Pets Guard Dog Advice

[The Dice Man]

Im in an unusual situation and looking for help or advice on what breed suits my needs. I live on a 5 hectare property that did have 2 guard dogs, a brother and sister Belgian Shepard.The male died late last year, and his sister is 12 and not doing much these days, trying to stay cool or trying to stay warm.

For 9 months of the year my wife and I live alone with our almost 2 year old Beagle, but for 3 months of the year the boss, his family and his friends come and it can get very busy with a lot of different people visiting. Throughout the year there are also gardeners, contractors, deliveries, staff ect so a big mix of people.

Now the problems when choosing 2 new guard dogs arise with firstly, our Beagle. He gets to run around the property when they're not here as much as he likes. The breeds we(us and the owner) are considering are Cane Corso, a mighty and intimidating looking dog, and South African Rhodesian Ridgebacks. These will need to be well trained, and money is no problem... We can get the best trainers ect. But we still need to do a lot of work too obviously.

Our 2nd problem is that the owners when they come in summer, bring their 2 noisy, snappy cockapoos, so now we have 3 'groups'. Leo our Beagle is always here, the guard dogs would always be here too. We do have a large 70 sq metre dog 'pen' where the guard dogs would be locked in while the owners are awake, when they go to sleep the dogs are let out.

My concern is how well could we trust these guard dogs, over the next 10 years, to never hurt anyone or thing they aren't meant too? I understand alot comes down to training and control, but if anything happened to any friend of the family, their dogs or our dog it would be a disaster(and id be flying back to Oz ASAP).

Are there better breeds that would be better suited to our unique situation?

 

[Tasmaniac]

I'm not an expert but you will want an intelligent dog, not a tough dog, I think those Cane Corso's count as the second type. Many breeds people will recommend will come in the second category.

Intelligent dogs will take the training better (and what you really want from the above is a highly trained, reliable dog). Talked to an older friend who was in the Aus Airforce many years ago, he mentioned German Shepherds were superior to Dobermans or Rotty's because they are smarter.

I know some US special forces (Afghanistan), and now Aus Air force use Belgian Shepherds. Intelligent, with very high power to weight ratio (higher than German Shepherds, have a long physical prime too). As a general rule of thumb, if organisations which are supposed to have top notch dogs are using only a small number of breeds, then those are the breeds you should be looking at too.

There have to be security advisers who would know this, and if money is no problem, spread some around to get well informed. I'd say stick with the Belgian Shepherds unless a professional recommends another breed.

If you're trying to acquire 2 dogs as living weapons to be kept in a secure cage and let out to maul anything which moves at night, then maybe you should go in another direction. The second type should never be trusted with any living thing.

 

[juss]

Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Dobermans are all naturally protective of their areas and owners. A lot of the times the lock of seeing two fully grown Rotties will scare off anyone before they even come in. Belgian Malanois are also good choices.

Here's the thing, if you train your dogs that violence and aggression are not acceptable, they will be perfectly friendly family pets. If you don't train that out of them, they could potentially attack unknown people. This can also happen if you don't have full control of your dog.

If you aren't a confident trainer, and not an experienced dog handlers, I very much doubt you are going to be able to train and control two fully grown Ridgebacks.
I'm not sure what type of dogs Cane Corsos are.

If you don't have full control over your pack as the alpha (that's the mentality of a dog, they need to be below everyone in their pack to control them), and they feel threatened, they can get aggressive and protective, the dog then gets put down, and that is YOUR fault, not the dogs.

Please only do this if you are able to this properly, for other peoples and your dogs sake.

 

[Taylor]

I've seen good results out of Rotty/great Dane crosses and Rott/Shepard crosses for a bit more fluff.

Both look like crawling bears but are professional couch warmers

 

[The Dice Man]

I'm not an expert but you will want an intelligent dog, not a tough dog, I think those Cane Corso's count as the second type. Many breeds people will recommend will come in the second category.

Intelligent dogs will take the training better (and what you really want from the above is a highly trained, reliable dog). Talked to an older friend who was in the Aus Airforce many years ago, he mentioned German Shepherds were superior to Dobermans or Rotty's because they are smarter.

I know some US special forces (Afghanistan), and now Aus Air force use Belgian Shepherds. Intelligent, with very high power to weight ratio (higher than German Shepherds, have a long physical prime too). As a general rule of thumb, if organisations which are supposed to have top notch dogs are using only a small number of breeds, then those are the breeds you should be looking at too.

There have to be security advisers who would know this, and if money is no problem, spread some around to get well informed. I'd say stick with the Belgian Shepherds unless a professional recommends another breed.

If you're trying to acquire 2 dogs as living weapons to be kept in a secure cage and let out to maul anything which moves at night, then maybe you should go in another direction. The second type should never be trusted with any living thing.

Thank you and some good advice in there. Regarding the Belgium Shepards(or Malinoise), we only started living and working here 18 months ago and these dogs had spent their entire life here. The male who died last year at age 11, was impossible to mix with any other dog and tried to attack our beagle pup on first sight. So for 10 months they were all kept seperate(we also built a fence attached to our house for our beagle to have a secure outdoor area). Once he died we tried mixing the female with our dog and no problems at all, she is a very gentle loving dog who craves human attention. Her brother was a real alpha who could not be trusted with other animals. These 2 were never ever socialised with other dogs at a young age as the boss only got his cockapoos 3 years ago.

Regarding the bold, no we dont want dogs like that at all, and that is what's turned me away from the Cane Corse or Ridgeback, I fear I could never trust them. I think your advice is excellent... Stick with the malanoise, just ensure they are socialised at a young age.

 

[Tasmaniac]

Yep socialise them from early on.

Plenty of people in suburbia have defensive/aggressive dogs because they've spent most of their life behind high fences and don't socialise with people/dogs outside their own family.

 

[freebloke]

I have had german shepherd and dobermann for some time (edit: when I was a kid/teenager), and can recommend german shepherd as a very intelligent breed and friendly with people/dogs they live with. They are practically dolphins when it comes to intelligence (although obviously more aggressive than a dolphin).

Interested to see the belgian shepherd mentioned... maybe have 1 of each?

 

[The Dice Man]

I have had german shepherd and dobermann for some time, and can recommend german shepherd as a very intelligent breed and friendly with people/dogs they live with. They are practically dolphins when it comes to intelligence (although obviously more aggressive than a dolphin).

Interested to see the belgian shepherd mentioned... maybe have 1 of each?

Belgian shepherds are said to be very similar to the German but a bit more intelligent and less prone to health problems such as hips and back, so I've read.

 

[jungle666]

I,M A RED HEELER MAN MY SELF LOYAL AND BULLET PROOF ON SAYING THAT MY PARTNER HAS A MEREMMA TOTALLY NO FUSS DOG PS, NO NEED TO LOCK YOURE HOUSE WITH EITHER BREED ON DUTY !

 

[Taylor]

Your home must be intense.

 

[jungle666]

Your home must be intense.

THE BEST PART ABOUT THESE BREEDS IS YOU HARDLY KNOW THEYER THERE UNTILL A VICTIM TURNS UP !!

 

[rocker_oz33]

German Sheppards can be dominate others doggies so can Rottweiler's most people who have these breeds normally have 2 of the same.
Both made great guard dogs,but also depends on how they're brought up.

I have Labs they alright guard doggies someone tried to get in the window one night the GF was home alone they went crazy and woofed the campaigner away.