I have been wondering lately what the diffence between the various working dog breeds are, aside from looks. I not trying to start an argument about which one is better but was kinda wondering whats different about them assuming that we are talking about working lines?

Thanks
Robert

GSD's are all around great dogs

Malinois are high strung

Rotties bite the hardest <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

that was alot simplering answer then I hoped <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

oh well

AKITA'S have one hell of a bite also!!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Do Akitas have "working lines"?

Everybody knows that GSDs have the hardest bites, not Rottwhiners.

Oh. . . wait. . . you said DON'T start a fight. Ooops

If you want to explore the temperaments of working line dogs you will have to look at individuals. The differences between the good working lines of the GSD, Mal, Rott, Dob, etc are not universal other than looks. Find out what you want in a dog and look for a dog with those qualities. If you don't automatically choose one breed then it really won't matter. The similarities are too many among the working line dogs.

BUT, if you want a great working dog you will have better chances of finding a GSD or Malinios. There are just more of them out there.

Wismz,

Protection dogs can be catergorized in several methods. The first method is origional intent for the breed.

In this method there are the herding breeds, the livestock guarding breeds, and the property/people guarding dogs.

Herding dogs would include:

The GSD, Mal and other Belgian Sheep dogs, DS, Giant Schnauzer, Beaucheron, Rott, and Bouv. I am sure there are others, but it is late.

Livestock guardians would include:

Great Pyr, Caucasian Ovcharka, Central Asian Ovcharka, Giant Schnauzer, Karelian Bear Dog, Boxer, Dogo (also used for hunting), the mastiff/mossoler breeds, and the Rott. Again there are others.

Guading dogs:

BRT, Dobe, Tosa, Neo and others of the Mastiff breeds.

Another method of catagorizing dogs would be the method of work. There are dogs that tend to work in prey, and those that tend to be more defensive. Prey dogs would tend to be more of the of the prey dogs. The LGD and Guardians tend to work more defensively.

Herding dogs take a more active role in their basic work. They are active and moving around, going to direct their charges movements. The LGD and Guardians generally tend to be waiting for the problem to come to them and then deal with it. They tend to be more territorial and also more defensive.

There are some exceptions to some of these rules. In breeds that have been used heavily for sport I think the balance tends to go out of the breed and tend to prey. Many dogs are not being used in thier intended work and many of the breed chacteristics have changed to either companions, or more sport work.

Other than that you would have to ask a more specific question.

I think AKITA's are in the unemployment line of dogs. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Will do some research on finding any working AKITA's.

Vancamp! I agree on the GSD 100% for around workability, they are hard to beat. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Akita's are damn sure to hard headed for 100% workability. kinda like my employee's, teach them what you want and they do it their way regardless. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Why don't you mention the breeds you are primarily interested in, and break it down on what the board members feel specializes in aggression, rank, obedience, energy, etc.

For Example pick three your interested in and then it'll be easier to break it down. Then when that’s done pick three more.

I may be wrong but I feel most members on the board that like the GSD, would go with a Dutch Shepherd or Malinois if they had no other choice. If those breeds were out then they’d probably go with the Rottweiler. Dobermans would be in there too, but there’s less around some are still preferred. (Not to say the GSD people would then go to a rare breed, there's so much info about that, and opinions, it'd be too long)

As far as the rare breeds go, there’s far too many to say. You’d probably find a broader opinion on the more common breeds used.

As far as breeds im interested in I already know what I want. I was more curious as to what made working dogs different aside from looks. Lets say from a protection point of view; what make a breed unique? Why have other breeds if there are all the same?? And if there all the same then why is it a big deal to get a dog thats good into police service thats not a GSD?

Ok so here are some dogs based on size:

Neo
Tosa Dog
Rottweiler
Dobe
GSD
Malinois
Pitbull

Hi,

As already pointed out, you can´t judge a dogs ability based on which breed it is, at least not the common workingdogs like GSD,mal,dobe,rott,giants. All of these breeds could be terrific protectiondogs if you find a good one. Of course there are difference between for example a mal and a rottie, the mal is faster and high in drive, the rottie is heavy and powerfull but not so fast and agile, but both works well as protectiondogs. The police use mostly GSDs and mals because they are easy to find and not so expensive and they are good allround workindogs with great stamina that could do all, tracking,protection, and they have a coat to protect them in hard wheater, unlike the dobe. There are different breeds because humans started to create purebreeds for about 100 years ago, before that the GSD,mal and DS was the same dog, a working sheperddog that had been around for a long time. The dobes,giants and rotts had similar jobs to do, working with cattles and as guarddogs, later the police started to use them, because they had the right temperament for policework. The bottomline is that all these breeds could be good protectiondogs, there are just a difference in apperance, and small difference in temperamanet.
The tosa and pitbull haven´t been breed for protectiowork, so I guess it´s harder to find a good one for protectionwork in these breeds.