would you dog protect you?

just wondering ive always been old APBT aren't good for protection cause they were handled by so many people they needed to be very human friendly. ive heard a lot about game dogs and hunting dogs and stuff like that on here so just wondering how many of you have dogs you think would protect you.

 

good question i asked that a while ago know one answered so i hope someone does now

 

I have a pitbull/boxer mix. When my sisters rotten little weiner comes over-and she is vicious-she gets between me and the dog. The doxie has even bitten her while she has stayed in the way between us.

 

I seriously doubt it. My male has been known to push between in between us when my daughter & I or her friends & I are wrestling but that's as far as it goes. My female is a bit protective of my daughter but as far as ACT on that protecion, I don't really know. Last year someone tried to break into her room & Justice stood over her throwing a fit. If someone woudl have come in that window I am not sure what she would have done.

 

okay i give....yes .. two would and two would go with the person trying to get me (Not really, but close) they love everybody... now if someone was actively a very loud scary deal .. i got one that would run in the opposite direction... thats ok .....shes my Special child... i can handle it... the other three would take a stand for me.. prophecy is extremely selective on whom she even pretends to be aggressive with....she loves everbody.. except the nut out back that throws things at her.. oh well,, cant win everyone over.. pagan and redeemer would stand thier ground with anyone coming toward me..without aggression until i am attacked.. thats all i got three out of four would do it for me the other one .. God love her .. is not yet at that stage

 

I don think a lot fo dogs would protect, people who think thier dog wwill protect because they see it bark or growl at a stranger are seriously mistaken. Dogs that will protect are usually the ones that dont react like that, those dogsa re bluffing and are actually displaying fear. if the stranger were to push the situation the dog would likely continue to bark and growl as it tucked its tail and ran off. If you want your dog to protect you you should take the time to have your dog trained in that way. Some say its irresponsible to train certain dogs because it makes them aggressive, thats crap its much more irresponsible to have an untrained dog that you are putting in that position. There are two outcomes the dog either fails miserable which can cost you your life and possessions or the dog does the job but you cant control it and then you lose the dog because it is vicious and you get sued by the strangers family and lose your possessions. The best thing to do is to find you a breed and line of dogs that work protection and have proven thier worth because that dogs offspring are going to more likely carry the temperement for the job. as opposed to grabbing a good looking dog and hoping it works.

Would me dog protect me... Yes he will. I know this for a fact because I have taken him to shutzhund clubs and he has been tested by decoys. He did very well and the decoy raved about him. This is somethign we will continue to do as he enjoyed it and seems to have a knack for it.

 

It is very true these dogs are not a protection breed. Tharefore thay do not have the natural terratorial protection instincts that a protection breed would have. However our breed develops a strong bond with its human family and will protect if harm is being done to a member of its human "pack''.

 

Mine has, in the past, while I was stopped at a light in Boston, (Roxbury, actually), not a city that's deemed as "safe" btw, , and I was appraoached by two guys. Not sure of their intentions, but I felt REALLY uneasy as they were walking towards my car. Perhaps she could sense this. They didn't see my dog at first, but as they got a lil closer, I rolled down the window, just a bit more, so her muzzle could fit through, and when they were about a foot or so away from my car, my dog went absolutly ape shit!!!! Seriously! They were so startled, that one actually dropped "something", as I heard a "clang" on the ground, and they took off running!!!! (after they reeled off a few obscenities)...

So, was it car/territorial aggression? Not sure, and don't care. But I felt "protected, at that point.

 

I don't think any of my bulldogs would protect me. :rolleyes:

Bark maybe, snarl if I'm lucky. But actually protect? I doubt it. I only have 1 bulldog who I think might bite a human & the only reason he is that way is b/c he was teased.

 

now i have seen pits do very well in many protection classes do you guys not recommend this i know the dogs have to be evaluated first but whats your thoughts

 

I am for it (obviously).
But you have to be ready for people that dont understand the training and thier opinions on it. Some will tell you that it makes your dog aggressive, or teaches to them to bite people or wahtever and thats not quite right.
I think that the APBTs natural bite inhibition and utter trust of strangersactually makes them a better prospect for protection. a lot of the breeds out ther are either aggressive as hell or indifferent to people, this makes it a lot easier for them to get sleeve happy and bite decoys that are not threats or behaving suspiciously/ aggressively. Thats bad. The APBT is a pepl ebreed and seems to ahve a knack for reading people and that in combination with proper training... I think it works out great.


