Defensive Carry banner

Mans Best Friend, Best Defense...

10K views 75 replies 54 participants last post by  TN_Mike 
#1 ·
I never thought about it until I started checking out this site. Whenever there is a noise outside, or the doorbell rings, my Australian Cattle Dog goes ballistic. I often then yell at her "Shut up!" or "Quit barking!'

Well no more. Thats her job and I have been trying to deter it, shame on me.

So tonight I will be working drills with my dog, good girl when she aleerts me of something, and then teach her to relax when I control the situation.

I know its been discussed a million times, but a dog is a great set of ears and a great alarm system. Don't take it for granted like I have been.
 
#2 ·
Dogs. 'Gotta love 'em.

Mine didn't take much training at all. He barks when someone gets close to our fence, and then shuts up when they walk away. He barks when he hears the doorbell, about two or three hearty rounds of "woof woof" and then shuts up. He never barks over stupid stuff, just unsolicited visitors.
 
#4 ·
When mine gives a legitimate "alert" balistic style, I give her an "atta girl", a pat on the head & a treat ... :)
 
#6 ·
Glad to hear it!

One thing I do every night is walk my dogs around the 1ac perimeter of my property that is immediately adjacent to my house. (I live on 5+ acres. But, I'm too lazy to walk the entire perimeter.) :smile:

I also take time to encourage my dog to "search" certain areas where it may be possible for a animal (two legs or four) to hide. (A cane or walking stick makes an excellent tool for this!)

By "tapping" the cane or stick around the area you wish your dog to search, it encourages the desired behavior. Be sure to offer up lots of praise and/or a favorite toy when she does a good job!

If your dog gets to excited and gets "sidetracked", bring her back to a "heel", calm her down with a "settle", then start over.

-
 
#7 ·
I have a Golden Retriever named Ruby, she loves everybody. She would alert on a BG and wait for a treat. Well, at least she lets me know if something or someone is coming, so I can have a treat ready if one is needed.
 
#8 ·
We adopted a chow/collie mix last November, after years of the kids wearing Mom down to get a pet, and she's by far the best addition we've made to our home security/defense situation.

I explained to the dog up front that her sole job, aside from family pet, was to let us know when anybody or anything approaches. Obviously I knew I was just talking to a dog, but I swear that within 24 hours she was performing her duties to perfection!

Nobody comes close to the house without us knowing well in advance, and of course she gets praise and a treat whenever she alerts us. Best home security move we've made BY FAR! She's awesome, and I'll never be "without" a dog for long ever again.
 
#13 ·
I'm sorry to hear that Chevy. I lost the BEST dog I've ever known to cancer a little over 15yrs ago. I still miss him a lot!

I've been adopting/rescuing APBTs for about 20yrs now. I currently have the last two I'll probably ever own. I lost two dogs last year and my male is getting older and doesn't move that well anymore. So I adopted another female last year; and after I lose my male I'll most likely seek out a more "publicly" accepted breed to replace him.

IMHO; The APBTs absolutely the BEST animals you can own. But, it's just getting too difficult to go anywhere with them. After they're gone I'll probably consider a breed such as a "Lab" or GSD.

-
 
#10 ·
My red doberman (100lbs+) and Rottie mix (he's really a mutt) are the best home security. Even though I lock up my guns when I leave, I feel fairly secure leaving my home that anyone scoping out easy targets to burglarize are going to see my two dogs barking their heads off and think, "hmm, I wonder if the neighbors have a dog, lets move on."
 
#11 ·
I have two cow dogs as I've mentioned a couple times one a blue heeler that is very territorial of my house and myself and an australian kelpie that is alert to everything and only barks if something is wrong he has yet to be wrong. Just the other day someone dropped off a pitbull mix type dog that is trying to join teh family he is young enough to still be able to train how I see fit but we shall see he hasn't been tested yet.

Dogs are great alarms if nothing else.
 
#12 ·
My three put up quite a fuss, too. If they are on the front deck while I'm mowing the lawn and UPS comes by, he leaves my package at the end of the driveway. He's seen them up close and at full alert when he's come to the back door :smile: I'm pretty sure any unwanted visitors that come by when I'm away don't hang around very long.
 

Attachments

#17 ·
yep, I have an australian shepard who is a good barker.
If he starts barking outside I will generally go investigate it. If it is just the neighbor coming home, then I will tell him that its ok and to relax. If he doesnt then stop barking, I will command him to stop, etc. Whenever he barks because someone is coming up the driveway, I reward him.
It's awalys nice to know when something is going on outside. I love my dog.
 
#18 ·
We've got three dogs; a Shih-Tzu, a Lab and a Golden. Small, medium and large. I figure that way, they have Mr. BG covered from head to toe.

What intrigues me the most about all of them is watching them very closely as they go through their alert levels.

For example, my daughter works very odd hours that change on a regular basis and is often coming home in the wee hours. All three dogs immediately go into the low growl mode as soon as she opens the outer door. They listen and wait for the key (as do I) to enter the locks. Once they hear that, they all relax a bit, but still wait for her familiar sounds (again, as do I) before they completely relax and the tails start wagging. Once in a while, she forgets her house key. If they (and I) don't hear that key hit the lock within a few seconds after the outer door is open, they're in full alert (as am I) and losing their doggy minds, scratching and clawing at the bedroom door.

I trust them implicitly. I don't know how I would ever live without them.
 
