Hello everyone
We are living in Cambodia with our 2 year old GSD. She is a wonderful protection dog and we're still actively working to train her. Our problem is this: We live in a house with a gate with razor wire on top and a guard. Our GSD can't stand these guards. They switch up in the middle of the night and we are constantly having new guards...turnover is high. She is not aggressive at all to anyone who comes into our home that we are ok with. Just today a lady with her 2 small kids came in and the dog barked a few times, I said friend and it's all good and she slobbered all over the little girl. Nor is she aggressive when we go on walks. She just ignores everyone. We are reluctant to correct the aggression toward the guard because we don't want her thinking any Cambodian man that walks into our compound is ok, but at the same time we don't tolerate that kind of behavior normally. She is protecting the home which we have trained her to do, but we're terrified she's going to get out of the house and maul the guard. This would not bode well for intercultural communications. We would appreciate any and all advice on this subject as we are at a loss. Thank you all so much!

Tough one!
Have you tried staying up so you can take the dog out to meet the guards as they change posts? Perhaps even meet each guard as individuals, walk a bit with them so the dog can maybe catch the rhythm and cadence of each one.
If the dog gets out a few times to witness the changing of the guards maybe it will help.

I hope.

Randy

Yeah yeah,
The more I think about it, the more I like that idea.
I'll bet it won't be much more then house training a pup. Just take the dog out. Show him what is going on, always assure him it's okay. Let him know you approve what's going on.
He'll learn, this is what happens about now......every night.

The first time the guards are late, he'll probably let you know. lol

I'd try to get out a little early so he could witness the whole process before he got upset.

That's a good idea!

Thanks guys. So should we still allow her to bark. We are afraid that if we correct her for it then she will begin to think that other guard-looking people are strange. With the turnover in the guard industry here, is it conceivable she would begin to associate all strangers as guards? We really like her protective side as we have four kids and actually like the fact that she keeps guards out of the house! If we introduce her as you suggest then is there a chance she wouldn't be protective if the guard or some other stranger came into the house? What do you all think?

Jenny,
Now things are getting complicated. At least on this end.

I assumed the guards patroled outside of a compound. Or they patroled inside the fence and the dog was kept inside of the house.
You mentioned the high turn over in the different people doing the job, but doesn't the change of guard happen about the same time every night?

Exactly what is the situation?

Hey. I know, this is confusing. We have a 10 foot wall surrounding our entire house, including the driveway. The guard will always be inside the wall. The dog stays inside the house. If we need to let her out to go the the bathroom we ask the guard to leave the "compound" and go outside to the street and wait. So if a kid opens the door and lets the dog out of the house by accident she'll be able to get to the guard. I'm so sorry this is confusing. It's confusing me! So we don't want her to be aggressive to the guard, but at the same time there have been instances here in Cambodia...just last week...where the guard was the culprit in a triple murder. We don't want Vesta (the dog) to ever let the guard in the house, but we also don't want her to attack if she accidentally gets out. She goes nuts when she even sees him through the window. All the guards have the same uniform so they all look alike to her. We have three different guards that rotate throughout the week. Again, thanks for the help and I'm sorry I didn't explain things better.

Jenny

Even without reading your last post, I would leave the dog how it is if it were mine other than maybe teaching her to watch the changing instead of barking at it. My first thought was, "what if one of those guards lets someone in and the dog is fine with it because this person is also wearing a guard uniform?". I've heard some crazy stories about Cambodian gangs and I would want those guards to know that my dog gets angry when they're around.

Speaking of which, is the dog poison proofed? If not you may want to look into that, too.

So glad you wrote, that is kind of what we're thinking too. How do you poison proof your dog?

Are there any reputable Personal Protection Dog trainers in your area?
I would train her in Personal Protection.
A properly trained PPD is trained to attack only in certain circumstances.
On Ed's main site there are tons of videos.
There are ones that you should get that will teach you what to look for in a trainer.
Go look for them. There is a PPD one. ONe on pack leadership, bite work marker training.. all of it.
If you get those and watch them, you will be educated enough to find a good trainer there....One that won't ruin the dog.
I would def look into training her in Personal Protection work....And poison proof her for sure!
Its involved, but basically teach her to not eat unless fed from a special bowl by a family member.
Marker training vid and basic ob vids with the pack leader vid and the PPD vid would be what I would get to start with.
They are really good..they go slowly and are realllly in depth...the kind of vids you watch 5 times and take notes on.
Are you staying there for long?
Willie