What proper training does do is this:
safely puts the dog into a situation that allows them to bite if they are willing to do so. This lets you see first hand what will happen without your life or posession sbeing in the balance. You can them engage in confidence building and drive building activities to build the weak points and have a more even tempered companion. You will see a marked degree of confidence in your dog because the training makes them more comfortable with people. Two mandatory phases for protection before you can even look at a sleeve: Socialization and Obedience. SO you want complete control of your dog and you want your dog to be comfortable with all kinds of people.
Training them is not to make them aggressive to neutral strangers. This is to assist your dog with identifying aggressive or hostile people. Neutral strangers are not threats and your dog will be taught that as well. Biting a decoy that is not aggressive results in a correction. So you dont have to worry about your dog turning into some kind of monster quite the opposite because your dog is used to the situation and beinf confronted by strangers, it will be even less likely to bite without provocation. and when the bite is needed they are under crontrol so getting them to release is going to be much easier as well.

I think any dog that is supposed to be a "guard dog" needs training. depending on what you need from your dog: just deterrant, or full blown manstopper. Being able to make your dog bark on command is a easy trick to get done and can save you the need for confrontation... training is the key no matter what breed you are working with.

 

GOOD POST THANKS FOR THAT

 

hard question to answer. it would depend on the actual individual dog and maaaybe hows it bred assuming its purebred APBT. some lines are knwon to be leary of people from waht ive read/heard. as for APBT in SCH its not technically a good match. the way theya re taught are so different from actual gaurdian breeds (defense drive vs play drive) that the sport takes a different meaning to bulldogs. when taught correctly a stable bulldog should only see it as play. SOme of the people ive talked to who are heavily involed in SCH or have been ( 23+years of experience) aregue whether or not a bulldog should be taught to do hold sends w.e. off the field since they are taught differnetly. like if they do good int he suit are taught w.e. should they do it in a real life situation since they are taught its a game with the suit only- whihc im told is the only crrect way to teach a bulldog. that they only do this work on the suit and tht suit/arm only. but thena gain the people ive talked to are GSD people lol also SCH and PP is different in case some of newbies thought it was the same thing. im guessing to find out if your dog would protect u is do the GSD TT it mgiht vie you an uidea but youll never know for sure unles u were really in tht situation i guess.

 

IMO, no one can accurately give an answer to this question unless they have been in a harmful/threatening situation & there dog DID protect them. Many dogs exhibit protective behaviors--hackles raised, growling, barking--but when the time comes & they acutally have someone beating them, kicking them, possibly stabbing them all to get to you, they will cur out/turn tail and run. And don't say your dog won't, because unless your dog has been tested, you don't know for sure.

To be honest, I doubt very many of my dogs will protect me. I do know of one definite & that is Wrigley, & he has taken a beating & stayed in between me & the shithead psycho guy without ever giving an inch. I also own a Sch trained Rottweiler & a Dogo Argentino & although both show strong guarding/protective tendencies at times, I don't have a clue what would happen if they were pushed to their limit. As for the APBTs, again, I have no clue. Offhand, I would say they wouldn't do much, but again, who knows?

 

Buddy who died last year would have liked to kill anyone coming near our house. We adopted him and he had been repossed by the rescue league. They found him tied to a tree in Feb in the pouring rain w/out any food or shelter. So they unhooked him and took him. They brought him to Petsmart the next day, he was so sick they didn't want to leave him alone. He was covered in ulcers and you could count all his bones. He was only 4 1/2 month old. We had adopted Phoebe the previous fall and we came in with her to visit that day and we brought him home. He was wonderful and friendly to everyone until about 1 1/2 years old and then we were at Petsmart to get a booster shot, he was lying at my feet asleep. A man kept coming by and staring at him. When he was staring at Buddy Buddy would open his eyes and stare back. All of a sudden he jumped at the guy. Good thing I never relax when out with a dog. He was muzzled after that when out. He always was a relentless watch dog. About five years ago I was cooking dinner, the stove fan was on. My granddaughter was at the table doing her homework. A woman entered our yard even though we have a beware of dog sign on the gate. She started to talk to me through the kitchen window. She insisted someone lived at my house that didn't. My granddaughter unable to hear us talking because of the fan let the dogs out when they started whining. I screamed NO!!!!!!! But it was to late. I ran out the door after them. Buddy had grabbed her around the hips and was shaking her like a rag. She maybe weighed 100 # soaking wet. She was hanging on to the deck rail to keep from going down. Phoebe was getting ready to grab on when I yelling Buddy Stop. Much to my surprise he dropped her. I told Buddy and Phoebe to get in the house and a miracle they did. Well as you can imagine I invisioned everything I owned flying out the door.The woman was wearing a 3/4 length leather coat and jeans. I told her to let me see where Buddy grabbed her. I was amazed he had not broken the skin but she had a bruise the size of a man's hand on the front and back of her hip area. Thank heaven for thick leather coats. I think the woman was a little nuts, she didn't want to see shot records, didn't want to go to the hospital and just left never to be seen again. I waited months to be sued by her.

