How do I teach my dog to be more protective/aggressive?

[Jen&Bear]

Hmm...ok thanks
Is that good or bad
How can you tell if he has trouble seeing?
We have steps that go down...usually the light is off down.
B4 he would never go down cuz he was still young
I find this weird: when we would walk up he would be waiting at the top...first few times he would bark at u and act crazy an try and bite or play
Then i figured...i dont want him to be scared if he ever had to go down there and so i showed him i coaxed and encouraged him and finally he went down and no prob going down there now but there is a barrier because i dont want him to freely go down as he gets into all sorts of things if allowed
BUT what is weird to me is that he will wait at the top for me to come back up and he still barks and acts crazy the second i put my foot up on the floor
Its as if he cant see? Or doesnt know who i am? Or i dont know what

Sorry to take away from the original subject/post...i'm just curious

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by Emoore

Sure. . . enough brutality will make many dogs aggressive.

I hear ya, but I was being specific.
Not a generally aggressive dog but one that will be protective of home and family.
I don't think it is likely to be able to train a non-aggressive dog to be that precisely protective.

[Emoore]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

I hear ya, but I was being specific.
Not a generally aggressive dog but one that will be protective of home and family.
I don't think it is likely to be able to train a non-aggressive dog to be that precisely protective.

No, I think you're right. You can make a dog mean, unstable, and aggressive through brutality, but you can't make them protective, strong-nerved, selfless and noble if the seeds of it aren't already there.

[Falkosmom]

Originally Posted by Emoore

Sure. . . enough brutality will make many dogs aggressive.

I would think brutality would backfire and make a dog fearful, possibly submissive.

[Falkosmom]

Once had two pups with stable, confident temperaments. I made the mistake of letting a lot of people pet them. All the neighbors would come see them when they were out in the fenced yard. What a big mistake. These dogs came to think that everybody was their friend and developed no natural protectiveness. They would not even bark an alert when a stranger approached the home.

Another friend with teenage kids allowed her pup to be exposed to a multitude of people in and out of the house. She got the same results as I did with my two pups. Her dog was workingline and she ultimately trained him in schutzhund but anybody could go in and out of her house and her dog was never protective and would not bark an alert either. She was also disappointed in her mistake.

IMO, if you want a more protective dog, I would not allow so many people to freely interact with him especially when you are not there when it is on your property. Personally, I don't allow many people to interact physically with my dogs at all, and never when I am not there.

[Shaina]

I let my dog interact freely, and as she matures I will be training for protection. In the right dog, you can have a social butterfly that will protect on cue. We are doing schutzhund now which has been all prey work, but I expect she will become more serious as she grows and as more stress is put on her.

So yes, if you don't want to go through the process and just want a naturally aloof dog, letting strangers pet your dog isn't what you necessarily want.

However, a dog with the right temperament can learn aloofness (in my opinion) through a lot of training even after being pet by many people.

[BowWowMeow]

My dog is super friendly. He interacts with anyone and everyone (when allowed) and has never met a stranger. However, if you come to our door he will bark ferociously. He did not start this until he was 3 years old and I did encourage him by teaching him a command for ferocious barking (which he now does appropriately on his own) but letting him interact with lots of people when he was younger did nothing to harm his natural instincts.

[adas]

Just a few minutes ago, I had first hand experience about what we are talking about here. A former "clean-cut" young man who used to work here for me, just came into the office. He was asking desperately asking for a job, even almost threatenly asking and I was fearful a bit. But also he has deteriorated into major drug addiction.

All the while Nimai was watching, laying down, half-asleep. (as he usually does after the morning walk/play event).

I followed the young man as he did not leave and instead went into the work area and Nimai came with me. Nimai did not bark or show aggression and almost welcomed the man and the man became a bit standoffish and apprehensive. Nimai at that time started following the guy and almost nipping at him (herding?) with the guy waving his arms but the man then chose to leave and Nimai watched me to see if I approved his behavior OR maybe he was confused on "did I do the right thing?". (again this was not an attack on the man, just Nimai kept escorting him and when the man stopped walking, Nimai started encouraging him to keep moving by going close to his legs and feet with his mouth).
The young man was clearly a bit frightened and resorted to using his hand jestures at me as he left.

Seems Niimai acted appropriately. (The young man knows there is an unpredictable/playfull but no nonscense dog here, and the man did not get bit, so I will not get sued).

Comments on Nimai's behavior?

(it is sad to see the young man go down the tubes, he comes from a good family, etc.)

francis

[Witz]

My last male GSD(WL) loved everyone and would have let anyone into the house. He was socialized and yet when on 2 seperate situations stepped in to protect my wife. He was clearly able to see a threat and respond. There was no attack but he got between the threat and my wife and drove them away. If my wife had let him he would have gone after them. I do believe that socialization is more beneficial then to isolate.

My new pup almost a year old is very social and we can take him anywhere. He began his bitework at 8 months old and the trainer has made many a statement regarding channeling his potential and disposition in a constructive and obedienced base approach. I have seen him get very pissed when agitated and he starts to reveal his inner protective (possible) mindset.

I expect that I will be able to rely on his ability to move comfortably amongst those who pose no threat. I also feel as if he needs to make a statement, there will be no issue. Time will tell, but I would rather side on socializing, training and natural instincts to have a well rounded dog. Besides it's a partnership, we are in this together, I protect him and if it comes to it, he may step up to protect us. Other then that, as long as he barks to act as a deterent, I'm Ok with just that.

[hunterisgreat]

I'll explain by describing my own experiences with my dogs. First, I'll describe how the dogs are naturally. My female, Katya, is not suspicious at all of people who look friendly at all. She greats everyone friendly with kisses and a wagging tail. My male Jäger is indifferent to people. He doesn't greet strangers at all. If they approach and are friendly, he is aloof and cautious. If they posture or show any form of mild threat (strong eye contact, leaning over him, reaching out to him unannounced or speaking to him in a non-friendly tone they get a growl. An overt threat gets a strong defensive response, but without any lunging or biting.

The training we do with them is to teach them that strong forward aggression at someone appearing aggressive is desirable behavior. Both dogs, when told to turn on and be aggressive do so very strongly. Both dogs, when told to turn off, will turn off when the aggressor is also no longer being aggressive. There is a lot of "turn on, push aggressor away, turn off, now-friendly aggressor comes and speaks and shakes hands very close to the dog" type of stuff. My male has a more prominent front than back... which is to say, he puts on a very intimidating show, but really doesn't want to bite. He will, if the threat ignores his aggression. My female I think is more balanced front to back. My male, even without a lick of training in this regard, was already a very protective dog of our spaces and our pack. Katya is much more reliant on Jager's cues to be aggressive. If he's posturing, she follows. If he isn't, she doesn't. If I didn't have a male, she would probably not be naturally protective... however the makeup is there to train it in.

So these are two very different dogs in terms of protective posture... also differing in sex. The point is both can be effectively be taught to be aggressive. The important thing, is both dogs are very sound nerved, very confident, and very dominant. I think you'd run into trouble with a dog that lacks confidence (but this can be greatly improved through training), one that lacks nerve (not sure you can do much about this), or one that is submissive (not sure you can do too much about a naturally submissive dog either). You definitely need to enlist the help of a professional. And do your research with them... putting a ton of pain on the dog until he gets aggressive is not good training and can really mess up a dog mentally.