Doorways, gates, fencelines, archways, hallways etc are all territory or space boundaries, There are lines that mark boundaries that we would not normally recognize, like a line of staggered trees or bushes in a more or less open area, or a phone pole etc.

Does he try to prevent you from going through the doorway at all or go before you do? or does he go through with/right behind you? If he goes before you he is likely waiting for you to move going out of the room for him to continue his search of the main territory(house) if he goes after he is waiting for you to search with him. JMO

And Jennifer, your description made me giggle, that sounds like a LOT of dogs I know. Rough tough big bad barking beasties when they have backup, but cautious contemplative critters when alone.

I do believe that dogs can be naturally "protective" and that the behavior may not always be resource guarding but this would be in a dog that had the natural temperament and inclination towards being a scout/guardian aka "beta" and the problem is if it happens too often you need to step back and look at the situation to make sure you are still enforcing yourself as pack leader regularly and that no other behaviors are present that are tell tale signs of dominance or resource guarding.

Mary,
If your dog was serious, it would have bitten. My Phoebe will certainly bite, and bite hard, if anyone threatens a family member. If anyone made a move to hit me, they would be punctured. I do not know if she would continue to fight if the assailant fought back, she is not trained, and it has not come up. On the other hand, Rusty just makes noise. Any dog can connect, and connect well if it wants to. They are very fast.

I think that she was serious, but the man didnt push it so there was no need for her to engage further. She hasnt been encouraged so she probably wouldnt fight if push came to shove. However she hates violence and is a very discerning dog, I wouldn't trust her at all if she jumped straight to biting instead of giving some kind of warning that "your crossing the line, Mister".

I was on a website (http://www.protectiondogs.com/training/training_methods.shtml#CovertSecure) and they advertise an protection technique called the "Covert Secure" where the dog is trained to be at "ALERT" and walk BACKWARDS and basically stare down a person approaching from behind?? Has anybody trained this or seen videos of this? I am amazed at this?

I really need to se this in action!! I read that the hardest thing to train a dog i to walk backwards (Like whe training a seeing-eye-dog to step back from a curb a few steps istead of naturally wanting to turn around)

Any info would be appreciated??

Thanks

ADam

Here is a link to a training vid of Mac (Mac the mouth from Dantero) that I believe demonstrates what you are talking about. Starts at :24

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EVUcLh_4C0
and another starting at about 2:33
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xic6QU4_sbQ

There are other vids from Dantero (www.Dantero.com) that show this. I love Mac and Kadi's dogs, I think she and her dogs are amazing.

I'm not quite sure why you posted this question on this thread, maybe I missed something about walking backwards?



Edited by Jennifer Marshal (02/23/2008 12:01 AM)
Edit reason: add link

It was the whole protectio thing. Seemed a knowledgable group about protection training and I thought it would get a response.

Thanks I'll check out the links

Adam

Questions specifically about protection training are better in their own thread in one of the protection forums That way people who are more experienced with protection training will see and answer your question specifically without hijacking or anything. Just a thought.

 Quote: adam dorn

It was the whole protectio thing. Seemed a knowledgable group about protection training and I thought it would get a response.

Thanks I'll check out the links

Adam

Adam,
Did you notice that under their puppies for sale they note that they're out of "top European Showlines" ?
Alarm bells should be going off by that statement alone, much less the other warning signs that you can see at their site.

 Quote: jennifer marshal

In the face of an adversary in the presence of a ranking member, unless the dog has the natural traits of a beta (which means natural inclination towards protecting the pac, has the drives and temperament necessary to handle the stress etc) and even if it does have the natural traits it will still tend to look to the master, the alpha, if not for protection, for direction. In this case.. of a dog that has the correct traits/is a "beta" - if at any time the alpha/owner has discouraged aggressive behavior or the dog has been corrected for its territorial or guarding/protective behaviors they will more likely than not sit and wait for you to take care of the problem and do nothing.

Jennifer, or anyone else that can answer:
I have some questions about the "beta" type dog. Would this type of dog take initiative top protect the house, or property, if alpha/owner was not around to give it direction? Does “beta” type dogs take over as alpha when the real alpha is not there (second in command type of thing)? Sorry if these are weird question; I'm still green.

Side note... why would anyone pay $65K for a dog? Is this normal? "(http://www.protectiondogs.com/training/training_methods.shtml#CovertSecure)"

 Quote: Adam Dorn

I read that the hardest thing to train a dog i to walk backwards
Any info would be appreciated??

Adam, it isn't hard to teach. I sent you a PM.