Chief is now 5 months old, his land shark phase is finally coming to a close whoo hoo! Lately though I've been noticing he's starting to become protective and dry alert which surprised me because I usually thought this comes around a year or age or older. We live in a neighborhood but have a huge empty field behind our house that several kids play in after school. The other day Chief and my husband were in our yard and the kids all of the sudden started screaming and running towards our house. My husband said Cheifs fur stood up, he did this real slow alert trot to the edge of our yard while growling low and then barked several times deep but not too loud. Then a few days ago these two random teenagers dressed in camo came sprinting out of the woods full speed into the field and Chief went crazy barking and growling low. He's also now going to the door and dining room window barking and low growling when he hears nosies. Just wondering when your dog showed this behavior?
I usually come in the back door when I come home via the gate. My wife had just walked out with Dagr (10 weeks), he buff'd me. I was shocked. He will alert to some sounds if he hasn't heard them before but usually doesn't bark.
It's been a really long time, my GSD is going to be 5 years old in 2 months. :wild:
I can't recall when he started barking at noises but he was 16 months old when he showed real protectiveness and made these 2 crackheads back away from us. He really stepped up and became a guard dog when he was 4 years old. When he is out in the yard he makes sure everyone knows that he is there and that it is his yard. He puts on a really good show and people that don't know him are scared of him but he is actually a total sweetheart and great with people. :wub:
My Dalmatian puppy started barking around 5 months of age but when he is out in the yard he would kind of stay back and bark, now he stands next to Sinister and barks/raises his hair and acts like he would do something but again, he is extremely sweet and great with people. :laugh:
Chief is super sweet too! He loves other dogs and people! He just goes I into protection dog when he's not sure about something. I forgot about this, a few days ago my husband was on the couch watching a game, Chief was laying next to me sleeping (I was on the floor by the couch) and my husband yelled and threw his hands up at the game. Chief immidelty stood up, stood over me and barked at my husband. I want him to be protective but at the same time I'm thinking "your only 5 months old... this protectiveness may grow stronger and stronger..." Is this bad so young?!
Sorry, I had a lot of typos in that! Typing fast on my phone plus auto correct! Chief is training now and working towards his Canine Good Citizen test
so he can be a therapy dog . But now I'm worried that he may be TOO alert for that. I don't want the slightest things freaking him out. Though in class so far he hasn't been bothered by the slamming of a clip board on the ground, the noise of the trash bag opening etc when he was tested.
There's a difference at home. At home is his. His family. His house. His yard. Whatever in public its not his. The alertness may be elevated with knowing you your family your house is all his. Per say if that makes sence.
Ours started about 5 months but Millie would bark and back up, miles would bark and move toward whatever he was barking at. At 8 months old Millie started barking and moving toward what she was barking at! There was a young 20's something kid come into our back fence when they had turned 8 months old...that is the first time we saw Millie move forward when barking. The kid ran off, and his hoodie was covering his face, I am pretty sure it was a community kid trying to see if a back door was unlocked....most people leave doors unlocked in our community making it an easy target...I am not sure why everyone is so trusting and why they leave themselves so open to be a victim but they do....quite community with unlocked doors....ANYWAY.....Millie did not back down and I was so impressed because we felt she would bark but because she always backed up, never expected her to stand her ground and really did not expect her to chase someone. We definitely underestimated her. Needless to say....our house gets lots of space....kids and older teens do not walk in our front lawn any longer and they walk across the street when they do have to pass our home ))
my dog never showed any behaviour like your dog and if he did
i wouldn't allow it because i didn't want a protective dog. now
if your dog is truly being protective at such a young age start
training and socializing. you want to be in control of his
protective behaviour. maybe you should find a trainer.
We do train and socialize multiple times a week!! He trains now and is working towards his therapy dog license at a training facility and is around other dogs there. Plus he goes to the dog park a few times a week and loves the other dogs. He also goes to a local coffee shop with me a lot and we sit outside by the door and he gets petted by almost everyone and is so sweet to them!
I'm thinking this is what Chief is doing..
just very alert. He hasn't snarled or snapped yet just does that deep low growl and deep low bark. But I'm thinking he may snarl or snap if he truly was threatened or knew true danger..
but I'm not sure!
Titan started being more alert and alerting me of "weird things" probably around 6 months. I lived in a far away german village for about a year and a half when he was a puppy.. so he didn't see much to be concerned about until I moved back to America. THEN his alert become very very apparent. That was about when he was almost 2 years old.. and he has not grown out of it one bit. To this day will bark his head off at anyone on our property until properly introduced.
not saying this is your dog (dont know the situation well enough) but a lot of people think their dog is being protective when its just being nervy. a good stable dog is quiet and will bark and growl when it feels the threat is real and close enough to harm it or its owner. a nervy dog is one that barks at everything that might be a threat. barking can just be a vocal dog. growling would give me pause.
or it could be a solid dog with low threshold. either way, neither one of those is no ideal for a therapy dog.
I wouldn't like any of these behaviors in a dog under a year old...reads nervy and lack of confidence to me....until maturity I want my dog to see little to nothing as a threat, be social (completely approachable), and confident. A puppy barking, hackling, and backing up (even walking towards) is a scared puppy to me....not an alerting dog, and it's not something I would want to see. Especially something that is a known none-threat...kids running around, my husband walking in the door, someone knocking at the front door, someone walking by the back fence. There is no reason for my dog to bark and act up to any of these things, imho. I would ignore, never encourage, and keep completely calm to show the pup I don't want that behavior for none-threats.
