Guard Dog

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heavyusr

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#116577 3-May-2013 04:34

I can't find a dog training service in Auckland that trains dogs to become guard dogs
Is this because training dogs to attack an intruder in NZ is not legal?

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#810590 3-May-2013 05:27

I think just having a 'Beware of the dog sign' and your dog visible should do just fine.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." -
-- Abraham lincoln

MikeB4

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#810602 3-May-2013 07:19

You should familiarize yourself with the Dog Control Act 1996. And a sign is not sufficient.

Handle9

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#810604 3-May-2013 07:29

Having your dog attack someone is illegal and, in my opinion, reprehensible. As a responsible owner of a staff cross (who we have invested significant time and money in training and socialising to be a family dog), I get annoyed by people who only want a dog as a weapon or a status symbol. Bigger dogs get enough of a bad reputation without people deliberately making them dangerous.

gzt

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#810605 3-May-2013 07:31

Training a guard dog and training a dog to attack intruders are not mutually exclusive (I guess) but they are still two different things.

Dogs trained to attack tend to be highly dangerous to everybody on a somewhat random basis and injuries are common.

If you are calling dog training services asking them to train attack dogs they will probably think you are on crack.

Training the owners is usually the hardest part of dog training..

networkn

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#810629 3-May-2013 09:27

We have a sign on our gate that says.. My German Shepherd can reach this gate in 2.2 seconds, Can you?

Never have had a break in.

Agreed with the whole attack dog thing. I have never trained Thunder specifically but I have no doubt he would protect us if required, it's part of him belonging to our "pack" and he is protective of my 4 and 1 year old.

DravidDavid

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#810638 3-May-2013 09:53

If you treat your dog well and it will become loyal to you and treat you well back.

My partner's dog seems to have this down to a fine art. If a stranger approaches hear, the dog turns in to an alert guard dog until conversation is engaged with her. Then all the dog wants is a pat and a scratch! The dog would never outright attack anyone unless she was clearly in distress. Dogs can definitely tell.

You have to be careful with play fighting though! Haha.

trig42

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#810642 3-May-2013 10:00

Yep, we looked after my brother in laws Shepherd for a year or so - she was placid as anything unless my wife was at home on her own, then she wouldn't let anyone up the steps unless she had met them before (and even then if she didn't trust them, they wouldn't come into the house).

She had a knack of telling what sort of people shouldn't be trusted - the dodgy ones were all quite scared of her. She never bit anyone, just scared the daylights out of them sometimes.

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xpd

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#810659 3-May-2013 10:28

Rather than attack, train your dog to be intimidating on command - growl, bark, bare teeth etc. My wifes dog when I first met her, did this. Scared the hell outta me first time I met the dog, but soon as I was inside the house, the dog was terrified of me ;)

If someone isnt put off by the threat of a large dog growling and baring teeth at them, I dont think theyd care if it attacked.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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networkn

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#810662 3-May-2013 10:30

xpd: Rather than attack, train your dog to be intimidating on command - growl, bark, bare teeth etc. My wifes dog when I first met her, did this. Scared the hell outta me first time I met the dog, but soon as I was inside the house, the dog was terrified of me ;)

Perhaps you shouldn't have turned up in a ski mask in the middle of the night through the bathroom window! :)

I have a command "Bring the Thunder" which makes my dog bark continuously. It's excellent.

BlueShift

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#810682 3-May-2013 11:05

Training a dog for personal protection and training a dog for property protection are different things - as stated above, with little effort a dog will treat you and yours as part of their 'pack'.
Protecting the property when you aren't home is trickier, as even though dogs will instictively protect their turf, they are also taught to defer to people, and if a burglar takes a bit of time to talk to the dog, and maybe slip it a snack, most family dogs will become their best friend.

NonprayingMantis

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#810698 3-May-2013 11:14

get the right breed of dog and you wont need to train it to protect your property, it will do it naturally as an instict

when I say protect your property I dont mean bite intruders, I mean bark and growl. nobody should be training their dogs to attack intruders.

Huntaway might be a good choice. they can be fairly large and often coloured like a Rotty, so quite intimidating, and they bark a shed load so intruder are very put off, but they are very smart and easy to train, incredibly loyal, but are actually very friendly and passive and will not attack anybody.

heavyusr

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#810944 3-May-2013 17:23

All those who say you shouldn't train a dog to attack intruders should watch this 4 minute video and tell me whether you still feel that way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVlFy9i6Zm4

Oh don't forget there are dogs in new zealand train to attack -police dogs
Police dogs will never be around children and the police certainly will never let kids pat them? Wrong

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/7141864/Police-dogs-ham-it-up-for-school-children

jonherries

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#810955 3-May-2013 18:34

NonprayingMantis: get the right breed of dog and you wont need to train it to protect your property, it will do it naturally as an instict

when I say protect your property I dont mean bite intruders, I mean bark and growl. nobody should be training their dogs to attack intruders.

Huntaway might be a good choice. they can be fairly large and often coloured like a Rotty, so quite intimidating, and they bark a shed load so intruder are very put off, but they are very smart and easy to train, incredibly loyal, but are actually very friendly and passive and will not attack anybody.

We have a huntaway lab cross, and she barks on command ("speak up")

She unusually is good at protecting us from the weirdos. So much so NZ post decided to send us a letter. This made me quite happy as we always thought the postie was a bit odd. The best bit was the lovely census lady was let in the gate and was allowed to walk unaccosted up to the front door...

Jon

Handle9

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#810966 3-May-2013 18:59

heavyusr: All those who say you shouldn't train a dog to attack intruders should watch this 4 minute video and tell me whether you still feel that way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVlFy9i6Zm4

Oh don't forget there are dogs in new zealand train to attack -police dogs
Police dogs will never be around children and the police certainly will never let kids pat them? Wrong

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/7141864/Police-dogs-ham-it-up-for-school-children

Nope, teaching a dog to attack is still wrong and dangerous. Comparing a domestic dog to a police dog is as logical as saying "Police carry guns and tasers and have as right to use them, so I should too."

oxnsox

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#810988 3-May-2013 19:52

heavyusr: All those who say you shouldn't train a dog to attack intruders should watch this 4 minute video and tell me whether you still feel that way

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVlFy9i6Zm4

Oh don't forget there are dogs in new zealand train to attack -police dogs
Police dogs will never be around children and the police certainly will never let kids pat them? Wrong

http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/7141864/Police-dogs-ham-it-up-for-school-children

Dogs (animals) are not weapons.
Clearly you have a unique requirement or situation, but there are other issues that have determined that. Using an animal to solve them is not the solution.....there must be others.

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