Ok, that was a catchy title because I really want someone to read this and give me an answer.

We adopted an 8 week old puppy from the shelter over a year ago. She has grown up to be what I think is a black mouth cur (we are in the south). She is about 35lbs, and is fairly short. We love her to death.

I originally got the dog to comfort my wife as I travel. But I also wanted an alarm / scare dog just in case. I did not know she would only be 35lbs.

But this is what we have. She was very shy at first when we attempted to touch her outside. She has since gotten alot better, and will approach if I give the sit command. She will come in now when called. She knows her name, sit, down, up, and shake all very well. She was housetrained in no time and rarely had to use a crate (about a month).

She recognizes me as the leader of the pack, even though we cuddle her to death. She sleeps on the bottom of bed, and lays on the couch. But she follows me out of the door, responds to my commands, leaves the bed if asked, etc etc. She does pretty well on the leesh, except she pulls when she smells small vermin. We do not feed her from the table. We have had no dominance issues. She is spayed as well.

Here is the question: this dog is 1 yr old, isn't going to get much bigger and will lick someone to death before clamping down on them. She has a bark that she uses when we are not around (we trained her not to bark so much when she was a puppy). She loves to lick. She will give her "mom" and "dad" kisses to no end until we tell her to stop, which she promptly does.

Can I somehow train some protection characteristics into her? My wife swears she "would" do something if someone broke in, but I don't buy it. It is so late in the game, I don't know where to begin in terms of training. Any exercises you can give me would be very helpful. I know she isn't going to be a police dog, but some additional watchdog characteristics would be nice... maybe a little more leery of strangers (right now she sniffs feet and attempts to lick if allowed).

She's still a puppy, she's looking to you two for protection. Ed's has some articles on the subject. look around in the training articles. From what I gather from the the pro's here, there are many GSDs, Rotties et al that aren't suitable for protection work either. Don't call your wife's dog worthless or you'll be the one in the crate <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

How does she react when somebody knocks at the door at night or comes into the yard? If she barks that's probably about all you need. If she doesn't bark by herself you could always teach her the command Speak. Then train her that the doorbell or a knock at the door is a trigger to Speak.

Your dog is a submissive pet. Leave her alone. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> Attempting to put 'protection characteristics' into her would ruin her. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />

Any dog can be trained to bark at the door. Enlist your neighbors to help you with training. First you train the dog to bark on command for a treat. Then you transfer the 'cue' for barking to the appearance of a person on the property. But it will most likely not be a true territorial warning, only a cue for a reward. But be careful what you ask for.

I could be wrong, and there are many more on this board with a great deal more experience than I, and you posted nothing about territorial instincts, so this my opinion based upon limited knowledge of your dog, and not much experience with PPD.

Protective characteristics are not the same as watchdog characteristics.

Get a GSD, or better yet get an alarm system. It will be more dependable than relying on a pet to protect your wife while you are gone. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks for the responses. We actually do have an alarm system... just paranoid I guess.

You are right about her being submissive. And I think the only way to make her "protection-like" would be to just make her mean -- probably the only way through abuse -- which is not something I'd ever consider. I don't want her to become a mean dog on the end of a chain. As you can tell, we like her the way she is...except what I posted about.

Here is some more info: She _ALWAYS_ wants to play with other dogs. She has no qualms about running up and jumping on them and playing rough. As a puppy she didn't quite understand the "NO" cues from other dogs. But I guess that is puppyish. She has a habit of grabbing a toy from another dog just to get the other dog to chase her. She is pretty fast, so it is fun to watch. She will bark at other dogs, but not people.

Ok -- a couple of you answered my question about the barking. I want her to bark at the door.. or teach her the "speak" command. How do I do it? She never barks inside, so there is no behavior to reinforce. And I can't make her bark (atleast to my knowledge).

If I could get her barking, I could easily train her with food rewards and praise. It is just getting her barking.

Thoughts?

you might find some help from this previous post http://leerburg.server294.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=138;t=000013