With halo it was pretty instant. Like once she came out of her shell she was all rin tin tin from there. And she's always showed more of it toward the kids which I love. Like she will back up me and my husband but I feel bad for anyone that comes near one of the kids. Because that's a pretty instant switch.
When we have company the first thing does is hover around where the kids are until she feels its okay. And when they go to bed halo has has to have a final inspection. If not she will paw and whine at their doors until she's satisfied. I love her priority level for her protective side.
Millie and miles will go to the door if the bell rings. If they know the people, they sit and wait for us. If they don't....they will bark real deep a couple of times. A man was running toward the girls, he was a jogger we know, but was wearing a hoodie and bigger glasses due to the rain....the dogs both stopped at the back of the car and waited until he passed before getting in. Neither barked but both watched with very stiff bodies. The older they get the less they bark and just watch...intently....! I think that is coming with training...he wants them to watch but not react unless told to or unless they need to. It may come with age....ours use to bark at the bell Every time....use to bark at the obnoxious teens behind us every time....now they just keep and eye out and bark when things are chasing us...:-/ A dog got out of someone's house...it was chasing the car....dogs went nuts, but when we came home and he did it, they did not bark....difference kids were not in the car...they had been dropped at school. Motorcycles are okay, but if the guy is wearing a face covering helmet....not okay....they have weird quirks....
The only time we have heard growling as older pups was when the older teen/20 something kid came into our back lawn...before they were 7months old they barked ducks back into the pond, geese, swans, squirrels, birds....it was crazy....and god forbid a bird land in their yard, they would try and get through the windows for such blatant trespassing.
Eli never barked at anyone as a pup. He was raised in town, taught to be quiet and saw a lot of different people do a lot of different things. As far as I can recall he never faced anything that needed alerting to until he was much older.
When I first saw his protective-ness he was probably about two years old, we were on a walk at night and someone came up to us on a bike. He is a social butterfly, passed his therapy dog test with flying colours, has his CGC and his TEC which is similar to the TT, and he visits with everyone. This person though, he just stood beside me, puffed his chest out and let out a very quiet and deep belly growl. He did not visit this person and just stood between me and them. No barking, no hackles, just intensely stared at them, did his growl and held his ground. I gave the person the directions they wanted and we continued on our way. Other than the person being a little drunk and slightly slow I have no idea what Eli's issue was, but if my otherwise social dog decided that one person out of thousands was not allowed near me and can keep a civil head about it, I'm going with his judgement call.
He does not bark at people he sees near his yard, he does bark at the door but I figure that is more of a group thing - the pack just keeps teaching each new generation that dogs bark at door knocks, if I open the door for someone to come in he accepts my decision and does not bark at them. He generally does nothing that remotely resembles a protective dog, but how often is the average pet really exposed to a situation that requires the dog to react? To me, he is the perfect protective dog that has never been trained to protect.
This is one of my concerns, Kong is a great dog doesn't bark at people lets pretty much anyone come into the house, and actually tries to play with the pool guys and the guys who come to clean the yard. He does bark at other dogs, you would think the lady pushing the stroller on her cell phone with the pug trotting next to them was trying to steal his favorite frisbee as much as he barks. But, he is fine at the dog park, or if he is off leash while we hike and happen to run into people with a dog on the trail. My concern is that I don't think he would be aggressive if someone was to actually try and break into the house or attacked me while we were out for a run. Anybody have any thoughts or have a dog that exhibits similar behavior..
Halo is fine with other dogs as well until they walk by the yard. Then she acts as if they too would steal something she loves. On a rare occasion she barks when I walk her. But that's when my 5 year old is with me and she doesn't like anyone near him until she's had a chance to get to know the person. Which she's usually not interested in when we are walking. But when she sees a dog typically she wants to play. Same with people once she knows they aren't a threat
Neither of mine are barkers at anything for nothing, so when they do bark I do pay attention. They never bark at kids, I hear a little grumble if they think they hear a noise, but they generally move on. If I'm in the house and someone knocks they bark and that is the most I hear. When I'm not in the house they are silent. I have witnessed them sitting staring at the door when the screen opened, so if whoever it was came into the house they would be greeted by them. One time not that long ago the neighbor had some guys fixing the garage and it was cold, they had on ski masks and were on the roof. My male flew across the yard and barked like I have never heard before at them. Thankfully they didn't lose their footing on the garage, but they had to be pooping in their pants when they seen him running at them. Once he got near them, his nose went in the air and he walked away, did not bother with them again the rest of the day. When we came in my son asked me what dog was barking and when I said Midnite, he was quite impressed.
Halo is very vocal. If Shea not growling she let's out semi silent woof. My previous dog koda. She didn't care the only time I knew I needed to go see what was up was when she was going crazy. Which was extremely rare. The one time she went crazy like they our neighbor who has a few loose screws up stares came out of know where. She was right up at my son who was playing dump trucks in the yard I grabbed the my Pp (personal protection) went outside and ask if she needed something Koda stopped going nuts when I addressed the situation. I miss that dog so much.
She was a lab, Sharpe, pit mix.
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