Will your dog REALLY protect you?
 

This is the infamous question passed around. Many owners, especially of our breed, are under the impression that their dog would protect them.

I however, and many others, feel that it takes a certain temperament and to an extent a certain amount of training before a dog would truly "protect" it's owner. Other dogs will either pick flight out of fight or flight in fear, or in turn WILL attack the assailant but only out of a fear aggressive response triggering them to attack to protect themselves or their security bubble. One of the biggest reasons that I opt to pick a breeder over a rescue because I as a young single female living on my own am looking for a companion AND protection animal.

A 6 year old did a very interesting video on the subject. Now of course, I would like to see this done in several different ways. Maybe a larger scale. And then actual owner's handling the dogs instead of a stranger as this could trigger a different attitude. Also, would the emotion the owner is giving off trigger a different response? Obviously this little girl isn't in TRUE fear, could a dog sense fear and respond differently? But I think in general it shows the fearful response the average pet dog would show to a true attacker.

Your thoughts?

This has been previously posted.

I had a dog who stepped up to the defense plate several times and she's a simple pet.

That video seems a little silly, like a commercial for their business.

My Aussie was ready to defend me once... never heard a growl like that from him before, I certainly wouldn't have messed with him!

Yeah, like I said it's just an interesting thought. I had a friend that tested this theory with her pit bull. She had some friends of her son "abduct" her in their van while walking down a dark street one night. Although her pit barked, she otherwise proceeded to just stand there while these strange men "forced" her into the van and even drove off a block. This was a dog that had also shown "protective" tendencies in the past, she had once barked at a group of strange drunken men that had approached the owner one other night while out on a walk. But when push really comes to shove, would even a barking dog truly attack and "protect"? Of course, this friend also thought up the theory "Maybe my fear would of otherwise motivated? Obviously when these men I knew were "abducting" me, I could only act angry or fearful, but I knew I was safe and maybe she sensed that?"

Zeke will bark at some people if there is an odd vibe about them, but in general he loves people. I don't know if he would truly attack someone to protect me or not. Luckily with our breed, them barking alone is usually enough to deter someone. But maybe we shouldn't depend on them as much as we do?

I KNEW Luther would, because he did in the past. Of course he was also fear aggressive and did have a history of biting people, so not exactly the best dog in general. But I do really miss the amount of devotion he showed to me. He would not leave my side while I slept. One morning my dad stormed into my room joking around "If you don't get up I'm going to hit you!" Luther proceeded to jump ON TOP of me and lay there growling at my father, whom he otherwise adored in general.

I have seen this before and I remain sceptical (partly because the people producing it are trying to sell something)

While I will agree that if you want an attack dog or expect a lot of threats then a trained dog would be better I don't think you can write off the humble family pet as useless for defense.

1) I suspect it is the handler as the 'attacker' in that video
2) it is not a real attack (if I can tell so can the dog)
3) we don't know that dogs particular temperament
4) Is the girl he dogs owner or has she just been asked to stand there with a random dog (what reason does it have to protect her)


Would I want a dog that would jump in and start ripping off limbs if it saw my son play fighting in the garden with a friend?

There is a lot more that a dog does to protect you than bite. Lets face it, if someone was nuts enough to try and kidnapp her while she is standing there with a German Shepherd then she is in serious trouble anyway. I hope that my dog never has to do more than growl and look mean in defense of my family

Was the dog muzzled? You couldn't pay me enough to provoke a pitbull like that:eek:

I would never expect Juno to protect me. There is an element to her personality that is very defensive and she is incredibly protective of her family. But to the extent of actually doing anything beyond hackles, barking and lunging, I don't know. I recognize that a lot of her reaction is driven by fear and it's not really controllable.

She did chase off two stray dogs that aggressively were barking at my children though.

I completely agree with these points. Like I said, I would be really interested to see this experiment in a different setting. Actual OWNER'S handling their own dogs, and maybe in a more realistic setting, like watching down a dark street. I still believe though that most dogs will NOT protect their owners outside of barking if it actually came down to it.

BTW, my friend and her pit - her female was smaller, only 30lbs or so, but no she DID not muzzle her. Scary test, if you ask me lol. I always thought, if I knew someone with a bite suit, I might like to see what Zeke would do if he was home alone and someone tried to break into the house, or if someone "attacked" me while I was out with him. But I would never risk it with no protection for the attacker, and even a muzzled 95lb dog can do some damage with their body. ****, some protection companies train their dogs with basket muzzles on so they learn to use their FULL body, not just their bite, in an attack and take down.

The way my dog reacts when I accidentally stood on on his foot - I don't think he would be very good in a fight anyway :D:o

Here is the thread. It is a silly and non realistic set up. It was probably the parents idea to advertise the business.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum...rotect-me.html