# Would your dog protect your house from a burglar?



## juliejujubean

Beware of Dog? Hired Burglar Puts Pets to the Test | Life With Dogs

interesting, but i believe the test is biased. I know dogs are a great sense of character and they probably feel the cop as non-threatening.

I also have seen my girl get very protective when i am with her (stray dog was roaming and very interested in me) and its kind of frightening, especially since she LOVES all dogs. Who knows, i would be very interested to find out how dia would react to a robber if i was not home (and she was not crated, which mostly she is)


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## KZoppa

yeah saw that earlier.


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## cshepherd9

Definitely NOT. I forgot to put the dogs away once when Merry Maids was coming and they came in and cleaned while the dogs were out roaming the house.


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## GatorDog

A crazy ex boyfriend of mine once broke into my house while I was out with Aiden. We came home while he was in my room and when I unclipped the leash, Aiden took off and did a bark and hold on him. Aiden followed him in a perfect guard until he backed out of the house.


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## onyx'girl

If someone is crazy/hopped up on whatever, they will kill my dogs regardless...if someone is not, then my dogs will be a deterrent. 
I know that all my dogs will show aggression if someone comes in that they don't know(they do it all the time with the exeption to Karlo, he will be more discriminating on how he reacts).
But they defer to me or another family member to let them know we have it controlled. 

It is mostly about scent discrimination....that is the first trigger. Just having someone come up the driveway gets them on patrol. Someone who is crazy will have a scent that will have my dogs lit up, I'm sure.


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## Stevenzachsmom

Hahahahaha! Cough! Cough! I stuck a magnet on my front door a few years ago. Now that old dog is 14, the magnet is truer than ever....."QUIET! Guard dog is sleeping." So yeah, if the burglar breaks in, shakes the dog awake and helps her stand up, there might be some kind of reaction. Most likely, she will grunt, fall over, or go back to sleep.

If the burglar enters the front door, however, it is highly likely he will trip over the dog causing himself a potentially serious injury.


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## TaZoR

Nope, Tazor is as happy as a puppy with 2 peters when someone walks in.. maybe if they physically attacked me, but other than that tgey will jus get a licken from my guy.


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## Kaity

If I'm scared, I think Vida will react at home and ONLY at home. We're house sitting and working at the kennels, so there is a very substantial male in the home upstairs with us, Vida doesn't have to worry about guardin' none! Last night, a dog was rattling around in his kennel downstairs making a bunch of noise and Vida jumped on me and started shaking. She's a baby, the boyfriend has turned her into a suck, although she is a pretty sweet dog. Took a 5 hour drive to get somebody home last week and instead of grabbing her own spot in the car, she decided to plant her big butt right on top of me and lay on me like I was a bed!


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## OriginalWacky

Krissie will certainly bark as somebody approaches, but she's pretty easy to make friends with. A treat and you'd have her doing backflips to show you the TVs and such. Koshka is getting his big boy bark, but he's only just over 6 months, and he hasn't met a stranger yet. He loves people right now, and I'm fine with that. The barking is enough to deter most of the people who might try anything in our neighborhood, which isn't terribly bad.

In our old neighborhood, I think having a couple of big dogs helped protect us, not because they would attack (although our first husky would have, he was so not typical), but because they were loud and looked scary. More than once I heard our house referred to as "the house with the two wolves". Heheh.


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## chelle

My boys would scare someone who didn't know otherwise. They both have pretty intense sounding barks. Tucker, out of nothing more than pure happiness, would jump ALL over them. (He has super-springs on his foot pads, capable of jumping quite high and straight up!) He could easily knock down a medium sized person if he's fully amped up. (work in progress here) He would be vying for a nice kiss, so would likely be trying to get at their face. 

Hopefully the "criminal" would totally misinterpet this.  If a person knew better, all they'd need to do is sweet talk them and the boys would hand over the keys to the house and everything in it.  The only true damage the "criminal" would suffer might be some scratches and a bruise from the big tails wagging.

All humor aside, I hope we never have to test this theory of mine.


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## Lucy Dog

Lucy would run to her closest toy and want to get chased or for the robber to just throw a ball. That's probably how my ferocious shepherd would react. I'm about 99.99% sure of it. I'd say it's pretty safe to break into my place. She is a good visual deterrent though.

Actually, I think that GSD in the video reacted just right for the situation. Assuming it had no training at all, it seemed confident, clear headed, and held it's ground. Looked like the perfect reaction if that's what you're looking for in a dog.


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## Sir Bear

Bear is only 5 months...so...no I don't think he would deter a criminal at all. But while his behavior is still more "mold-able" than it will be in the future, I really grapple with whether I want him to really "defend" the house or not. I would like Bear to do what's necessary if someone is creeping around the house at night...which he already does out of puppy fear, but it is more important to me that he is a "model citizen" and represents the breed well the other 364 days of the year. At the moment, I don't expect him to know the difference. Not really sure what to do, but all I know is it's really important to me that my neighborhood isn't "afraid" of Bear. I didn't get Bear because he's scary looking, I got him because he's smart, quirky, and takes a strong handler and training to have a wonderful relationship. Just my opinion, I don't think there's anything wrong with getting a gsd because the public views them as intimidating, but I think there's a lot of responsibility that goes with that goal.


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## the_butcher

I believe Butch definitely would. He has already proven it by biting a telephone line repair man who jumped our fence without permission when we werent home (trying to fix the phone line). He is super alert and the smallest sound can have him at attention. Helps me to sleep easy at night


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## doggiedad

1>>> the dogs didn't protect because they're not protective
at least in the home invasion area. i don't think dogs
have a great sense of character. if a priest, good person,
10 yr old child, the school principle suited up and broke in do
you think the dog would react?

