guard dog advice?

[visilda]

i’m wondering if anyone on this thread has any advice about honing your dog’s guarding instincts without making them overly aggressive or protective?

i have a 7 month old boxer/lab mix who weighs over 50 pounds already, and i’m very excited at the prospect of eventually having Big Dog Privileges when she’s fully grown (I’m 22F and barely over 5 feet) and to be able to safely walk alone at night because i have a big scary looking dog with me that no one is going to want to mess with

however, nova (my puppy) isn’t a scary dog. she’s incredibly sweet and friendly and loves people, and i want to keep it that way because i have a lot of friends who aren’t comfortable with big dogs and i don’t want her to become aggressive or intimidating to them, but i wouldn’t mind her to be a little bit protective if someone were actually trying to harm me, because i’m a young woman who lives alone.

nova will bark when someone walks into my apartment unannounced or when a stranger comes in, so she has a little bit of a guarding instinct, and i’m wondering — does anyone have any tips for kind of honing in that guarding instinct so that she doesn’t end up aggressive but still makes a decent guard dog? i feel like i’m walking a very fine line and would love some tips because i don’t normally train guard dogs!!! i’d appreciate any advice y’all can offer me

 

[by_grace28]

@visilda This is some complicated stuff that only a trainer can help with. If they’re a guard dog, they will become aggressive for whatever it is they are guarding, unless they have cues for being on and off “duty”, like service dogs.
I don’t think tips and advice from fellow dog owners is going to help here

 

[mitchilita]

@visilda You’d probably want a guard dog to be protective of your home and keep people from coming in. My dog has a ,” make friends” command. It’s like a switch when he knows a person or animal is good. If he doesn’t obey he gets put in the crate. My brother pretended to hit me once and Budro nipped him and sat on him with his entire 70lbs. I taught it by interrupting the interaction, saying “friends, Bud”, getting between the two, and then pets treats and appraisals. It took a long time for him to learn. He’s not fully there yet but he’s great with people and not so great with dogs.

 

[visilda]

@mitchilita thank you for this advice!!

 

[nirajrana]

@visilda It would help if you did every day training and the dog will naturally become a guard dog dogs can sense nervousness or fear and people if you were walking and a stranger walked up on you your dog is going to know Friend or Foe before they get even anywhere near you but you really should consult your area for professional dog trainers it is not that expensive to take a few lessons and all the rest is really up to you and the time you have to train is definitely a time-consuming ordeal my friends there trains canine guard dogs and it is an everyday adventure for them