[MattJargin]

Ok, been skimming thru topics and posts and I see where everyone to some degree agrees that the pitbull is not idealy a guard dog. I also agree that if you want a guard dog, as in, that is the dgs responsibility and you will train him that way, then get a GSD or similar.

However, I do not agre with the fact that APBT cannot be guard dogs. By this, I look at my "pack" and their behaviors when it comes to our home and property. They act very much as guardians when together.

We are one giant happy family. By this I mean that my dogs-yes-are my children. So be it, I just can't help it. Anyways, they all get along, never any trouble at all, they play, cuddle, and do everything together as a close family. So there is not even a hint of aggressiveness amongst them.

Now, if you (hypothetically) were to walk to my fence, and reach over, and my dogs are outside, you will get bitten. If you, were to enter my yard and walk along the fence, you will be intimidated by lunging, barking, growling dogs on the other side of that fence. If you were to enter my house, uninvited, you will be bitten.

Mauled? No, bitten? definately.

If I am standing there, and invite you in, and my dogs see MY approval, you are welcome more then ever to come in and scratch my dogs and get kisses. If I enter my fenced area, and talk to you ove rthe fence, the dogs will go about their business and leave you alone-AFTER seeing that I approve of you.

If you ARE NOT a dog liker/lover, be careful, because they will watch you, and GOD forbid if you raise a hand or swing.

Now, I have watched this for some time, always thinking about the fact-well, that they are acting as guard dogs as much as anyone would want them to act like if someone would want a guard dog. Go figure!

Maybe it is the fat they are raised way out in the country where visitirs are rare. Othe rthen my sons friends-or occasionally my parents or something. 90% of the time, they just see us, so they have come to expect quiet qnd no worries. I dunno.

But my dogs are good-great dogs, an as far as I am concerned do a great job at protecting my family and I.

Do any of yall have this experience? As your APBT acting as a guardian? Is it wrong that my dogs do this? is it wrong they are protective of their property and family?

They have never-NEVER- bitten anyone, EVER-however I have seen how they act and yes, when the guy up the road comes over and they are outside, I must let them in ASAP because when he leans on the fence, they have almost snapped at his arm, of course, he is a stranger AND has been known to be abusive of dogs, so maybe his demeanor is also revealing to them.

[11Woxsepmoomo]

Well, I think you bring up a good point that I also touched on regarding guarding behavior and actual protection behavior.

The vast majority of posts on this subject are started by people that originally say they want a guard dog but then go on to say they want a dog that will not hesitate in biting an intruder or whatnot. That's not necessarily "guarding".

[DghtRdc]

Jesse is a really good natured dog. But, when I go camping alone, shes a different animal. One time I was taking the trash to the dumpsters and two guys approached my car. Jesse started barking like crazy at them and they backed off. She had never done this before.. Id actually had people reach in and pet her when shes in the car. There must have been something about those two guys that she didnt like and to be honest, Im glad she reacted the way she did. I was camping alone and she did exactly what I hoped she would.

I agree with Mia.. Protection and Guarding are two different things. I think my dogs would protect me if someone tried to harm me, but if someone broke into my house, Im not sure how they would react. Hopefully, I'll never know.

[kictainiSot]

If the dog is smart enough to know a real threat from a percieved threat I have no problem, but if a dog is protective of every thing all the time there is a handling/training problem or a mental problem. These dogs "should" be ready for a pat on the head at anytime from anyone that is not a real threat. In my opinion.

[immewaycypef]

I think Dutch is a great deterrent. When he hears even the slightest noice, he goes crazy. Boozer, my rottie/ambulldog, doesn't bark at every little noice, but when someone comes to the door , Boozer definately goes into guard mode.
The other day I walked them both on my private road by a site they are doing construction on and a man approached us . Dutch was really pretty submissive with his head down and tail wagging low. Boozer reared up and gave out a huge bark, then went in front of me and stood, and stared at the guy. The guy stopped dead in his tracks.

