The more I read the more I realize that my GSD may not protect my family as I hoped. I have read that a dog "MUST" be specially trained for protection in order for it to "protect". As mentioned in previous post, our GSD (6 months old) is a family pet and there are no current plans for protection training.

My question is:

Without any protection training, how much can be expected from my dog in terms of protection?

For example, if someone broke into our home in the middle of the night, would our GSD dog attack the intruder or lick him/her to death? I understand that the answer to this question will vary greatly from dog to dog.

The reason we purchased a GSD (maybe a bad reason) is because of their natural abilities to protect/guard their pack/herd/home. We figuered that he would naturally posses these qualities.

My previous GSD (RIP) was never trained for protection and was a wonderful guard dog. Thankfully, he was never tested with an actual intruder while we were home in the middle of the night. He did chase out a burglar in the middle of the day once. Came home with an open front door and my dog sitting at the door waiting. The dog broke a window (dog left outside while we worked) to chase the intruder out the front door. The door had been kicked in by the intruder.

I'd be happy about the deterrent factor of having a big dog like a GSD on my property and pretty much forget about the rest.

JMO!

My marshmallow of a Boxer has people crossing the street to go past him on walks. Dogs are a good deterrent. If they attempt to go through the dog YOU need to be taking care of it anyway.

My dog, the locked gate, locked security door, and locked front door are all deterrents. My guns and willingness to use them are my protection.

Connie's post says it all. My first GSD was a very hard dog. No one was able to come near, let alone, in my home. My youth told me this was a very cool thing. 20 plus years and two dogs later, I currently have a soft, confident and social GSD. In my opinion, both my current dog and my first dog have the same effect on deterring would be intruders. The only difference now would be that I am a little wiser. My dog will alert me to an intruder and I will protect my family by any means necessary, not my dog.

I had a guy trying to open my patio door with a screwdriver in the middle of the night. My Yorkie went after him, and that was enough for the guy to run.
I was a little in shock, to see how aggressive the otherwise very friendly Yorkie became. I have never in my life seen that many teeth in a dog.

The guy in a bite suit during training, does not have the same adrenalin, and fear, nervousness, as a guy breaking into your home. Your dog will feel that negative energy, and your dog will be very different when it gets real.

You can rarely ever know until the situation actually arises.
IF you actually have a serious need for a protection dog then you would do well to get a firearm. The dog's job is to give you time to get to the fire arm. The "alert" dog will do that just fine.

Our very first German Shepherd, Sam was the mush previous posters have described. However, there was a rash of break-ins on our street (we weren't home) and some one got as far as the front door and our shepherd's teeth. We now have an alarm as "plan b" for the dogs...or vice versa.

It differs so much dog to dog- My uncle's Lab took him out because he came in with Santa Costume on and didn't realize it was him while my friends found their 90 lb Rottie snuggled up to a drunk stranger in their bed early one morning.
IMHO, a dog (even one trained in protection) *may* provide enough distraction for the owners to train their firearm on the intruder and call 911.

 Quote: Brian Couse

... My first GSD was a very hard dog. No one was able to come near, let alone, in my home. My youth told me this was a very cool thing. 20 plus years and two dogs later, I currently have a soft, confident and social GSD. In my opinion, both my current dog and my first dog have the same effect on deterring would be intruders. The only difference now would be that I am a little wiser. My dog will alert me to an intruder and I will protect my family by any means necessary, not my dog.

"In my opinion, both my current dog and my first dog have the same effect on deterring would be intruders. "


Ditto!

did we ever hear from that guy who was going to " stage " an attack on himself to test how well his dog would naturally " defend " him . i really wanted him to post up the video 'cause ( a ) i really wanted to see it because ( b ) i've always wondered about the same thing myself .

fortunately i live in a place where prolly the last thing i need is a protection dog . bears maybe , but humans around these parts have got better things to do than break into my shack . all the good shit is laying around outside anyway lol .