My new place sort of comes with a dog. I live in the In-law quarters, in the rear of the property, and the landlords dog is kept nearby in his doghouse.
The first time I went to check out the place the dog, a huge golden retriever, was extremely excited to meet me. I was barely in the back yard for five seconds before this guy was sitting on my foot, leaning against my leg, wagging his tail furiously and looking up at me, presumably waiting to be petted.
I really like the dog, and joked with people that my new apartment “comes with a free dog” since I live next to the pooch. But it occurred to me that while the dog is friendly, he may not make a good ‘guard dog’ because if he’s friendly around me, wouldn’t he be friendly to any weirdo creeping around?
The area isn’t particularly dangerous or anything, it was just a thought that ran through my head. The only noise the dog would make would be because he’s excited he thinks some burglar is presumably climbing over the fence to play with him.
I know that I have had dogs my whole life, and never had a mean one in the bunch, but I always felt safe enough cuz they would always bark if someone walked up to the door.
If this pup would bark if anyone tried to break in, then that would wake you and be warning. Plus you never know what a dog is going to do if someone starts to rough up someone the dog loves
He might make a good watch dog, which in some circumstances might be preferable ( or not ). That is, sounds an alarm by barking but won’t physically confront an intruder.
Probably wouldn’t make a good guard dog. Many Labs and Goldens ( as opposed to some Chesapeake’s , which are a bit rougher) don’t, for just that reason you noticed. Not terribly territorial and very people friendly, even strange people. There are certainly exceptions, but in general you won’t see those breeds used by professional guard dog trainers.That said, even some very friendly dogs that wouldn’t guard a home, might still defend their master if they are threatened, as that’s a somewhat different proposition.
Friendly dogs still have a pack instinct, though it is less territorial in some breeds, as Tamerlane noted. It’s entirely possible that the dog has accepted you as part of his “pack”, but may not do the same to others. Was the landlord with you when you met the dog for the first time or had the dog seen you with the landlord? Both could have easily led the dog to think that you’re an acceptable person to be on the property.
If you were with the landlord when you first met the dog, then there’s no real way to judge how the dog would react to a complete stranger, not introduced to him by a “pack member.” At the very least, if someone was hurting “his” people, he’d probably have a far different reaction. I haven’t seen any dogs of any breed (including a very protective Chihuahua) take harm to their masters lying down, though I suppose they are out there.
IME dogs have great situational awareness. My dog in particular reacts differently to noises depending on who is home with him. When I’m home with him he rarely ever barks and could care less about the outside world. The only exception being when the cable guy is messing with the cable box right outside the window he barks a couple times. When my girlfriend is home alone with him he is much quicker to give warning barks to random noises. I don’t think he barks at all when home alone. I live in apartments and the neighbors have never complained about it and he never barks when the girlfriend or I come home. When my father went out of town I loaned him to my mother who is physically disabled to make her feel better about being home alone. I showed up unannounced about 9:30 in the morning when she was still in bed. When I opened the front door he leaped out of her bed and came tearing down the hallway hackled up and meaning business. He saw who it was and instantly reverted to the goofy loving dog I’ve always known. It was odd at the time because I had never seen him show aggression or anything but love towards people even strangers. It seems to me that he adjusted his “need” to defend territory depending on the relative capability of those around him and the situation. For example if my mother had been out of bed and mobile I don’t think he would have even barked. I often leave him with her for babysitting and people are in and out of the house all the time with the only reaction being a thorough slobbering. I think he also has some understanding that she is more fragile, he is much more gentle with his interactions with her then the rest of the family.
Yeah the first time I met him I was with the landlord (owner). The second time I came over (to hand over lease paperwork and get the keys to the place) the dog was very excited to meet me again, don’t know if he remembered me but I didn’t have the landlord with me.
