Would your pet make a good guard dog?

Last week I caught this story from the CBS Affiliate in Atlanta.

The report, which the news station even calls a "unintentionally hilarious investigation", takes a look at family dogs an their ability as "guard dogs".

The investigation included enlisting Jeff Schettler from the Georgia K9 Training Center. Schettler wears a dog bite protection suit, and then acts as an intruder going into people's homes while the owners are not present and films the reactions of the dogs. The story also interviews respective dog owners to see how they think their dog will behave.

Schettler enters into the homes of many different types of dogs: a couple of Border Collies, a Brittany Spaniel, a pit bull, a German Shepherd, a Rottwieler and a couple of Lab mixes.

The end result is that most of them are pretty lousy guardians. Most try to befriend the intruder. One dog even gets stolen by Schettler. The 'pit bull' tries to make friends while his lab mix companions bark at Schettler and even does tricks for Schettler to try to win favor. Only the German Shepherd really puts up any resistence, and that is mostly out of fear.

I think the report does a good job of noting that dogs without specific breeding/training to be guard dogs are not much good at it -- and also of noting that most people are best served by not trying to have guard dogs because they are not terribly good at determining friend or foe.

Overall, it's a pretty interesting (and at times funny) report and worth the time to watch.

Comments

[Joel]

I can't even get wild, ill-treated pit bulls stuck in kennels at the shelter to bite me, so this is hardly surprising.

I have two pit mixes at home. I would count on a lot of barking if a burglar were to approach the house, but if the burglar were to enter the home and let my dogs sniff him, my dogs would probably be perfectly friendly.

However, if I were attacked or accosted while walking my dogs, I do believe they would be aggressive with the perpetrator.

[Erika]

I've always taken these kinds of reports with a grain of salt, since I think people underestimate a dog's ability to sense our intentions. Dogs are pretty sensitive to our moods and body language, so I'd imagine the differences between a fake "thief" and the real deal would be enough for a dog to pick up on. One is actually somewhere they are supposed to be, and aware of the dogs' being there. The other is going to be on edge, and that tension is something a dog can sense.

[Lynda Crawford]

I'm sure my dogs would just bark. BUT, if I was being attacked, I know for certain my female Dane would protect me. This is really interesting!

[Roberta Beach]

The crucial component is no family members were home; were I home and sounded distressed, I have no doubt someone would react to help me (just how, I'm not sure). I once had an older Bluetick Coonhound go to the back door when a serviceman knocked; Harry plopped his butt down and howled like a banshee at the man - no way was he coming in but, I was at home. I have a laughable sign saying "premises guarded by Beagle" - all anyone would have to do was wave food at them and they would help them remove any valuables. very entertaining video.

[Brent]

Agreed Roberta. One thing I've always thought is that as long as a dog barks when someone is outside then the burglar would no doubt have second thoughts on entering the home as it would be just as easy to rob someplace else without taking a chance on what the dog might do. Particularly in my case because I'm pretty sure my neighbors have nicer stuff.

[Randy]

Good information. Thanks for posting. I don't think most people realize that a police dog for instance is taking its cues from the handler as to what a threat is. If you watch many K9 videos you can see the dog paying attention to the officer to get those clues. A domestic dog house pet which is used to being around people in most cases is not going to be able to make an independent judgement about what a threat is. And actually you don't want them too least some innocent gets hurt!

[Jen Brighton]

Playing catch-up with my favorite dog blogs after a month in Costa Rica where many dogs run free, unfortunately with all their parts intact. Of note, though, was the friendliness of the dogs and how they all seemed to get along with each other and mostly were indifferent to humans. Also of note is that German shepherds seemed to be prevalent. We spoke with one man who trains dogs for bite/protection work and his experience is the exact gist of this blog--that virtually no dog wants to bite or attack a human and must be taught to do so. He also mentioned that the pit bulls he knew were some of the friendliest. I guess pit bulls know no boundaries when it comes to spreading love, no matter what country they hail from.

In our month in CR, we saw two dogs on leash and about 50 roaming freely on beaches and roads. Of course, their lifespan is not as long due to lack of veterinary care, being hit by cars and some diseases they catch from the tropical climate.