Guard Dog Training

Surely you’ve had the experience of knocking on a friend or neighbor’s door only to leap back in surprise as viscous barking assails the other side of the door or fence.  It’s a very intimidating experience and rightly so.  A well-trained guard dog can be a  highly effective theft deterrent and provides a significant amount of security and peace of mind for the dog’s owners. 

Guard dog training isn’t as difficult as many would have you believe, though trained professionals are the best resource for making sure your dog is intelligent and alert in its duty of protecting you and your family and possessions.   If professional training is out of the question, there are some steps and exercises you can look into for yourself that will help you train any breed to be an effective alarm system and burglary deterrent.  

Obviously a guard dog needs to know when it is appropriate to bark and when it isn’t.  This is the most crucial step since excessive barking leads to the dog’s warnings being ignored more often.  The last thing you want to do is spend time training your dog and then ignore him/her when a real threat is announced.  Many people assume a guard dog has to be a mean and vicious beast to be effective in its job.  This is untrue.  Most guard dogs make wonderfully affectionate pets, loyal companions, and friendly family members.  It is only in the presence of strangers, especially those coming near the home or place of guardianship, that the dog will and should turn aggressive.  A healthy relationship between master and dog is important for this balance to be struck. 

Dogs are pack animals.  This is the key to Guard Dog training.  It’s easy to assume that since the family pet can develop such a distinct human-like personality and show such tender affection, it thinks and feels like a human being.  The reality is that dogs do not process things in linear time quite like humans.  They don’t have the same concept of past, present, and future.  This is why many dogs will continue to love abusive master unconditionally.  They don’t hold grudges because they don’t remember them.  Training must take place at the most basic, instinctual level for them to be responsive.  This is why treats are used as rewards.  It’s a basic necessity and motive, something that is always present in their minds.  Food.  Survival. 

You can’t communicate with a dog like you would a person.  In their natural state, dogs determine an Alpha Male by duking it out and then all the other dogs in the pack instinctively fall subservient to the Alpha.  They don’t have hurt feelings over not being the Alpha.  They just need to know that someone is the Alpha.  Someone will lead them and see to it that the pack is fed and safe.  In domestic settings, if the master doesn’t establish his/her Alpha dominance, the dog will do so.  This is where you see dogs ruling their masters.  It’s a pack, just like any other.  And every pack needs an Alpha.

Guard Dog training requires you to introduce the dog to situations similar to those in which you want it to react in a certain way.  If you’re dog is to guard the backyard, for example.  Walk him around the perimeter several times to establish this as his/her personal domain.  The place that it is to protect.  Let it mark this territory with pee.  Feel at home.  Then it will be time to introduce an intruder scenario.

It’s important that a dog trained for guardianship be naturally mistrustful of strangers approaching its guarded area.  Have someone pose as an intruder – make sure this person is notsomeone that will frequently (or ever) visit your house!   Have the “intruder” approach the master, and pull the dog in front of you.  Most dogs will do this instinctively.  If they step in front of you, they are guarding you.  Allow them to do this.  The next step is to show aggression toward the intruder yourself.  Your dog will pick up on this and react with its own brand of aggression, usually growling or barking. 

Gradually increase this protection to the entire yard by having the “intruder” approach from several different directions, always showing him/her aggression and allowing the dog to guard in front of you.