watch Dog??

Hello all. I have pondered This question for some time now.
I have heard that Pit-Bulls are NOT good watch dogs.
Then on the other hand, I hear that they ARE.
Im not going to get into the many different reasons
I have heard, regarding these different claims.
But I just wanted an opinion on this topic. So,... are they
suitable watch dogs, or not?

 

I think they are good protectors, very loyal. To have as a watch dog, no.

 

If you were going to rob a house, and saw/heard a pitbull barking at you would you walk in? My pits bark when they see people, molt people dont like coming in unless there close with my dogs.

 

pure bred APBT DO-NOT make good watch dogs (if you mean Guard dogs.) They might drown someone in slobber. Face it, they just are not bred for human agression. Actually, human agressive dogs are culled on my yard. Naturally any canine will be protective over his/her family. 9.99% of the time agressive APBT's have a cross to them (a mutt) and the other 0.01% of them deserve to have a great big hole dug for them (dirt nap.)
In my opinion, I would'nt have any canine under 150#s guarding my place. But, truthfully- a Rugger, Taurus, Smith and Wesson or maybe even a Glock are a much better selection and all they eat is lead.

 

watch dog yes guard dog no

 

Short answer no. Long answer, once in a blue moon. BUT, this can be a complex question. There are other breeds that are MUCH better suited for guard work than a Pitbull. Molassers, and sheparding dogs. Although there are Pitbulls that are leery of strangers, its thought to be a defect in the breed (weak nerves).

But there is more. Are you aware of BSL? Thats breed specific legislation. Right now there is an effort to legislate the breed out of existance. Some of this comes from people with no training and no real understanding of dog behavior trying to make their Pitbulls "mean" or turn them into guard dogs. Training a honest to goodness guard dog is time consuming and expensive if done right. Look at the price on a fully grown, fully trained guard dog. They can run upwards of $20,000. The reason is its hard to find a dog, even from guardian breeds that will stand up to pressure from real deal bad guys. And it takes lots of training to get a dog that can stand up to pressure but dosen't just want to bite everyone it sees.


What this has to do with Pitbulls is this. Back to our unexperenced novice who wants a "bad ass dog". He "trains" his Pitbull to be a "guard dog". And ends up with an animal that WON'T stand up when a REAL threat arises, but WILL be a danger to the innocent. Why? From the dogs point of view its a lot easier to go after a little kid whos running around than to deal with a real threat. And dogs with bad nerves are the easiest to turn into a "feal biter". The sort of fool who trys to make his Pitbull "mean" will get frustrated with a correct dog and end up dumping or killing it. IF he can get ahold of a dog with bad nerves he can turn that dog into a fear biter. He then brags about his "guard dog" Pitbull.

And yes, there are exceptions. But real, stable, guarding Pitbulls are few and far between. And are far outnumbered by poorbred, and even more poorly trained time bombs.

That is why this is such a touchy subject with a lot of Pitbull people.

 

I think if anyone tried tried to break in our house, my two pits would bark and growl, just to warn us the intruders were there. Any time someone new comes over though, they are all friendly, trying to play ball with them and give the new strangers kisses, so i serioulsy doubt they would make good watch dogs, but to some they might be a detterent.

 

most dogs bark at strangers and ppl that they consider intruders,,guard dogs,,and protection dogs are trained for this.

 

My two cents:

The APBT (hereforth "Bulldog") has been bred for decades (if not centuries) to be calm (passive) towards humans. It was a conscience decision to make them docile and cull those that showed an unacceptable level of aggression towards humans. If the reason for this is not clear, study the original purpose of the bulldog.

Now, if you decided to go against the breeding of these animals and taught it to be aggressive towards humans, you will not get the same results as if you would have trained a dog of a breed with acceptable human-aggression traits. Remember that it is not enough for a dog to be human aggressive, it takes training to teach it to focus that aggression correctly. That's the trick. Sure, any dog can be trained to be aggressive but not very many can be trained to correctly focus that aggression.

In conclusion, why use a less apt animal to do what other breeds could do much better? It is like attempting to use our dogs in "greyhound" races. Sure, you may find some that would do "well" but most would be pathetic in this sport.

 

in a dog that is protection trained or a guard dog,,the intent is not to make a dog hate ppl or bite everyone that comes in contact with him,,to the dog its just like a sit command or lay down command,,u give him a command and he barks,,another command and he bites,,a dog that bites ppl without training,, bites out of fear and protection for themselves,,and because nobody kicked his butt when he needed a butt kicking. I do agree that there are other suitable breeds for guard work and protection work,,although I have seen some mighty fine APBTs do this job with ease.

 

My APBT would willingly allow somebody in the house and show them where I keep the best T.V. However, God help the thief if he brought his dog to help him carry my T.V. out. LOL

 

In most cases by far to human friendly.....better try a Rotti or another guard dog.....But Bulldogs do the right thing in R E A L Danger Situations.....they are by far the most inteligent dogs...(from my point of view)...

 

I have had two grown dogs stolen off the chain and one from inside the house. They make terrible guard dogs.

 

IMO - Most Pit Bulls will -- in extreme circumstances -- protect their people. But they could care less about their people's property. ETA: Many of them don't care much about protecting themselves either.

 

I think most pits make horrible guard dogs,they generally love people so they would attack that person then lick him/her all over n even go home with that person.

 

L O L good point...

 

Edited for content Marty

So, how much is PETA paying you?

 

after reading the dictionary defination of a watch dog, i am going to have to change my answer to no, an apbt does not make a good "watchdog" he will however watch as all your belongings are being carried away

 

The majority of pit bulls do not make good natural guard dogs. Depending on the dog, some will bark at intruders, which is enough to fend off most intruders. But you can take any dog and make it agressive to people. But a properly trained protectiond dog takes ALOT of training and control. It is easy to make a dog bite a person, whether with prey drive or defense drive. But dogs like to bite, just like they like to tug. And to get a highly motivated dog to let go of its 'toy' takes a level of control over the dog most people are not capable of reaching with their dogs. One great trainer, when asked by someone to do protection work with their dog, said "If you can make your dog sit, I will do protection training with your dog". Well of course my dog can sit. "I mean as you are walking out the door, you say sit once, and with no hesitation the dog sits in th emiddle of the doorway. You're dog is chasing a squirrel, as he is running you say sit once, without hesititation the dog sits. Dog is eating its dinner, you say sit once, without hesitation the dog sits and stops eating its dinner". Most people say its impossible, but a highly trained protection dog attacking somebody requires more control than that to stop it.