Pet Haven

There is a difference between guard dogs and dogs that guard your home. Many home owners require an early warning system to alert them to the danger of an intruder, and at the same time many intruders are deterred by a bark. For this purpose, most dogs understand the limits territory and know who should not be on it, they will bark to protect it.

A dog bred to guard is a different proposition and brings with it separate problems and despite being a guard dog it does need to be socialized. Having a guard dog means investing a lot of time in the correct training for the dog.  Do not consider buying a guard dog to merely defend your property, even guard dogs need interaction with people and need to learn how to behave amongst people not making a claim on their territory.

Dogs are pack animals and whatever their size they need to know who is boss, they need to be dominated, without this they will innately attempt to do it themselves. This trait is genetic and has been bred into to most dog breeds for hundreds of years. Male dogs have the urge to be the “big man” more than females and if the owner does not assume the role the dog will and that often means that the commands of the owner go ignored.

Many modern guard dog breeds initially guarded cattle, sheep or flocks of birds. Their herding instinct is strong and they do not differentiate between children or other pets, they are all there to be herded into position. This can cause friction between young children and the dogs. Guard dogs have been bred to be aggressive and those traits cannot be switched off on demand but you can control them.

If you are not prepared to invest the time into the correct training for the dog and later create a stable home with the dog then an alarm system will cause less grief  in the long term.

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