I am a new member and this is my first post. I am desperate and running out of options. Here is my situation.....
I am a deputy sheriff and i work nights. My wife gets scared being home alone at nights with the kids. So I adopted a boxer that was almost 2. The dog is gorgeous. He is a flashy fawn, big block head, lean, and extremely obedient. He looked like a he would be a great guard dog. I was wrong. He loves everyone. He would lick an attacker instead of defending my family.
I contacted a trainer that came to my home and did an evaluation on him, testing his prey drive and defense drive. He did horrorable. The trainer began with me holding him on the leash on my yard. He was dressed in all camo and was sneeking around from spot to spot. Zues did great at first. He was barking and trying to get at him. The trainer then retreated and i praised him. Then he reappeared and came towards us. Zues continued the same behavior. The trainer said he was only playing so he approached the dog. Zues tried jumping on him and the trainer slapped him in the face ( not real hard, he said to show him he was posing a threat and wasnt playing). Zues then ran behind me and was scared to death. No more barking, he wanted to run. Then the trainer started aggitating him with a bright orange collar slapping his legs and the floor infront of him in an aggressive manor. That scared him even more. By that point, Zues was crouching down behind me in fear. The trainer then stopped the evaluation and said there was no point to continue. He said that what i have is a family pet and not a guard dog and that training him would be a waste of time and money.
I am by no means an expert or a trainer, but i dont think that was an unfair test. Zues doesnt know any better. He has never been put in a situation where he was slapped or threatened. But the trainer said any dog with potential would have tried defending itself and not hide behind me. He said this dog is a wimp.
I dont want to give up on him, i still think that a dog thats as smart as zues and that wants to please me like he does has potential.
Someone please help me out. If there is something i should try or be doing to improve him, please tell me. If you agree with the trainer, tell me that also. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

That "trainer" went too far in hitting and scaring the daylights out of a friendly, happy boxer. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> I hope your dog's not scared of strangers after that. I'm no expert, so I'll stop there. I hope you don't use that guy again after that, though.

He seriously slapped the dog's face and legs...?? Sheesh.

Can't help you with his potential as a guard dog, but as a watch dog...well, I'll paraphrase Ed Frawley here and say that anyone willing to come through a barking Boxer needs to be shot, not bit by the dog. If you keep the dog, he'll learn that your home is his and will bark at intruders, and unless you have a stalker or something, that's all most people need in the way of dogs. The criminal doesn't know he's friendly to strangers.

I'll let the experts answer the other questions.

Too much pressure on an unprepared dog. The dog needs foundation and confidence. Wether he will be a good protection dog is difficult to say over a message board. I haven't heard many great things about boxers nerves, but I don't think it'd take alotta work to build the dogs confidence up some and teach him to bark aggressively on command. If he has good prey drive, likes chasing toys etc, get him to start biting a bite sleeve for fun, then transition him onto defensive work. Maybe he'll never bite in defense, but like Sabrina said, if someone's determined enough to come into your home past a dog that looks like he wants to kill them, that person is either really stupid, or prepared enough to deal with the dog in which case your dog will be dead or severely injured and basically useless. Dogs are a great deterrent, so unless you feel its absolutely vital that your dog is able to bite an intruder, I would focus on teaching the dog an aggressive alert and build a foundation of prey bitework, then if you can transition the dog into "biting for real" in defense, you're all set. Most people would probably give up on my dog, but he's doing better than anyone had expected, take a look at my training blog in my link to see what I've been doing with him. He was in my truck bed a while ago when he was first learning to bite, my helper hit him (very gently) on the side of his head to try and bring him up a notch n get him to bite, instead he run to the back of the truck bed n refused to bite because he thought he was playing a game n wasn't anywhere near ready for defense. It was more like being punished for doing what you wanted him to do. Now only the last 2 training sessions has he been barking in defense, he goes into avoidance, but I help him thru it and he runs at the helper for a bite. Hopefully his confidence will keep rising.

I'm no expert either, but I think you found an honest trainer, and the test was reasonable. As a sheriffs deputy, your wife probably should have a protective dog just in case. Why not a German Shepherd? If the dogs confidence isn't genetic, building it up isn't going to make the dog reliable IMO. I wouldn't trust my safety to it. That doesn't mean you shouldn't love him it just means he's a lover not a fighter <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Get another dog and try that trainer again. At least he's honest. Someone else could have sold you all kind of hope and took you for thousands.

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I'm no expert either, but I think you found an honest trainer, and the test was reasonable.

Yeah, I wish I could edit to change some of what I said. The trainer was indeed honest about the evaluation, but the dog apparently exhibited plenty of signs that the dog couldn't handle everything the trainer did, and the trainer just went too far. I think he could have done a good evaluation without the dog cowering. I'd be afraid of that having a major negative effect on the dog for future training. Then again, maybe I should stop talking on this before I dig myself into a deeper hole. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

I don't have any experience in protection sports but I have a fair amount of experience with dogs so maybe I can offer a little input.

I have a boxer too. In my opinion, they are good watch dogs because they do tend to have excellent hearing and tend to be very alert. Of my 3 dogs, she's the first to notice a stranger passing by at night or an animal in the back yard. However, she is very trusting. She needs to be given a reason to be suspicious of strangers. I also have a GSD. You can tell he sizes up strangers immediately and keeps a very close eye on them until he knows that I approve of them. That natural distrust of strangers and territorial nature is part of what makes the GSD such a good choice as a guard dog.

Also, most of the experts around here seem to be of the opinion that MOST dogs are not cut out for real protection work. Dogs that are quick to show aggression have a "sharp" temperament. They put a big front up anytime they feel threatened and they've learned that a strong show of aggression tends to scare off most threats. These dogs tend to be very weak when faced with a real threat and most will retreat.

As it was already said, dogs are a good deterrent. Criminals tend to look for easy targets and ANY dog is going to make things more complicated for a criminal. Dogs are also good at telling you when you need to be alert because they have exceptional senses. That being said, the best defense, in my opinion, is a dog that will let you know when you need to reach for a gun. A criminal that is stupid or determined enough to ignore an aggressive looking guard dog needs to be stopped by the police or a gun.

Couple of questions for you… How long have you had him? Has he been with you long enough to really feel "at home" and that his home is worth protecting? Do you know his background? Was he ever man-handled or neglected? How's he do with aggressive play? I think most dogs benefit from a good game of tug every day and some good old fashioned rough housing. It's good for building their strength and confidence. And any medium sized dog (say 60-70 pounds) that decides to fight (voluntarily) with the average adult man (say 175 pounds) has to have a lot of confidence. It's a "David vs. Goliath" situation so you need to build him up to that.

Send a semi-confident 18 year old fresh outta high school with no training to go fight in a war after leading a sheltered life where nothing bad happened to them and see how he does. Maybe the dog has what it takes, maybe he doesn't - but in my opinion the tests were pushing it too far with an inexperienced dog, I stand by my statement.

Agreed!! This dog was not ready to take this, it may never be.

To evryone who has responded, thanks, keep the suggestions coming. I have had zues for just over a month. I think he takes this as his home but i am not sure. he seems very happy. His backround, he was living in a house with his mom. She seemed to be the protective one. She snapped at me once. Zues was the playful one. He was obviously extremely well taken care of. I dont think he had ever been man handled or spanked. He refused to bark until i taught him to on command. He wouldnt wrestle with me until recently, but he would wrestle my wife since day one. He wont bite when he wrestles tho, he just slaps and grabs. And when i use a tug, he has a week grip.