Kristen wrote: "if the gate is opened he will more than likely run out, and the bad guy simply enters the yard and closes the gate behind him. Why leave a good, expensive dog outside alone anyway?"


Why? To act as an outside barrier and an external alarm/deterent system.

If you have an exterior fence that surrounds a property it works very well. You train the dog in scenarios to make tricking him difficult. I also barrier train them, so they won't actually exit through the driveway gate or any man gates. They won't come within 10' of them. That way you can actually open your driveway gate and drive onto the property without the dogs running out the gate. I have a friend who is a member of our private PP training group who keeps three yard dogs to keep people away from his property. He has legitimate reasons to want people kept away from his property.

There are various reasons to do it.

Personally I have never seen my GSD Luke bark at what is outside of the house, early on he would toss a fit, but after me simply telling him to quiet down and wait, he has picked up on what I was trying to get across. Now he WILL get growl quietly, but will not get really loud, and he will come into my room when I am asleep and "nose" me if someone is near my vehicles outside. He has really scared my older son's friends ocassionally by waiting until they entered the house unescorted, and then getting spun up. These are teenagers, he will simply bark at a smaller child. As it sits he is not likely to react until someone is actually inside the house, after that I have very little doubt that he would bite, especially if my younger children are in the house. I am fairly comfortable with that, as an adult I just need "the warning", I know where the gun safe is, but the little ones require the immediate protection. He has been the smartest dog that I have ever seen for actually understanding what I want from him. As for the signs, no need actually, he could care less if you are in the yard, did you come to play? Cool!
His job as he has come to understand it is "inside" the house, and wherever my little people are at. IF they are in the backyard playing, AND you are an adult sized person, then you might have some difficulty. But then again I will get the warning. He seems also to react less if I am home, if I am gone and the wife is here then he reacts differently, a bit more agressively.