2>>>> does your dog react to a leashed dog on the other
side of the street that's not being reactive? was the stray being aggressive? how did you react to the stray?

3>>>> set up a situation in your home to test your dog.

the Shepherd in the video didn't go after the intruder with any gusto. i think
if the intruder would have sweet talked the dog the dog wouldn't have done anything.
i wonder what the dog would have done if the intruder made a threating move
or yelled at the dog?



juliejujubean said:


> Beware of Dog? Hired Burglar Puts Pets to the Test | Life With Dogs
> 
> 1>>>> interesting, but i believe the test is biased. I know dogs are a great sense of character and they probably feel the cop as non-threatening.
> 
> 2>>>> I also have seen my girl get very protective when i am with her (stray dog was roaming and very interested in me) and its kind of frightening, especially since she LOVES all dogs.
> 
> 3>>>> Who knows, i would be very interested to find out how dia would react to a robber if i was not home (and she was not crated, which mostly she is)


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## ShenzisMom

With all of these videos circling its a wonder the criminals aren't walking around in bite suits and hidden sleeves.


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## doggiedad

rothfl!! hopefully the criminals won't see this post.



ShenzisMom said:


> With all of these videos circling its a wonder the criminals aren't walking around in bite suits and hidden sleeves.


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## CassandGunnar

We keep all of our valuables in the treat cabinet. I KNOW that they're safe in there.


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## Kittilicious

Our Culligan man used to come into the house when we just had our Golden, but after Knuckles came, suddenly the bags of salt were left in the porch. 

I doubt the would protect, but at least I know there are people out there who don't trust him!


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## Clyde

I only watched the Layla dog (supposed catahoula?) but you could tell what that dog was going to do as soon as you see how she reacted to the camera guy. Just shows how clueless people are about reading dogs.

I am sure her owners considered her very protective

And dogs having a good sense of character? I wouldn't count on it.


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## Wolfiesmom

I don't know if Wolfie would bite if someone broke into the house and we weren't home. He for sure would jump on the person and bark. He goes nuts the minute someone strange steps foot on the property, which is what I want.


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## Lauri & The Gang

I don't EXPECT my dogs to 'protect' my house from intruders.

Their job is to bark and alert ME to an intruder and give me time to get my shotgun.

Then, if their barking hasn't scared away the intruder, I will provide the 'bite'!


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## Emoore

I certainly hope not. My dogs are worth more than my crap.


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## doggiedad

what if the intruder is hungry?? :crazy:



CassandGunnar said:


> We keep all of our valuables in the treat cabinet. I KNOW that they're safe in there.


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## doggiedad

i had a trainer years ago who's dog was a PP dog. the trainer
taught her dog to go unstairs and crawl under the bed if
someone broke into her house and she wasn't there. her thinking
was if you hear this big bark when you're trying to break in
and you don't go away then you know you can over power the dog
and she didn't want to lose her dog.


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## jakes mom

It's not a very realistic test is it - since when did a burglar just walk in the door. 

Had he have broken in or climbed through a window - I think the results could have been different. 
___________
Sue


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## selzer

I did not read the thread, nor any but the OP and question, so pardon me if this is repetitive, but my dogs will deter most criminals by barking their fool heads off. If someone walks into my house with an evil intent, I truly do not know for sure what they will do. 

But, if the choices are my dogs attack the intruder and are shot or beaten unconscious, or they trot along and show the intruder where the computer, tv, dvds, cds, and my poor sad excuse for a jewel box is, and are intact when I get home, then that is what I would choose any day. Unfortunately, you cannot hope these days for a burglar who will just take the goods and leave the dog intact. So, if someone were going to hurt my dog, I hope my dog would at least get a few bites in on their own account. So, I guess I really do not want my dog to protect my home with their teeth, but if need be, I hope they would protect themselves.


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## Mac's Mom

I don't expect my dogs to protect my house when I'm not home. But I do think they are a deterrent. And I agree that if someone still has the confidence to enter the house after hearing Mac & Bart barking, then they probably have a weapon. The idea of one of the dogs getting hurt is far scarier than losing any of my material possessions.


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## Clyde

jakes mom said:


> It's not a very realistic test is it - since when did a burglar just walk in the door.
> 
> Had he have broken in or climbed through a window - I think the results could have been different.
> ___________
> Sue


Yeah! The dogs that were fearful would have pooped themselves then ran and hide under the bed!

I would say it was very realistic with regard to how the guy entered the house. Many burglars are opportunists and pick a house based on an unlocked door.


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## sjones5254

Abby being young I think she would bark that's about all. My weim suprised me though as she is always laid back. Our house alarm went off so I sent one of my friends who is a state trooper over to check out the back yard since it was the back door alarm going off. He said as soon as he opened the gate and turned the corner she was coming after him and she knows him. He ran back out the gate. I was totally shocked.


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## Gharrissc

I know for a fact that my 9 year old dog wouldn't protect my house. In fact she doesn't even bark when someone comes to my door. My younger dogs would definitely bark and *Maybe* do a bark and hold,but I don't if they would go further than that. I would think anyone with common sense wouldn't go into a home with 4 dogs inside though.


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## Freddy

Mac's Mom said:


> I don't expect my dogs to protect my house when I'm not home. But I do think they are a deterrent. And I agree that if someone still has the confidence to enter the house after hearing Mac & Bart barking, then they probably have a weapon. The idea of one of the dogs getting hurt is far scarier than losing any of my material possessions.


That's the problem. They are a deterrent but I don't want to lose them to a weapon. I pray it never happens but if it does, they will buy me time to chamber a bullet. 

At the present time, I have the Fed Ex guy coasting down the hill and trying to make it back to the truck without anyone noticing.


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