# Low prey drive, but still a guard dog?



## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

I have a deposit down on a male GSD from a reputable breeder. I told the breeder I have 2 cats and a young child, and she stated a dog with low to medium prey drive would be best. One thing I forgot to ask her, was if the lower prey drive would affect their ability to guard us or the house? The puppy's parents are from German lines and have VA (stud) and V (dam)titles

It will mostly be a family dog, but part of the reason I chose a GSD was a guard dog as well

Thanks


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## Ace952 (Aug 5, 2010)

What type of GSD? East, west, ddr?

A good percentage depends on the lines fo the dog. Also to be a family protector you will need to put a dog through training for that. Just b/c a dog will bark and lunge at someone on a leash doesn't mean it will protect you.


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Sounds like a German show line if there are VA dogs. 

Does the breeder produce dogs for guarding or have experience with that type of training?


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

The short answer is: Yes, a dog with can have lower/medium prey drive, and higher defense drive.


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## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

The breeder is Haus Juris in Virginia. I think they are mostly show dogs as stated. Does anyone have any feedback on this breeder?


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## Ace952 (Aug 5, 2010)

I think you need to ask yourself what kind of protection are you looking for and are you willing to put in the amount of time and money for that training.

IMO...I personally wouldn't look to a showline for that.


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

What do you want the dog to do? Alert bark or more than that?


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## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

Alert bark is all I am looking for.


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## Ace952 (Aug 5, 2010)

well you should be fine with that with a showline.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Knight said:


> Alert bark is all I am looking for.


Just about any GSD of any line will fill that niche. More important that you get a confident outgoing pup and socialize him/her well to make sure that they are comfortable with all kinds of people. Some dogs start to alert bark very young, others only when older.


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Knight said:


> Alert bark is all I am looking for.


Then any line will do. I have a showline and he barks a big bark, people are terrified of him, he likely won't attack, but serves his purpose 
Just thinking rationally, people are either afraid of GSDs or they're not. If someone REALLY wants into your house or at your family, realistically, they'll just shoot or poison your dog. Relying on a dog for protection is kind of naive in my opinion. Using them as backup for law enforcement makes sense, but not as "protection".


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## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

Jax's Mom said:


> Then any line will do. I have a showline and he barks a big bark, people are terrified of him, he likely won't attack, but serves his purpose
> Just thinking rationally, people are either afraid of GSDs or they're not. If someone REALLY wants into your house or at your family, realistically, they'll just shoot or poison your dog. Relying on a dog for protection is kind of naive in my opinion. Using them as backup for law enforcement makes sense, but not as "protection".


What's naive about having a dog wake me up/alert me to danger, so I can take care of it myself.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Jax's Mom said:


> Then any line will do. I have a showline and he barks a big bark, people are terrified of him, he likely won't attack, but serves his purpose
> Just thinking rationally, people are either afraid of GSDs or they're not. If someone REALLY wants into your house or at your family, realistically, they'll just shoot or poison your dog. Relying on a dog for protection is kind of naive in my opinion. Using them as backup for law enforcement makes sense, but not as "protection".


Well said! Hondo has a deep, menacing bark that makes people jump (even me if it suprises me) - but a bark or even bite can not protect him from a bullet.


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## wimmer105 (Jan 2, 2011)

*showline*

We have both showline and working lines the working lines are more hyper and showline is laid back with the proper training they can become good protective dogs! My Sultie is half show half working and he is in training to build that guard up to become personnal protection and at 6 months is doing real good!


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## Jax's Mom (Apr 2, 2010)

Knight said:


> What's naive about having a dog wake me up/alert me to danger, so I can take care of it myself.


Alerting/guarding is different from protection.
Many people will buy a GSD wanting it to "protect" them from harm. I wasn't saying you were naive, just that expecting a dog to protect a family is kind of asking a lot... alerting, guarding, deterring is pretty much what one should expect from their dog. 
If someone sees you have a GSD in your house and they still come in, they're already prepared to deal with your dog then (sadly his lines and training won't make much difference there).


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## RazinKain (Sep 13, 2010)

I don't know if Kain would protect my home if we weren't there, but I feel fairly confident that he would do what he had to do to protect my kids.

The other night, I had my 5 yr old son in the living room floor tickling him. He (my son) was obviously screaming, laughing, and raising all kinds of ****. Kain ran into the room and grabbed me by the arm, not overly aggressive but firm enough to leave bruises on my bicep. He was whining the entire time, as if to say "daddy, get off my boy!". He didn't like the situation one bit. Now, if he'll grab ahold of his own daddy (provider, protector, alpha, god of his world) in order to protect his boy, then I feel very sure that he'd *bite* anyone else trying to harm my kids. Kain is only 8 1/2 months old.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Knight said:


> What's naive about having a dog wake me up/alert me to danger, so I can take care of it myself.



I think that the post about being naive was referring to people who expect their GSD to protect them against an armed intruder, or somehow go out on orderly patrols and engage the bad guy like you see in the movies.

It's not naive to expect your dog to warn you that somebody's at your door on on your property so you can take care of it.


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## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

Jax's Mom said:


> Alerting/guarding is different from protection.
> Many people will buy a GSD wanting it to "protect" them from harm. I wasn't saying you were naive, just that expecting a dog to protect a family is kind of asking a lot... alerting, guarding, deterring is pretty much what one should expect from their dog.
> If someone sees you have a GSD in your house and they still come in, they're already prepared to deal with your dog then (sadly his lines and training won't make much difference there).


I see. Yea that is silly and I do agree


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## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

Yes, Haus Juris is a well known showline breeder. If the dog just needs to alert and be a visual deterrent then you should be fine. I like to get a male with as dark a face as possible. Even my mutt dog who is a softy an would kiss and axe murder will give deep alert barks when people arrive or try to come in or come up to the gate.


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## exotica (Dec 31, 2010)

hey knight i was just wondering how its going a low prey drive dog is what i wanted as well with high defense

i just wanted to say that some of the best guard dogs i have seen are the nervy american show line shepherds they bark at any little noise and NOTHING Gets past them they are always on alert 

i think a well bred workingline that is really bonded to its owner and has solid nerves would do more then just bark if it felt its owner was in danger JMHO

i would not totally rely on them tho unless they were trained i think a dog is best as a detterant, its kinda like having another person with you when you are alone, a good well bred working dog will even scare a person that is not afriad of shepherds 

i notice a lot of people are not scared of shepherds until one gets pissed at them i saw a crowd of guys acting tough around a police officer and his calm dog when the dog was given a signal to bark and lunge the crowd of guys pissed their pants 

when a dog shows hes serious and means business 99 percent of tough guys will back down


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## Knight (Sep 7, 2010)

exotica said:


> hey knight i was just wondering how its going a low prey drive dog is what i wanted as well with high defense
> 
> i just wanted to say that some of the best guard dogs i have seen are the nervy american show line shepherds they bark at any little noise and NOTHING Gets past them they are always on alert
> 
> ...


Hi, I won't know for a while. I am picking the dog up this weekend. Hopefully it works out. That is funny about the "tough guys." True too


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