serious exercise! Life expectancy 10 to 11 years. Grooming, nothing special. Origin, Great Dane, Labrador, Doberman Pinscher and Staffordshire Terrier.
Males are between 120-140lbs. females 85-105lbs.

[Littlelebowski]

Canis Panther is grouped in the guard dog arena. Here is some info about them. "The Canis Panther is a very sensitive and loving animal to its family pack. They are very intelligent, easy to train and extremely loyal. They excel in obedience, agility and personal protection. They are very good guard dogs. They are very defensive of their territory". One note I have read time and time again, it is good to have all family members and friends to meet the dog preferably when he/she is a puppy because when they get older they truely are a protector of the family. If you do have new friends or family that come over when the dog is older bring the dog to a neutral area that is not on his property to get to know that person before they come on to your property. There are no known health problems, because the dog has short hair it must be kept inside, exercise ... long long daily walks. The dog needs serious exercise! Life expectancy 10 to 11 years. Grooming, nothing special. Origin, Great Dane, Labrador, Doberman Pinscher and Staffordshire Terrier.
Males are between 120-140lbs. females 85-105lbs.

I assume the above isn't from personal experience?

[SilentReaper66]

I assume the above isn't from personal experience?

Nope! But I can tell you from experience I had a Yellow Lab with the big block head that we got from a shelter and we had him for probably 6 months (the shelter said he was probably 3 years old at the time) my sister in law and her husband has a full blooded Rodesian Ridgeback and they asked if they could bring him over to meet Bozworth. Charlie was close to 3 years old and all freaking muscle. When they came over Boz got a hold of Charlie and beat the shit out of him. Even when Charlie was submitting Boz wasn't having any part of that and kept going after Charlie. A week later Karen my sister in law brought Charlie back over but we met out in the street with Bozworth and it was like nothing ever happened. After that day they were best friends and they could be at each others house without any problems at all. Now whenever someone came to our door that Boz didn't know he made damn sure everyone knew he didn't like that person. Charlie the RR on the other hand not so much, he likes chasing flies and bees and could give a shit who comes in his house.
Boz passed on a few months ago and my wife is not ready for another dog yet. I have been researching dogs, just because I don't have experience with that breed does mean I can't share in this forum. Apparently your not that knowledgeable about Labs.

[Littlelebowski]

I don't think it's wise to recommend a family/guard dog based off of glowing, online descriptions. If you believe the online descriptions, every breed is courageous, intelligent, loyal, protective, etc.

Stick with proven breeds.

[SilentReaper66]

I don't think it's wise to recommend a family/guard dog based off of glowing, online descriptions. If you believe the online descriptions, every breed is courageous, intelligent, loyal, protective, etc.

Stick with proven breeds.

Riddle me this all knowing ... How did these proven breeds come to be proven breeds?

[Littlelebowski]

Riddle me this all knowing ... How did these proven breeds come to be proven breeds?

How do we have meaningful data on pistols and rifles? Mainly from en masse issue and hard use from LE and military and of course, widespread adoption by civilians.

However, if you and your family want to be the beta tester on a new breed, knock yourself out. I don't subscribe to the idea of Googling dog breeds and picking out a family/guard dog without any meaningful data aside from a Wikipedia entry but feel free to do so and post your experience. Get the biggest, baddest dog you can find and then just trust Wikipedia that your loved ones can control the dog and children can play with it without fear of being bitten.

My child can take food out of my Malinois' dish and spends a lot of time leaning on him or sitting on him yet should another dog or stranger come into the picture, he is instantly on guard.

[SilentReaper66]

How do we have meaningful data on pistols and rifles? Mainly from en masse issue and hard use from LE and military and of course, widespread adoption by civilians.

However, if you and your family want to be the beta tester on a new breed, knock yourself out. I don't subscribe to the idea of Googling dog breeds and picking out a family/guard dog without any meaningful data aside from a Wikipedia entry but feel free to do so and post your experience. Get the biggest, baddest dog you can find and then just trust Wikipedia that your loved ones can control the dog and children can play with it without fear of being bitten.

My child can take food out of my Malinois' dish and spends a lot of time leaning on him or sitting on him yet should another dog or stranger come into the picture, he is instantly on guard.

What on earth would you call new? They have been breeding these dogs since the 70's and there are no issues that I have found that would warrant bad mouthing the breed.
Oh almost forgot ... widespread civilians took the chance with the breed before it was proven ... BAM!

[Littlelebowski]

No issues in your exhaustive internet research? Knock yourself out and report back to us but remember there's many that are very careful about bringing such an animal into our families and homes.