A friend of mine is looking for a Pitbull as a home companion dog. He wants a well mannered stable dog that will also be a good home protector. He works nights and wants a dog that will be a good companion for his wife and one that will be a deterent to any intruder.

I am been part of this board for many years and own two shepherds That i train in obedience and protection etc..
The reason he does not want a shepherd is because his wife is a neat freak and the shedding hair will make her crazy.

I educated him about the importance of the breeding and getting references from recent buyers. He will have the dog trained in obedience and basic protection. I just don't know anything about this breed so I am deferring to you guys for some help.

Is there amy other breeds that are not big shedders that would be also a good choice. How about a dutch shepherds? I am not familliar with this breed either.

Thanks in advance,


Mike

I would recommend a Matltese. I have heard that these dogs don't shed much? I could be wrong on this, but I am sure that they can be trained to bite an ankle or two. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> You might have your friend look at the Missouri Pit Bull Rescue. Others on the post might be able to tell you more about getting a dog from a rescue such as this one. You would have to evaluate the dog to see if it would meet the needs of your friend, but they might have something that your friend is interested it. I don't remember the address, but do a search on the Missouri Pitt Bull Rescue out of Raytown, MO. This might be a good place to start looking.

Any other opinions about my suggestion?

If you want a protective dog, get a Lhasa Apso! Those little suckers will protect their human to no end! Fierce little beasts they are, and fearless!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

A pit bull with a proper temperament is a terrible guard dog. Often, they don't even alarm bark. Once, I forgot to lock my front door, and a strange man came walking in. My pit bulls didn't bark, didn't do a damn thing. Now, that's a proper pit bull temperament <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As far as a deterant, yeah, a lot of people are afraid of pit bulls. The soccer mom across the street, the sweet old lady next door, and the lawyer the next block down. All the scary thugs, however, LOVE pit bulls. Every creepy guy within a two mile radius seem to sense my dogs, and want to come check them out. Sometimes I am terrified of being mugged FOR my dogs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

As far as shedding goes, one of the pit bulls sheds more than my Malinois. The other has folicular dysplasia, and has very little hair.

Other breeds you may consider: dogo argentino, bull terrier, cane corso, Presa Canario, american bull dog, french mastiff, and bull mastiff. Here are two sites that have alot of information http://www.bulldoginformation.com/molossers-mastiff-type-dogs.html and http://www.moloss.com/001/ptxt/breed.html

Of course if they really want a dog that will be a home protector, all the mastiff-type breeds will be eliminated if you look at the data regarding actual protection episodes with a critical eye. Of course if a neat home is more important than preventing a break-in, by all means get one of the "flavor of the moment" guardian breeds that are all hype and no bite ( except for usually children... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> )

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A pit bull with a proper temperament is a terrible guard dog. Often, they don't even alarm bark. Once, I forgot to lock my front door, and a strange man came walking in. My pit bulls didn't bark, didn't do a damn thing. Now, that's a proper pit bull temperament <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As far as a deterant, yeah, a lot of people are afraid of pit bulls. The soccer mom across the street, the sweet old lady next door, and the lawyer the next block down. All the scary thugs, however, LOVE pit bulls. Every creepy guy within a two mile radius seem to sense my dogs, and want to come check them out. Sometimes I am terrified of being mugged FOR my dogs <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

As far as shedding goes, one of the pit bulls sheds more than my Malinois. The other has folicular dysplasia, and has very little hair.

So right on, choose another breed, my female (AS) isn't even a good alert dog, if you break in she might lick you to death though.......

A pitbull is a good deterrent if someone sees it because they have such a bad reputation. But as someone already pointed out, the kind you would want to keep in your home isn't bred to be a guard dog.

If you want something that will just prevent a break in, few dogs (IMO) look more intimidating to the average scum bag than a Great Dane. Their bark is about as menacing and mean as any I've ever heard and their size/height makes most people very cautious around them. They don't shed much either. I was young when I had them so I can't say much about their mentality or attituded towards protection training. But they were naturally protective of their property and all of the people on it.

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Other breeds you may consider: dogo argentino, bull terrier, cane corso, Presa Canario,

I have worked a fair share of CC's and Presas or should I say tried, and it was all wasted energy. If you want to weight pull great! Home protection NOPE! Looking for a CC or Presa that is capable of doing protection work is like looking for a diamond in the rough. I'm sure theres one in there, but you better be ready to spend years upon years looking for this dog. I'v been approached by some who has wanted me to train their dog in PP and even when the money was going to look nice, I had to turn them down, because it will be a waste of time (given the odds), waste of energy, they will be wasting their money, and they will not be satisfied in the end. I informed them of my reasons why and directed 3 of them (who were insisting) to this other fellow on the other side of town, who after being paid $1500 managed to get the dog to bark (very half a##) at a threat. These dogs had come from some supposedly top line "working" kennels. Anyone who says they have one that is trained in protection or is capable, I would have to see it with my own eyes, not even a video would suffice, because I'd place my bet that they themselves have no idea what they are looking at.

As far as pitbulls go your odds are much better than Presas or CC but odds are still very much against you. I have seen a few Pitbulls capable of great protection work, but that was NOT the norm, meaning your search will be long and hard. I knew someone who had excellent bred pitbulls and was a heavy NATIONAL competitor in ADBA weight pulling. He had his 30 pitbulls sitting in a big fenced in area. Within that area all his dogs were individually kept in 10X10 kennels. He had another fence that went around all the kennels, still being enclosed by the outer perimeter 8ft tall razor wire fence, with two GSD's roving just inside the perimeter fence. He did this because when he just had the kennels his dogs were being stolen left and right. Joe smoe from the street could walk up and take any of his dogs with no problem and the dogs didn't even bark at the strangers. So out of 30 pitbulls this guy had, he could find one that would defend his property or had the potential so he had to go out and buy GSD's to do it.

I've seen a lot of protection trained pits, some quite good. For those of you involved with ASR you might know the Von Hogslayer kennels. Jeff Schwartzman I believe. As fars as Dogos we had one for a brief time. Everyone one I have seen has been incredibly unstable. Great for hunting boars and puma, but not what I would want in a ppd. If you're interested in a working bull breed get a german breed boxer. Stay away from shepherd breeds unless you require your intruders herded into a certain room! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> I kid, I kid, don't shoot!