It's unlawful in many jurisdictions to leave your dog unattended for a REASON.

 Quote: connie sutherland

 Quote: meredith hamilton

I don't trust other people not to hurt or steal my dog, or in ignorance cause an accident.

Or tease or feed or poison or anything else.


The biggest ditto I can say. DITTO.

In addition to all of the above, which I wholeheartedly agree with, remember there are people out there who are always on the prowl for ways to sue others and get a big payout from your insurance company. They could tease your dog into growling or barking and then claim the dog attacked them (or even provoke it into actually biting), and then you've got a big lawsuit on your hands and your dog is in danger of being sentenced to death for being "dangerous."

Teaching an alert command is as simple as teaching the dog to speak on command.Just use a different command for it & have the dog be more animated when he barks for the alert command. You can do this without have to teach a H&B or doing any actual protection training.

All you need is the deterrent of the dog barking crazy to make someone think twice. If that doesn't work then you need a gun or a cop to defuse the situation. Some people REALLY ARE just nuts & it is often best to avoid any kind of confrontation if at all possible.

If my female alerts on someone or I give an alert command...she is nutso. No one (normal) is going to come near her or me. When I used to have to occasionally go to the ATM at night, I would leave the back window in the truck down & my dog would stand there. I had one guy approach & he had no card out or anything, had a hat pulled down on his face a bit & looked suspicious....I looked at him & then my dog (she was watching him already)& she alerted on him & he stepped back & I called the dog out of the truck & she jumped out & stood next to me watching the guy. He backed up & walked away around the cornor of the building. I don't know if he was intent on anything bad, but he was not acting right at all. Just that much of a show of the dog made him think twice & walk away. But he did walk away & didn't come back to the ATM even after I left the bank lot. He was walking down the street as I passed by the other side of the bank on the way home. So he obviously was ill-intentioned. That's all you need in most cases. If someone is that intent on hurting you, not just being opportunistic in picking you out as an easy target....you need far more then just a dog to protect you.



Ditto: on leaving a dog alone outside in public even for a couple of minutes. Hell, I keep an eye on mine in my 6FT fenced yard. I don't go out & leave them out there in the kennel or lose in the yard if I'm not home & I live in a nice area. Too many things can happen.

I understand all the concerns this is a extremely small deli where i am 4 feet from the dog I can see her but she cant see me and she is just outside the door and leashed and tied and on average I am inside for less than 45 seconds.
And thank you Anne for actually giving me advice on my question.

I always down my dog outside of many different stores not tied up basically off leash.
Though I never let her out of my site I'll hide inside watch because I don't trust anyone either.
My dog has a super strong down but I'm ready for when that special someone has to try and pet my dog so I step in before they get to close.
I guess people think if there's a dog holding a down in front of a store or on the side walk it must be a sweet friendly dog who loves to be pet by strangers?

Leaving a dog outside like that, Joe, IS an invitation to the public to walk up to it & 'make nice'.

Anytone would have to be crazy to leave an anti-social dog sitting on the sidewalk, with all the lawsuit happy people around today. Not saying that you dog is social or anit-social..I don't know your dog. Just saying.

I personally think it is a foolish thing to do regardless if the dog is freindly or not. It only takes a second for a dog to be made uncomfortable or for someone to claim that the dog attacked them. I would not put my dogs in that situation.

so what would you if you don't make it to the dog in time and he bites someone?
Im just playing devil's advocate here.

who pays for that mistake?
you or the dog?

It would only take one single second for a bad situation to happen.

I wouldn't take that risk with my dog.
cause i'll tell you right now, it's the dog that will pay in the end if something goes wrong.


No one knows what will set a dog off.

and unless you are beside the dog, you won't have enough time to prevent anything, much less stop it.

Man, that is a crazy man. No matter how bigger or smaller they are than you, they are dangerous, because of crazyness.


bark and Hold or threat display is going to make the crazy even worse. Just avoid the deli or if they will allow inside, take your dog inside, on a heel position.

The general philosophy of this board is that the way we live with our dogs is the first step is managing them, and that training is second.

For example, if a dog is destructive, we generally ask how much exercise a dog receives before we begin discussing training a dog not to chew on things.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say.

So, is it really any shock that the majority response to "I like to leave my dog unattended in a public place. How can I teach it to bark so that I can put the onus of protection on the dog rather than protect my dog myself?" would be the rather obvious solution of, don't leave your dog unattended in public places?

It's not FAIR to a dog, by any measure, to put it in the position you're proposing. Even with PPDs, the first rule is to always AVOID a confrontation, not to create one.

You're actually undoing the very thing you wish to do.
You're creating one of two pictures for unsavory characters:

Either, you have a friendly appearing, sweet dog that looks like the perfect, purebred family GSD. Perfect target for thieves.

Or, you have a dog who looks like an "attack dog". Perfect target for thieves.

You walk to the deli and back, from your house, just down the street. Someone who sees your dog and wants to steal it, knows exactly where you live. Someone who perceives your dog as an attack dog may well decide that you have something worth protecting, and poison your dog in the yard so they can break in.
From a security standpoint, you're setting yourself up in a VERY bad way.

My dog is nor anti social she is very socialized. My dog has never bit anyone in the 2.5 years I've been working with her she is friendly and social works well with children also.
Is that to say it couldn't happen no I guess it's possible but not likely I have not found anyone or thing that sets her off, yet?
I never leave my dog out of site because of the possibility of someone stealing her I'm worried about, I'm not worried about her biting someone.
I am constantly working on socialization with people, dogs, places.
This is a regular training exercise for us. I guess if I had an unsocialized dog who is easily "set off" then there would be reason for concern.
I may not be the sharpest pencil in the box and maybe I'm softer than a women so I guess call me crazy.