 

my dog is VERY protective of me...to the point that i cant play with people or she'll get mad....but shes also VERY people friendly, if someone walks up she will greet them like a long lost friend

 

I have one that I know would and one that I speculate would. My Shar-pei however will and that I know. My hound dog, hmm probably wouldn't she would play dead. lol My little South Texas Cur. Well she is hell on fire she may. As for the rest of my APBT I doubt it. I don't want to test it though. Gretchen has once while she was sleeping in the back seat of my Marques and I was asleep in the front. Some one tryed to reach into the window above her and she nailed him and pulled him into the back seat and I had to pull him back out and lock her in to beat him with my pistol then base ball bat to make sure he couldn't run or mess with any one else for a very long time. I don't know if it was a startle thing or she was being protective and I don't care. He should be lucky we were at a rest stop and trucks where there. I so badly wanted to put some lead in his head. So I say Gretchen would. Count probably would. The rest would just be like shoot him again dad.

 

I think it is the condition that you may seem to be in that motivates the dog. I have two stories about the same dog. In one story there was a lot of barking but the bozo that thought to attack me decided that he'd bitten off a little more than he could chew. I figured that the dog figured that I was doing just fine. Never bit or approached him close enough to bite. The last time that he had barked so much was when he forced some multiple bank robber that was also charged with heroin and cocaine possession and sales from the house. No biting but stridently barking. No growls!

The second story is some bonehead by-law enforcement officer in smalltown BC deciding that he can just walk in the second storey open front door unannounced who, in mere seconds, was forced out the doorway onto the porch where he proceeded to ignore the dog by trying to push him down while he, the idiot, moved towards me. He hit, may have come close to hitting or whatever... his arm was pushing and punching the dog away. Many motions. I heard the growl... Screamed louder "NO-O-O-O!" but by the time the word was starting to finish the action had happened. There was a definite chomp but I think he had second thoughts and didn't go into savaging with a slew of bites. It was like I was about to be in the hands a malevolent Barney Fife who has you set for the 6 am hanging with you both knowing that Andy is not coming into the office until six pm. The rest is history in progress. The guy was the enforcement dude in the department. He had caused many people grief. He definitely caused me grief. This is based on newspaper accounts and stories of some of the people that he had put in contravention of the by-laws. We had to be rescued. On the same token I wasn't scrapping it out with the dude but... who knows? I guess if he was looking for some bare-breasted, sunning beauty to ogle then he must have been surprised. The papers that the region gave him said that a woman owned the property. I don't know? He wanted a fellow by-law officer from the animal control division of the region come to take my dog away to the pound where they later told people that they wanted to test it for rabies. I'm not going to trust my dog to that. At least, not until I am able to set up a proper defense against this kangaroo justice. Justice ain't cheap. I'm still of the opinion that he impaled himself on one of the dog's canines.

Yah! It depends. You can never tell for sure what the dog'll do? They are great watchdogs. And they just might come to your defense?

Magyar - What a chuckle. Awesome.

 

Do you have to have a game dog to qualify to answer? Loki passed her TT on the 18th of this month, and it was her first experience with an agitator. She moved in front of me and looked at the guy like he was nuts, or maybe playing a strange game. I don't know what she would do if really pressed -- I hope I never find out -- but that was a better answer than hiding behind mom.

 

My female would run up to the attacker with her kong in her mouth, barking her ass off for him to hurry up - finish the assault and THROW THE BALL!!!!!!!

My male in my signiture saved my husbands life one late evening in his store. It was like Deisel said, no growling or warning to the attacker - very deliberate with a lot of conviction. Buddy slept under the counter where my husband dealt with customers. One night late, a man came in, seemed to be very "stoked up", looked at merchandice for awhile, which the police say he was making sure no one else was in the store, then rushed my husband behind the counter with a knife. He never knew Buddy was behind the counter, the dog jumped from the under the counter and grabbed the extended arm, knocking the attacker to the floor - a few shakes and then he released and started a very aggressive barking. The knife was knocked out of the mans hand, he backed quickly away from the dog and ran. The police caught him later..and part of the identification was the bite wound on his arm. The criminal tried to file a complaint about the dog attacking him....go figure. So yes, I think he will defend....which not being trained for it is something I keep my eye on very closely, a little too much guardian for a well bred APBT, at least to me.