Your dog needs the guard dog training if you want to make it a watchdog to protect your house of family. The training contains stand as a guard, bark when see the strangers to alert you, etc. You need to be patient while giving training to your dog. But after completing the dog training, you can get the full satisfaction when you see your dog perfectly working as a guard dog. Your dog should have genetic qualities train as a guard dog.
Properties of a guard dog
There are some different between a guard dog and attack dog. A guard dog will alert you when any stranger comes through barking. The guard dog is not aggressive. Herding breeds can be the good watch dogs. Shepherds, Komondors, Mastiffs, Pit Bulls, Doberman Pinschers are the best guard dogs. They can protect the family by barking with protection. The dog which is good to train as the guard dog has some properties from the puppy age. So, if you see the properties in your dog, you can give it the guard dog training.
The guard dogs should be confident and out of anxiety. The trusted guard dogs do not feel anxious to hear a new sound. Besides, they should be assertive with bold temperament. A good sociable dog is better for the guard dog training. A guard dog should be patient with stranger in the presence of his owner. Your dog should have fight drive property. The drive is needed to protect the dog himself or others. The confident one likes to take challenges. You should choose the breed which has high train-ability level. Moreover, your dog should be loyal.
The guard dog training process
A dog needs enough training to make it as the guard. The training should do step by step. Now I am describing the process.
Step 1
The first important thing to make your dog a guard dog is the socialization. It should be started during the puppy age. It is the teaching which works throughout the whole life of the dog. Take your puppy at the touch of many people and other animals. If you do not do the socialization, your dog may become fearful to see the stranger and other animals. Socialization is needed for every dog breeds. Before start the guard dog training, you should make sure that your dog obeys the basic commands such as “stay”. With this skill, your dog can learn fast the alert barking and other commands while the guard dog training.
Step 2
Now it is time to teach the barking command. If you do not teach it to your dog, it should bark instantly seeing anybody. For this purpose, choose a word such as bark or speak. You need to practice the command. For this, tie the dog to a spot and take a treat on your hand and walk away from him. When your dog starts to bark, come back to the dog and praise him and give the treat to him. Repeat it for several times. Then move the dog different places and make familiar with the “bark” command. It helps the dog to obey the command at any place.
Step 3
Encourage the dog to bark while seeing the stranger. Then praise the dog when he barks to see any stranger to your house. Give the “quiet” command to stop him. You can also encourage your dog to bark when the doorbell of the house rings. After opening the door, command him to quiet and if he stops barking, praise him immediately. But do not allow him to bark while meeting the familiar people.
Step 4
It is necessary to train your dog the command “quiet” beside the command “bark”. Do not allow the dog to bark the known people. If your dog does well with the two commands, you can make him the guard dog.
Special training
You can give your dog the special guard dog training for extra protection. In this purpose, you can choose the Schutzhund training program. It is especially for the German Shepherd. But some breeds can take this training. Schutzhund dog is trained with an agitation method. The agitator needs to wear a jute sleeve to protect his arm. The police dogs and petrol dogs are trained as the same way of the Schutzhund training. These dogs give protection not at home but also at any kinds of unknown places.
Final Words
The dog is a nice pet to protect you and your family. But it needs enough training. All the breeds are not good for guard dog training. Yorkshire Terriers, German Shepherd, Boston Terriers, etc are great to make a guard dog. You can also find some dog training centers and Schutzhund clubs from where you can train your dog as a guard dog. An excellent dog will give you a lot of fun. It is better to take the advice from an experienced professional trainer.