Training dog to guard

[Andy Carson]

I have a 1 year old 110 lb german shepherd cross who has been guarding my poultry. He was raised with the chickens and accepts them. OK, I’ll admit he does like to pester the roosters into chasing him, but he leaves all the hens alone. Anyway, I recently lost a few pullets and found out that it was a raccoon. I would like to give him a little more formal training to teach him to giuve chase to raccoons/fox/possums/etc rather than just bark at them. He does chase cats like crazy and kills groundhogs he gets ahold of. So, I think he has the drive needed to do this. I am, however, a little hesitant to tap into the aggressive side of a german shepherd and am trying to be very careful. I had a german shepherd before that overguarded and was scary with stangers (esp strangers that weren’t confident around big dogs), and don’t want to end up in the same situation again. My previous german shepherd was a purebred and out of police dogs lines, so is probably the best comparison. Any tips out there on how to teach my dog to go after “critters” without turning him into a dangerous dog? I suppose I thought his natural guarding tendancies would just guide his behavior… It does guide his barking, but if I want anything more than that I think I need to teach him. He can be taught to do almost anything (even some “weird” stuff), and taught rather quickly, but he does have to be taught. Other german shepherds I have been around are generally this way too. It makes you be careful about what you teach them, because they will actually do what they are trained to do and do it without hesitation…

[Does’ Leap]

@Countymouse 34016 wrote:

I suppose I thought his natural guarding tendancies would just guide his behavior…

Andy:

I think you have it here. I think, generally speaking, dogs either have the instinct or not. I have a couple of Border Collies for herding, a Maremma for guarding, and a Jack Russel for rodent control – all specialists in their respective fields. I think you can have limited success herding with a dog without a lot of natural instinct b/c you are constantly there guiding their behavior. With guard dogs or rodent hunters, they are expected to work independently. When my JR was a puppy, I caught rats in “have a heart traps” and released them in her presence. Before she even saw the rat and caught a scent, she went nuts. Once released, she quickly caught and killed them. That said, I don’t think this was necessary. This dog will not stop and hunting and killing rodents – not something taught.

I had a Great Pyrenees before the Maremma. He was a decent guard dog, but in a whole different league than the Maremma. The Maremma never lest the goats out of her sight and is extremely aggressive toward any perceived threat (with the exception of people). She is super-active all the time – barking, marking her territory, etc.

Maybe you can try the trap idea backed up with praise and see if you can get some results?

Good luck.

George

[Author]

Posts