He was extremely friendly, constantly trying to sit on my foot so I’d pet him. When I went up the stairs to go in the unit he barged in front of me and sat in front of the door, as though he was showing me around I imitated the terse “GOLIEDOWN” command that I heard the landlord use on him. He started to go back to his doghouse, but then stopped and looked at me. I said it again, and he’d go about 5 feet in that direction, then do it again :smack:
After I was satisfied by my survey of my new home I started to leave, and he was bounding up the steps. Since I didn’t have anywhere to be I played with him for a bit, watching him run frenetically in circles around the back yard, and played tug-of-war with him with his half-destroyed soccer ball. I think he likes me, then again he might be like this around anyone. Though it will be fun company to have when I live there soon (not to mention a good workout by offering the landlord to give his dog a walk every now and then).
I need to track it down but I remember reading a story on how just about every dog was a poor ‘guard’ dog. They had hidden cameras filming homes and such as an ‘intruder’ broke into the house and none (or nearly none) of the dogs did anything more than bark. Most of them greeted the intruder once they got into the house. There was also a segment about dogs protecting owners who were being attacked. Well…NOT protecting their owners.
We had a Saint Bernard who was extraordinarily friendly, as most of that breed are. She would be so happy to see anybody approach the house that she would bark excitedly out the front window. In a deeeeep, loud voice. With her head well above the sill of the picture window, while still standing on all fours. If we opened the door, she got even more insistant that she HAD to go see that person RIGHT NOW! NOW! NOW! Best watch dog in the world. Wouldn’t have hurt a kitten, but with her jaws the size of an alligator’s, nobody would want to take a chance. In reality the most harm she could have done was drown someone in slobber.
My step-father’s dog is a wire fox terrier. Right now we’re selling the house which was owned by my mother, who is deceased. When the house is being shown and no one is home, Casey will get up, bark once at the realtor and prospective buyer, then go to his bed a lie down. When Jim is home, Casey puts up a huge noise if anyone comes on the property. He likes to look like he’s guarding the place when the food-giver is around.
I don’t know what my dogs would do if someone tried to come in the house while I’m not there, but they’re very protective of me. It would be interesting to see, but not really safe, since I have 2 dobies, a standard poodle, a wolfhound mix, an alaskan malamute and an english setter. The setter probably wouldn’t care. The mal is aging and was a boarding stable dog before I got him, so he’s used to people coming and going. The rest of the dogs are the questionable ones.
Totally depends on the dog. My family’s bullboxer, Weeze, looks ferocious at first glance. He also barks like crazy and runs around like a madman whenever anyone comes to the door or sets foot on the property. The moment the door is opened and the dog sees a family member welcome the outside person inside, he stops barking and behaves like your retriever - wildly happy and thrilled to be a part of it all.
My family has a golden and a yellow lab and while they sound scary as hell when they get excited and barky, the only thing they would do to an intruder would be to demand attention. Ferocious, they are not. I like having them there as watchdogs when I’m visiting and am in the house by myself, though. I figure the noise might well scare somebody who didn’t know them who was thinking about breaking in.
The goldens I’ve lived with would be terrible guard dogs. Two barely barked at all. One barked only until the person was about 6 feet inside the house (at which time, the dog assumed that the person must belong there, otherwise how would they be inside.) But unless it’s possible to wag a human to death or the robber gets so distracted by petting the dog, a non-violent thief would not have been an issue with those dogs.
On the other hand, when being walked, they would react if they sensed danger and alert the walker. And we were totally safe from any dangerous squirrels.
My golden would be a terrible guard dog. She luuuurves people. If someone came after her maliciously, she’d probably run away.
However, she does have a mean streak when we’re playing and I let it go too far. She’ll knock me over and try to pull the hood off my hoodie, or try to pull my socks and shoes off forcibly (I sort of taught her this). Generally she won’t clamp down enough to hurt you if she’s play-biting, but if I don’t keep her in check she has been known to clamp down pretty hard on my arm.
