When provoked, dogs can be vicious and aggressive adversaries. A well-trained guard dog can use that ability to protect you, your family and your home. Although training a protection or attack dog takes a very high level of expertise, there are ways to prepare your dog for the training [source: Young].
- Choose the right breed Some of the most effective protection dogs are Staffordshire terriers, German and Belgian shepherds, Dobermans, and Rottweilers. You want to choose a dog that's naturally suspicious and alert, that will be part of your family and accept you as the leader. Starting with a dog naturally inclined to be adaptable, obedient and protective will go a long way when it's time to train it to guard you [source: Austin].
- Observe the dog's personality Dogs that will make great guards display certain natural characteristics. Guard dogs will have a lot of energy, pay attention to their owner, not be impulsive, and will recover quickly after being scolded. Most importantly, true protection dogs are friendly, especially to their family and people their owner accepts as non-threatening [source: Young].
- Treat your guard dog like a regular member of the family Protection dogs need the same love and attention that any other dog does. They need lots of positive and frequent socialization with people, and need to learn about life in general [source: Young].
- Start young Start training your puppy the very day you bring it home. Puppies are ready to start obedience training when they are about 9 to 12 weeks old [source: Young]. After obedience training, you can stat to train your dog to guard and protect. Start this training by the time the puppy is about 16 weeks old [source: Young].
- Find a great training school Protection training for dogs is tricky and must be done right. Look around your area for a dog training school with a good reputation you can trust. //]]]]> ]]>
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