People need dogs for a variety of reasons. Dogs are helpful for anxiety and depression management, and they assist children who have special needs. There are also dogs used for detective purposes and even sophisticated uses like keeping track of a patient’s blood sugar levels.
Then, there are the dogs that provide protection. This variety of dogs usually known as guard dogs are adept at ensuring the safety of their owners or whatever they have been trained to keep from harm. These dogs have a strong connection with their owners and will do everything in their power to provide security for them.
Do You Really Need A Dog for Protection?
Dogs have over the years earned themselves the title of the ‘friend of man’. This is attributed to the various accounts of how dogs have saved the lives of their human owners from all sorts of danger.
Dogs provide varying degrees of protection depending on various factors. These factors include the nature and degree of the danger and protection required as well as the strength, size and nature of the dog.
Therefore, you will find that while almost every dog– from a tiny Chihuahua to a huge Mastiff or Rottweiler– will bark upon the advancement of a stranger, it would take more than just a Chihuahua to put off a determined criminal who has come for the valuables in your house.
Thus, there are different types of dogs for different degrees of protection. Here are some of the various types of dogs and the different levels of protection dog that they can provide:
Sentry Dogs
These are similar to guard or protection dogs but they are conditioned to move around a given area such as the compound and tend to bark at or ward off any strange intruder. These types of dogs are smart and work with minimal instructions from the owners.
Attack dogs
These are work partners for the police and armed forces. They are conditioned to exercise all the qualities of a regular guard or protection dog plus serve as a tool for violent assault.
Watch Dogs and Guard Dogs
While watch dogs merely keep watch over the property and alert the owners in the event of any unusual occurrence or movement, guard dogs are trained to go a step further and be offensive. Attacking or challenging the cause of the unusual movement.
Personal protection Dogs
These dogs bond tightly with the individual or persons who they have been trained to protect. They are guard dogs that have been conditioned to follow and protect a particular person or group of people.
Indeed, many of the popular breeds of dogs can serve as watchdogs or sentry dogs but for advanced functions like attacking, biting and other violent actions, extra training and conditioning would have to be given to the animal.
Also, it is important to monitor the relationship between your protective dogs and your family members especially the children as there are high chances of such dogs hurting your children unintentionally.
How to Choose the Best Dog for Protection
A good guard or protection dog does way more than just alert you of a perceived danger. There are certain characteristics that are typical of great guard dogs and which mark them out of the park as dogs fit to protect people. Here are a few of such vital features:
- Devotion: in order to ensure that your dog will give you and your family the unalloyed protection that you desire, you must train it and be certain of its loyalty and undivided allegiance to you and your family.
- Intelligence: your dog must be smart enough to be able to obey simple instructions easily. Instructions like sit, run, heel are basic tests of intelligence and obedience that your dog must pass before it can serve as a good protection dog. It must be shrewd enough to quickly decipher and differentiate between a common stimuli and a genuine threat of danger.
- Bravery: it takes a dog that is courageous and fearless to challenge and attack a person that is double its size– which is possibly the size of a potential average criminal. For your dog to give you the needed protection even in the face of a dangerous weapon, it must have been trained to be dauntless.
- Territoriality: an ideal protection dog must be very conscious of its surroundings and the usual people that inhabit it so that it can be alert and act the moment a trespasser or intruder comes into the scene.
- Fondness: a great protection dog knows when to boil hot and when to cool down. The fact that it has been trained to be on the offensive upon the detection of a threat of danger does not mean that it should display such offensive or confrontational attitude towards its owner. It must know when to mellow down and lick and cuddle.
What then is the Best Dog for Protection?
Having looked at the basic features which a dog must possess to pass as a protection dog, the question is which of the many guard dogs is the best dog for protection?
The Rottweiler
The ancient history of this dog dates back to its cattle herding and battle duties. It ticks all the boxes in our list of essential features to look out for in a protection dog. What’s more, rotties possess immense physical strength and stamina. They are, however, very much emotionally dependent and require a great deal of exercise and attention.
Other varieties of dogs may come off as great protectors at first impression but the Rottweiler has been proven over the years to be an excellent security provider for its owners. The German Shepherd, Doberman and the Bull Mastiff are some other dogs that have been shown to be great protection dogs too.
Conclusion
It is pertinent to make it clear here that training is very essential towards ensuring that your dog– even if it is a Rottweiler– provides you with the best protection it can give.
About Prestige Protection Dogs
We strive to deliver the highest quality personal protection dogs for sale in the industry. With our protection dog trainers’ knowledge of breeds, obedience training, and protection training, we can provide you with a dog that will make you feel safe and secure in any circumstance.
Spencer Bowman is a well established business owner, breeder, obedience trainer, and protection dog trainer with over twelve years of professional experience. He is the founder and owner of Prestige Protection Dogs, where he specializes in developing elite working dogs and offering a personal protection dog for sale to qualified clients. Spencer is the first American to qualify for the French Ring selectives with a self bred and fully trained dog, Lycan, achieving an average score of 374 out of 400 across five trials. He has also successfully trained and supported multiple teams in Mondio Ring and French Ring disciplines.
