I am quite confused, reading various articles and training tips, with different viewpoints.
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A guard dog MUST be handled by a firm, confident leader. The trainer MUST be the leader. It is imperative that the dog obey a command without failure immediately after it is given. Uncontrolled aggression will land your dog on the evening news after it mauls the census guy that had the audacity to knock on your door.
Anybody who thinks a guard dog should be left to his own devices and to "do his thing" knows absolutely nothing about canine psychology, aggression, and social hierarchy. Those people not only have no business spouting training tips, they have no business owning a dog.
[Add] Julie is right, a guard dog needs a certain temperament and an inexperienced handler likely cannot easily pick out good or bad temperaments for this kind of work. Get professional help selecting and training a guard dog.
The trainer is the leader, or else the dog would not listen to you!
The trainer and the owner should be top/alpha.. the guard dog should know his job and limitations and execute that job with or without the owner/trainer present..
I am quite interested to know under what circumstances ANYONE could write that the dog should be allowed to become alpha.
I find that one of the most ridiculous thoughts I’ve ever heard of – maybe me – but I cannot see any possible logic in that at all.
In fact I find that thinking extremely worrying.
Add on — I would also like to back Julie & Jasmer – quote.
.
" Julie is right, a guard dog needs a certain temperament and an inexperienced handler likely cannot easily pick out good or bad temperaments for this kind of work. Get professional help selecting and training a guard dog"
A great deal of assessment should go into any dog who you want to work with. AND …. the work has to be taken on by a professional and not a DIY job.
The handler is always going to be the Alpha, otherwise you would be in danger. If you are having problems with your dog in showing who is the Alpha, please research your breed so you don’t get hurt and your dog doesn’t walk all over you. Some breeds are more stubborn than others and you need the knowledge to understand how to approach these situations.
Here is a good starting point in learning about the Alpha in the household. Please read it.http://www.canismajor.com/dog/alpha1.html
The dog is working for the owner/handler and not for himself. Granted the dog should not follow everyone just his owner/handler. Aggressive dogs don’t make the best guard dogs either. A lot of aggression is fear based. Fearful dogs have a tendency to break down when you need them most. The best protection dogs are those with a bold outgoing temperament.
The owner/trainer must be top dog, but an inexperienced dog trainer should never attempt to train a dog as a guard dog. For safety sake, a guard dog should be trained by a professional who can evaluate the dog at the beginning and see if he is a good candidate for guard dog.
did you know in a wild pack the "watch" that alerts all to the presence of danger is usually a LOW status animal.
all dogs should be followers to their humans