[erepsysoulptnw]

I'm with Alma and Mia on this one.... Mollie would stink at guarding, but protecting, she might do... One day I was out paying a bill and had her with me, a very leery looking man starting walking toward my car and Mollie went nuts barking at him, and she's never done that before. He quickly turned and walked away, and I silently sent up a "thank you" that something prompted me to take her with me that day, because at the time he was approaching my car, I had $200 cash in my hand. Had Mollie not been there, I would have been lucky if all he did was take my money. Just the other day, a local businessman was shot in the face and killed. He was changing an ignition switch in a customers car, and some kids walked up to rob him, and decided to shoot him in the face. They got away with $40 and his cell phone.

[thargeagsaf]

Mauled? No, bitten? definately.

I don't know if you can say someone would ''definitely'' get bit. I've seen dogs put on pretty good threat display but when directly confronted, back away or just keep on with the ''threatening''. Not saying they wouldn't, but if they have never bitten anyone, I wouldn't depend on it either.

---------- Post added at 10:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 AM ----------

If the dog is smart enough to know a real threat from a percieved threat I have no problem, but if a dog is protective of every thing all the time there is a handling/training problem or a mental problem. These dogs "should" be ready for a pat on the head at anytime from anyone that is not a real threat. In my opinion.

Yup. Pretty well.

[CefGemYAffews]

By this, I look at my "pack" and their behaviors when it comes to our home and property.

Be careful with that one. Dogs often act differently in 'pack' situations then they would on an individual basis. At least in my experience they do.........

[metrocartockasur]

If the dog is smart enough to know a real threat from a percieved threat I have no problem, but if a dog is protective of every thing all the time there is a handling/training problem or a mental problem. These dogs "should" be ready for a pat on the head at anytime from anyone that is not a real threat. In my opinion.

Exactly. I would be worried about a dog who will just automatically bite any hand that comes over the fence.

I sure as hell would NOT find it acceptable for my APBT to act like that. A GOOD guard dog will show discrimination... if you aren't a threat, they ignore you. If you are a threat, you are the center of their attention.

If you walked up to my fence, all of my dogs would be clamoring over each other to be the first to get your attention. Wait, that's a lie... not ALL of my dogs - Spanky, the boston terrier, would back up and bark at you

I recall one time when Bindah acted protectively of me, and I love her for it as she displayed my IDEAL "guard dog" characteristics. It was several years ago, she was probably only a year or two, and we were in the front yard. We have a remote controlled front gate, and I looked up in time to see my (creepy, older) neighbour coming over it. I stood up straight and asked, "Can I help you?" and he stammered and looked around then just smiled... Bindah looked at me, looked at him... then calmly walked to about 4 feet infront of me, faced him, lowered her head, and stared (think like how a border collie looks when giving "the eye" to sheep). I just crossed my arms and gave him a "Well? What now?" look... he apologized for startling US, then asked if my mum was home because he wanted to bum a smoke. When I said she wasn't available, he apologized and went back over the gate. Bindah took two steps towards him as he was walking away, and didn't take her eyes off him until he was halfway between our house and his. After that.. she bounded back to me wanting to play again. She never barked, never growled... just stood there, looking at him.

He had come over both before and after that, invited and sometimes uninvited (but more politely uninvited than climbing the front gate and acting weird) and Bindah greeted him with tail wags and demanded to be pet.

To me, THAT is a good guard dog. Quiet, serious, and discriminating.

[MattJargin]

Be careful with that one. Dogs often act differently in 'pack' situations then they would on an individual basis. At least in my experience they do.........

And I'm glad you pointed this out because I was going to touch base on this earlier and forgot.

Yes, they act differently in their pack. Since they have each other I assume it gives them confidence. Alone-I would guess that Dixie and Cato would be the best protectors.