I suspect Dolly COULD go postal on an intruder - but he’d have to be wearing a hoodie and be taunting her and smacking her playfully about the mouth. I don’t see that happening…
I have three dogs, a 150lb Newfoundland, a 110lb Shiloh Shepherd and a 50lb Chow mutt. The chow is the one who might actually bite, as she is very protective of her family. Naturally, every one is scared of the big two, whose best weapons are either drowning you in kisses or knocking you over as they try to rub on your body.
All the same, even though I know my dogs are friendly, I think you would have to be an extremely brave criminal to willingly break into a house with a dog that might be bigger than you.
We had a wire haired fox terrier who would go absolutely apeshit to defend any kids in her “pack” or otherwise accepted within her house. She went into an attack posture and snarled at my aunt - who she’d accepted as a welcomed visitor after the initial “barkbarkbarkbarkbark” upon arrival and Mom greeting her - when my aunt had tried to go into my parents’ bedroom to retrieve her own baby. Mom had to tell the dog to lie down, and go get the baby herself to hand her over, which the dog was fine with.
Dunno about when we weren’t home, but we could hear a distinct barking when we pulled into the driveway. She couldn’t see out the back door, maybe she recognized the car sound.
I have a friend who has a pit bull terrier; he says the dog barks his head off at any sounds outside, but if a burglar managed to ignore that and break in, the dog would probably show all the valuables’ hiding places if the guy had treats.
That would be my shelties. They’ll bark their fool heads off if anyone comes close to the house. If they come inside the dogs will roll over and ask for a tummy rub. :rolleyes: Even strangers. I’ve given keys to people the dogs have never met and sure enough: anyone who comes into the house is potential tummy rubber.
Back in my pizza delivery days I met a dog who was the exact opposite of this. Pulling up and seeing a large canine tied up on the porch calls for caution, so I started moving toward the yard nice and slow. Puppy got up and started to wag, so I walked into the yard. She came off the porch and wagged harder, making little excited jumps. I let her get to the end of her rope and have a good sniff (dogs love the smell of commercial kitchen), and then stepped into her arc of movement.
She was very happy to see me, and tried to lick my face. I caught her gently on the way up with a knee and petted her with the hand that didn’t have the pizza in it. It looked like I was well on my way to being her new most bestest friend in the whole wide world. Right until I put a foot on the stairs leading to the door.
She leapt up the steps and snapped out of playful mode and into serious hackles up about to bite you mode.
I froze for a bit, and then slowly took my foot off the step. She sank down to her haunches and started wagging her tail again, nudging me for more pets. I petted her for a while, then moved my foot onto the bottom step. No more friendly puppy, she’s crouched to go and growling like she means it. Foot off step, more pets.
I backed out of the yard and honked the horn until somebody came out to get the pizza.
In that case, at least, the friendly dog made a great guard dog, as she was only friendly up to a very clearly defined point.
3trew, this reminds me of a black Lab my best friend from high school had, although the circumstances are different. If the dog was inside and I came up on the front porch, he would bark like mad at me, even after I had been there many times. As soon as my friend opened the door and let me in, he immediately changed into to friendliest dog in the world.
That’s our Lab, Sammy, too. Any noise out front, he carries on and barks like mad, hair standing on the back of his neck. Sometimes he lets loose an “I mean business” growl. But whoever actually enters–and I mean whoever–he greets with such slobbery, tail-wagging enthusiasm, it’s comical. Doesn’t matter if it’s an old friend or someone he’s never seen before. The change is instantaneous.
I can almost see the cogs turning in his little doggy brain:
[As someone walks up the driveway] To arms! To arm! My God, it sounds like a monster! Everyone alert, EVERYBODY! Aaaaaaaggghhhhh! It’s even worse than I thought! Get ready! Get ready! It is, it’s a monster!
[Stranger walks through the door]Oh! You look nice, I like you. Want to pat me on the head?
I imitated the terse “GOLIEDOWN” command that I heard the landlord use on him. He started to go back to his doghouse, but then stopped and looked at me. I said it again, and he’d go about 5 feet in that direction, then do it again :smack: