4 month old guard dog

[Karlee334]

Grimm is 4 months old and already showing signs of being a good guard dog. He doesnt like strangers approaching the car, house, or us. Is this normal. He lets out a low growl and barks if they get too close. I know its bred into the doberman but this early? I miss my little baby. Lol. Please share yalls different traits and temperments of your fur babies. Look foward to chatting. P.S. hope i am doing this right. Lol.

 

[Karlee334]

Ahhh i spelled GUARD wrong. Idk how to correct it. Sorry folks...

 

[Doberman Gang]

Prada now, at 7months and 3 months.

 

[Karlee334]

Thats awesome. She is so beautiful. I am not training him. He is just on it.

 

[Gelcoater]

Grimm is 4 months old and already showing signs of being a good guard dog. He doesnt like strangers approaching the car, house, or us. Is this normal. He lets out a low growl and barks if they get too close. I know its bred into the doberman but this early? I miss my little baby. Lol. Please share yalls different traits and temperments of your fur babies. Look foward to chatting. P.S. hope i am doing this right. Lol.

Will take a moderator to modify the title, hence...mod

 

[Gelcoater]

View attachment 68199 View attachment 68198 View attachment 68197
Prada now, at 7months and 3 months.

Lol. That last pic, I'd be more intimidated by the handler than the pup
The first pic...nah, I'd find easier targets

 

[Karlee334]

Lol. That last pic, I'd be more intimidated by the handler than the pup
The first pic...nah, I'd find easier targets

Haha

 

[Gelcoater]

Thats awesome. She is so beautiful. I am not training him. He is just on it.

The training will need to happen to bring him to his potential.

My boy Rocky, he knows not a stranger.
To him every human exists to pet him.

My girl Daisy was not like that.
She was accepting of female humans for the most part, men would have to really work to gain any trust. On initial contact with strange men she was on guard.

One particular event (there were several but this one) I had a guy knock at my door about 8:30 pm.
I knew by her bark who ever it was she did not know them.
As it happened he was a guy that used to work for me. We'd fallen out of contact and he happened to be in the area and dropped by, my phone number had changed, etc.

Upon opening the door with Daisy by the collar, there was a split second I didn't recognize him. That split second of unsuredness on my part she picked up on and went into full Rambo mode.
It was actually less than one second, but she picked it up and responded.
Had I not had a firm grasp on the collar I have zero doubt she would have tackled the guy and dismantled him.
Zero doubt.
I invited him in, still holding her by the collar. Even though I was comfortable with the situation at that moment the guy wasn't entirely, and she picked up on that too.
She was watching him like a hawk after that, the guy was white as a sheet.
She tolerated his existence but he was nervous. He said " I just don't want to get bit, is she cool?"
I said, half way joking "yes, just don't make any sudden moves or she'll take your face off."
He
She responded with an under her breath growl and went to the top of the stairs, to both keep an eye on him and to be a barrier between the kids rooms upstairs and him down stairs.

 

[Doberman Gang]

Lol. That last pic, I'd be more intimidated by the handler than the pup
The first pic...nah, I'd find easier targets

Lol

 

[Rits]

This is my opinion but I think the most important thing for any breed is to take them to as many social situations as possible so they know how normal people act vs strange people. Also, so they can learn to look to you for command. In my opinion, its nice to have a dog that knows how to respond appropriately, and if I'm there, to not take charge but to work with me and listen to my command instead.

If these are truly strangers, then let it be but if they are people you know, I would be correcting and redirecting that behavior. You are in charge and say who is ok and who isn't. And yes, he is just a baby so continue to build his confidence by exposing him to many things and continue to work on his obedience in different scenarios so that you have a well balanced dog who doesn't growl at every stranger just because they are sharing the sidewalk with you.

 

[Gelcoater]

This is my opinion but I think the most important thing for any breed is to take them to as many social situations as possible so they know how normal people act vs strange people. Also, so they can learn to look to you for command. In my opinion, its nice to have a dog that knows how to respond appropriately, and if I'm there, to not take charge but to work with me and listen to my command instead.

If these are truly strangers, then let it be but if they are people you know, I would be correcting and redirecting that behavior. You are in charge and say who is ok and who isn't. And yes, he is just a baby so continue to build his confidence by exposing him to many things and continue to work on his obedience in different scenarios so that you have a well balanced dog who doesn't growl at every stranger just because they are sharing the sidewalk with you.

Fully agree.
Daisys lack of training contributed to a lack of willingness to "out" in that situation. And a dog with the capabilities ours have can be a huge liability if they don't out or don't follow command.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I'd welcome the protective tendencies and am impressed that they are showing up at four months.

I agree that you need to train – mainly just basic obedience – to establish that you are in control. They should take your lead. If you want them to show defensiveness and aggressive displays in some circumstances, then you allow it – even encourage it. There will be more circumstances, though, in which you do not want that and should make that clear.

Seems to me that despite the differing types of Dobes and the wide variety of individual traits you might wind up with in a Doberman, alertness is one thing you will almost certainly have.

I know that with our current boy, he will put on a truly impressive display at the front door of the house. If anyone steps onto our porch, he gets downright scary. Due to the basic training we've done and the establishment of myself as leader, if I walk toward the door area while he is going off, he will look at me every couple seconds for direction. If he is simply barking at something across the street he may actually move away from the front door as I approach it – letting me take over.

It's been the case with each of the Dobes I've had that I can so much as breathe a certain way and they get suspicious. It's a beautiful thing.

So yeah, you can encourage defensive displays when appropriate, and command them to cease when not appropriate. Remember that basic, consistent obedience training and establishment of pack order is key.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I will also echo the socialization factor. With my first Dobe, I didn't introduce him to many people. I knew that I didn't have the resources to train him in actual protection training (a lot of money or people to help you) so I wanted him to not think that all strangers were friendly. Yes, he was very protective, but I believe it was mostly protective of himself, and I reaped the benefits of that. I believe he was a fear biter.

Now, I go ahead and let my Dobe meet everybody when I'm there to introduce them. I have a command that indicates that I want him to meet a person and that the person is okay. Of course, when I have him meet someone and I say "nice person" it indicates to the person that I train him that some people are not nice people – and that's fine with me.

The result seems to be a Dobe that is totally confident in meeting people but still can be suspicious and defensive when called upon.

Could my Doberman fall prey to someone who acted friendly but was a bad guy? Sure. That's a risk I take in socializing my Dobe, as opposed to keeping him isolated. I don't buy the romantic notion that dogs "know the good guys from the bad." It's a risk I take though, rather than having the major liability of a Dobe that is prone to biting strangers inappropriately.

Would my Dobe step up and remain aggressive if a stranger entered the house without me there? I don't know. With my last Dobe I am almost certain he would tear into such an intruder. With my current one I don't know. I imagine he would turn friendly and want petting unfortunately. Most dogs are all show, and he may be one. On the other hand, I believe that he would not take physical abuse and would get aggressive if a stranger kicked him or something. Also, with my current boy, he is very excited by any sort of physicality and I am confident he would at least jump on anyone who engaged me in a physical struggle. He is extremely attached to his family members and I think he would lay teeth on someone who got aggressive with us.

So there are my thoughts.

 

[Gelcoater]

He is extremely attached to his family members and I think he would lay teeth on someone who got aggressive with us.

I would like to think Rocky would, but I wouldn't bet to strong on it.
Daisy was very attached to us, and she didn't like it much when my daughter and I wrestled. She would try and get between us. No growling or aggressiveness, simply shoving herself into the middle of things.
I'm not entirely sure if she was attempting to join the play or if she was misenterpriting what was going on.
If we stopped our actions she would settle down.
Something else I always made sure to point out to the kids was to not have friends over and rough house in her presence.
The last thing we needed was her misenterpriting their play and latching onto one of the neighbor kids. So, it just wasn't allowed here.
It was something I reminded them of often. She is a breed of dog purposely bred to protect YOU, her person. If she sees what she thinks is someone hurting you she will act on it and protect.

 

[Drogon]

View attachment 68199 View attachment 68198 View attachment 68197
Prada now, at 7months and 3 months.

Love that first pic - but doesn't it look like there's an extra Doberman paw on the ground by her back leg ?

 

[Lucian]

stealth ninja dobertoes..

 

[bomary]

Jax is such a social butterfly (and always has been) that I think he is planning a career in politics! I love how much he loves people because I really want to do therapy work with him, but I do know he could probably use a bit more discretion in his love of ALL!
***One little exception*** Before Jax even came home to me (about two months before), a woman had road rage (big time) and tried to hit me with her car when I was running. I live in a VERY small town, so there is almost no way you could ever just go through life not running into someone you "dislike" (understatement). Occasionally, Jax and I will encounter her walking her ugly, untrained dog while we are walking, see her walk by our house, or we walk by her house to get to the park. Before I even realize that cow is anywhere in the vicinity, Jax gets his hackles up, he usually sits because I trained him to do that when we meet dogs while walking (but sometimes pulls at the leash pretty intently), and growls in a way that I didn't even know he was capable of. And, in these cases, there is no "Jax, settle, quiet, it's okay" to calm him. He HATES her. It's weird...he's never heard me speak to her...I guess he can feel it down the leash...because I DEFINITELY get anxious when I see her.
Of course, if I wouldn't risk losing my boy, I'd just drop the leash and let him have a go at her! (He'd probably just go lick her and nose bump, but a girl can dream!)

 

[WiglWerm]

My girl Ruby displayed guarding behavior at around 4 -5 months also. She would lunge growling with hackles up at all other dogs. I was a bit shocked as she was so young and talked to my breeder and others. Seems there are different phases of development and this is normal at that age. She is now more social but occasionally she will "meet" a dog she does not like. Especially GSD for some reason, when she see's them she is all hackles. lol

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Love that first pic - but doesn't it look like there's an extra Doberman paw on the ground by her back leg ?

Wonder why I don't see any pics at all.

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Jax is such a social butterfly (and always has been) that I think he is planning a career in politics! I love how much he loves people because I really want to do therapy work with him, but I do know he could probably use a bit more discretion in his love of ALL!
***One little exception*** Before Jax even came home to me (about two months before), a woman had road rage (big time) and tried to hit me with her car when I was running. I live in a VERY small town, so there is almost no way you could ever just go through life not running into someone you "dislike" (understatement). Occasionally, Jax and I will encounter her walking her ugly, untrained dog while we are walking, see her walk by our house, or we walk by her house to get to the park. Before I even realize that cow is anywhere in the vicinity, Jax gets his hackles up, he usually sits because I trained him to do that when we meet dogs while walking (but sometimes pulls at the leash pretty intently), and growls in a way that I didn't even know he was capable of. And, in these cases, there is no "Jax, settle, quiet, it's okay" to calm him. He HATES her. It's weird...he's never heard me speak to her...I guess he can feel it down the leash...because I DEFINITELY get anxious when I see her.
Of course, if I wouldn't risk losing my boy, I'd just drop the leash and let him have a go at her! (He'd probably just go lick her and nose bump, but a girl can dream!)

That is incredible on Jax's part!! It's an incredible story all around!