Years ago, and I dont remember if I was a member here yet or not, but one evening me, my son and Dixie were sitting in the back yard in Florida, in a decent neighborhood that was slowly going down hill. The yard was fenced w privacy fence. It was dark. We heard something in the darkest corner of the yard, and Dixie ran over there barking, then she turned and carefully came back to us, and stood in front of us, like a pointer, foot up, tail ip, hackles up-Its been a long time, but she stood and guarded us as some punk jumped our fence and tried to cross our yard after robbing someones home. He saw her and was very careful, but knew she'd get him if he moved too fast, so he started away, then ran-She ALMOST got him!!! her first priority was me and my son, then she chased him over the fence again.

Cato, is intimidating, because of his size and look. He has stood his ground alone, but he is also the one that tries the hardest to get the hand over the fence of a stranger!

But in a pack-yes, they have more gutts!!!!

[BypeVupyide]

Be careful with that one. Dogs often act differently in 'pack' situations then they would on an individual basis. At least in my experience they do.........

Mine too. Individually, most of my dogs are pretty harmless, but together is different. They feed of each others energy and are more confident that there is "backup" so to speak.

But also I think when talking about guard dogs it means a lot of different things to different people. To some it means bark when someone comes up all the way up to attacking intruders.

If I wasn't home, my dogs would probably let someone in. They love people. I've had guardian type dogs. Dobermans, Rottweilers, English Mastiff, Cane Corso, Bull Mastiff, and a Boerboel. Plus had a friend with Neos. The Neos I wouldn't mess with! But even my guardian breeds were friendly to a point with people.

What they were protective of was the family (people) not so much the house/yard. Sure they were territorial, but that was mainly directed at other dogs. Now if I was home and someone tried to come in that wasn't welcomed, that was a different story! I think most dogs would be more inclined to help defend their owner if in danger and not so much protect the good china if owner wasn't home.


Here is another spin:


My friends mother came over one time. We had 15 dogs in the yard (most all fosters) at the time- 3 Dobermans, 5 Greyhounds, 2 Dogo Argentinos, 1 American Bulldog, and a few smaller dogs. She had never met any of them. She opened the gate, said hello doggies, patted them on the head and proceeded in like she belonged. They all followed her up to the door and in the house. Not a bit of issue. Same friend, but this time her sister, she was scared of dogs. She tried to open the gate and step in. The Dobermans stopped her. Wouldn't let her past. They didn't bite her, but showed her teeth and stared her down. Her children with her. They pushed past there mother who was frozen in fear and came in the gate. Not one dog bothered them. Still wouldn't let there mother in, but loved the kids.

Confident person vs Fearful person makes a big difference to the response. Also IMO, I think any dog that attacks a child for coming the yard is unstable. Even guard dogs should know young children are not a threat to them or anyone else. I'm not talking about teenages or mean kids teasing or hurting the dogs, just say a 7-8 yr old boy jumping the fence to get his ball or even ones dumb enough to stick there hand in the fence to pet the "puppy". Or a toddler that wandered off which actually had that happen in my old neighborhood. Our yard shared a fence with a baseball park and they were having t-ball games and the 3 yr old made across the park and into my yard w/o anyone realizing she was gone!

Right now I live across the street from an Elementary school. In the last 8 yrs we've had 2 dogs get out and go to school! One was a big DogoxPit bull mix. Beau was about 85-90lbs, short cropped ears, with looks that could scare anybody, solid white, and was also deaf. I was at work, but my mother got the call that he was at school so she went to get him. The teacher had him out at PE field with all the kindergarden and 1st graders hugging and kissing on him! The dog adored kids. Every day after that, all the kids would beg there parents to stop and let them pet the Beau! We did have an issue with them coming up and sticking hands in the fence. Which the principal helped up stop. If I was home when school let out, I would take him out for them pet, if not, they had to do it another day! Tried to teach the kids not to ever stick there hands in a fence no matter how friendly the dog seemed.

I do think that entire school cried when Beau got adopted! He was a cool dog.

[Wheldcobchoto]

I'm glad I came in this thread. It makes me feel alot better bout my dog. Because in the thread i'd made it was made to sound as if a APBT has absolutely no guard genetics.