#19 ·
Druff.......
Now you've got it right.........when the alarm sounds, there's always a reason, day or night.
One of our German Shepards shtopped our car from being stolen at 4:00AM one morning. She heard something outside and not only barked but hit our front door hard enough to scare the car thief away......went outside with her to find the passenger dor lock almost punched.
They are honestly "Man's Best Friend".....Love'em All.
 
#20 ·
I really can't wrap my head around it when I deliver pizza, and people are yelling at their dogs to shut up before they even answer the door. The dog is SUPPOSED to bark when somebody knocks.
I tell mine "good kids" when they let us know about stuff. If I need to, I just send them to their crates where they are supposed to be quiet (and they mostly are) and give them a treat!! I never yell or act angry with them for doing their job. If I want them to be quiet I give them a reward and a different job to do instead. If I'm not there telling them it's OK, they won't shut up until they are SURE whatever it was is GONE.

Granted my Lab mix would bring the bad guy a ball to throw, but he *sounds* scary. LOL When somebody came over once and the dogs were outside, he barked first, then ran to the back yard got his favorite ball and met them at the gate begging them to throw it. Real scary :wink:
 
#21 ·
I'm new here but this is my kind of thread. I doubt I'll ever need my gun for home defense because you have to get through these three. The big male is 10 now and he is fully Schutzhund/Protection trained. A beast of sorts with the strangers, but a big ol love with my children. Best dog ever!
 

Attachments

#22 ·
He's dying of cancer (breaking my heart in the process)
Lost our Dobie girlie last fall to bone cancer. My heart still breaks a bit every time I think about her. Life goes on.

Max is the first line of defense
Just like our girl (above).

I doubt I'll ever need my gun for home defense
Gorgeous! We have an 8 YO GSD girl. The love of our lives.
 
#23 ·
You've got it right. Teach them "when" it's good, when it's bad, when to back off as you have OK'd it... and what the limits are (not to attack, etc. ).
They'll actually appreciate you defining the limits and the expectations, and doing their job. IF I pick up one 'lead'.... my dog know it's work time ... and she gets into her business mode and loves it. She does search and rescue.

I do get perturbed at some comments on-line about people who don't know squat about dogs... and have to laugh at times. The "if a dog ran towards me barking I'ld shoot it" . If my dog came running at you barking, it means they found their silly rear with a broken leg or whatever out in the woods, in a fallen building, lost, etc....... and is telling us where to come and get you and the medical attention you need, or to get you back to where you wanted to be in the first place before you got lost. They shoot the dog, we'ld leave them there .... right after we broke their other leg.

They are both also very good alert dogs and letting me know what they hear that's out of place, shouldn't be there, etc. around the house. They know their signals when to show me where it is , or to shut up and be quiet while I check it out. It's pretty easy to train them to do it.
 
#24 ·
We have two Newfoundlands. Think of a big BLACK St Bernard. We got two to keep each other young. Our first was a single and she lasted a very unusual 12 and a quarter years. That's because we'll spend more on the Vet than we will on ourselves under most circumstances.

These are our KIDS. Newfies are called "gentle giants" for a reason. It's no accident that the original author of the book "Peter Pan" modeled the dog character Nana after his own newfie. We called our first Newfie Nana for that reason. She was huge (145) and as gentle as a lamb.

When I fought off an intruder coming thru my open window in December of 1996, Nana was snoring peacefully at the front door. She only woke up when the cops and a K-9 unit showed up:

"Hey MOM & DAD there's BOYS OUTSIDE!"

But once she realized that mom was really scared, she refused to leave my wife's side. Meanwhile I was icing down my knuckles, not having had time to get to the 1911 in the bedside. One reason the H&K now rests under the pillow.

When we lost Nana right around 911, we went to a breeder in Texas and got MISS AMERICA aka Missy. A few years later we got MISS LIBERTY aka Libby.

I would have thought they'd be about as laid back as Nana was until about a year ago when they suddenly just DETONATED in the early pre-dawn hours. It was more of a roar than barks. Very serious. Not the kind of thing like: "Hey there's a POSSUM in the yard can we go play?" This was: "There is an INTRUDER near and we're gonna EAT the threat!" I let the dogs into the fenced yard and followed closely armed. At the same moment my next door neighbor (also a former army captain, flew Cobras) with his 1911 in his hand. He'd heard them, too.

The yard was clear and the girls quieted right down. My neighbor said later he'd never heard any sound like that before. So, I guess they will protect the family, but I'm more likely to act in protection of them.

Missy is pushing 10 next year. She doesn't have much time, I think (although I pray over her all the time) and Libby is just almost six. We're getting too old to handle the giant breeds. Next time out we might try either a Golden or maybe a Bernese Mountain Dog. Not sure. And only a single next time. Mammal Dog Vertebrate Canidae Dog breed
 
#26 ·
Our 2 1/2 yr.old male German Shepard and our 4th son..... is just an unbelievable guy with 3 Obedience titles under his collar and now going for his tracking title. He is smarter and better looking than most people I know and will protect our family and property to whatever level he thinks necessary.
Just a real pleasure to be with always............
 
#28 ·
Next time out we might try either a Golden or maybe a Bernese Mountain Dog. Not sure. And only a single next time.
I hear you.

BTW - love the pic! Your girlies are cuties. You, my friend, look GREAT!!!!!!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top