[♥]

Trying to decide between a Belgian Malinois and a Doberman Pinscher. I think my mind is made up and like the Belgian Malinois. Apparently they are being used all of the time for police work also. We're buying the dog from a facility that supplies guard dogs and K-9 police dogs.

[Laminar]

I hear that Pit Bulls are wonderfully loving dogs with no violent tendencies.

See you on page 10

[smacintush]

Oh yeah…let's open that can of worms…

[wallinbl]

Get a few guns while you're at it.

[Cold Warrior]

Unless they are highly trained and extremely disciplined, both breeds suck. Go to a trailer park or a lousy neighborhood and you'll see lots.

Get a dog that exhibits great loyalty and natural discretion. Golden Retrievers and labradors come to mind.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

Unless they are highly trained and extremely disciplined, both breeds suck. Go to a trailer park or a lousy neighborhood and you'll see lots.

Originally Posted by ♥ 

We're buying the dog from a facility that supplies guard dogs and K-9 police dogs.

Her dog will be "highly trained and extremely disciplined" if she's getting it from a facility that supplies guard dogs and K-9 police dogs.

[Doofy]

Your best bet is a rottweiler/labrador cross, if you can find one. Soppy as anything with the kids, nasty as you like with intruders.

[Cold Warrior]

Originally Posted by Person Man 

Her dog will be "highly trained and extremely disciplined" if she's getting it from a facility that supplies guard dogs and K-9 police dogs.

Maybe. She should check them out. Buyer beware.

[Rumor]

My girlfriends mom has a Great Dane / St. Bernard mix for home protection. 240 lbs of self defecation.

[moonmonkey]

Originally Posted by Cold Warrior 

[b]Get a dog that exhibits great loyalty and natural discretion. Golden Retrievers and labradors come to mind.

Labradors are very smart and very protective, they very rarely get aggressive so people think they can't, very safe for children, very dangerous for intruders.

[Shaddim]

Belgian Shepherds (Malinois) are great for such things, and they don't have the same stigma attached to them as a Rotty or a Pit.

Personally, I don't like Dobermans, but that's just because I had a bad experience with one as a child, YMMV.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by ♥ 

Trying to decide between a Belgian Malinois and a Doberman Pinscher. I think my mind is made up and like the Belgian Malinois. Apparently they are being used all of the time for police work also. We're buying the dog from a facility that supplies guard dogs and K-9 police dogs.

What are you defending?

[Mithras]

Do you really want a guard dog, or just a dog that looks scary if someone's snooping around?

[ghporter]

A "guard dog" is a tool that must be constantly maintained with rigorous and very time consuming training. A "good dog for your family that will also be brave and loyal" can be just about any breed. To make the statement you want to make, it should be a good-sized, fairly smart dog-one of the working breeds like a German Shepherd for example. But ANY smart dog needs lots of training too (just not as intensive or all-consuming) or they'll get bored and find something to do. Probably something you won't like at all.

There are no "dangerous breeds," but there are plenty of ignorant or evil people who either fail to train their dogs or train them to do horrible things-and the dogs become like the monsters that trained them.

[♥]

Do you really want a guard dog, or just a dog that looks scary if someone's snooping around?

Both, actually.

I wish someone here owned a Malinois and could give me some feedback on them.

[KeriVit]

I know you and you'll spend time and training with the dog. My lab rot is a great dog. My dobie was the bombcake and I WILL get another someday. Really, just go with what suits your family best with temperament, not what's cool or known. Really, I'm surprised you're not adopting.?

[ghporter]

Belgian Malinois make GREAT "working dogs." They are like big, woolly German Shepherds, probably marginally smarter, and they are very tough animals. But they are smart and need a steady job, so you need to work them at something daily. Even if it's just a run around the fence line, or around the block a few times. Exposure helps too. Our GSD is intimidating because he weighs about 100 pounds and is all but completely black. He's a teddy bear-which is how a good Malinois gets to be if he's trained and taken care of properly. Think about Patrick Swayze in Road House "Be nice. Until it's time to not be nice." Well trained dogs are that way.

[brapper]

Belgian. Forsh.

[MOTHERWELL]

I recommend my favorite breed: Bouviers


Bouvier des Flandres - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[RAILhead]

[♥]

Had to click on the "original size" up there, RAILhead, to get the full context and meaning of your point.



Anyway, yeah, considered a gun but I've got little kids with curious minds all over my house like monkeys. I'd be worrying about them and the gun then on top of evildoers.

[Dawson]

I'm reminded of something G. Gordon Liddy once said:

If somebody breaks into your house, you gotta make sure you kill them. Shoot them. Make sure there is only one story, the right story, your story.

[ghporter]

Yeah, a dog that looks and sound big and loud is good for discouraging people from breaking in, but if they decide to break in anyway, you're in trouble. You have no idea if the idiot is intent on hurting you and your family or just stealing stuff. In Texas there is no duty to retreat from an intruder in your home (or anywhere else for that matter) and you can assume that he's there for the purpose of hurting you and yours. In my case, he's going to be facing two dogs weighing in at a total of almost 200 pounds, but it's the 20 pound one that's gonna hurt him-she'll turn his butt into hamburger while he's staring at the other two dogs. I might just let her do that while I get the camera. But seriously, if someone breaks into my house, he's gonna be assumed to be a lethal threat, and will be dealt with accordingly.

[Mastrap]

Whatever you decide, remember that good guard dogs don't make good pets. And with children in the house especially I personally would just invest in a good alarm system and decent doors.

It all depends on how safe/unsafe you feel in your house.

[RAILhead]

It's important to get a gun that won't fire without the clip fully latched and inserted. I can have a live round in the chamber with the clip ejected and the gun won't fire -- there's nothing you can do to get the round to release.

Since I don't have kids, I keep my handgun in the nightstand with the clip just ejected, so then all I have to do is grab the pistol and pop the clip, then I'm ready.

With kids, then, all you have to do is make sure you don't keep the gun and the clip in the same place.

[design219]

I have a white German Shepherd. She looks intimidating and she is large, but is as gentle as a puppy. She is very watchful over my children when they play outside. I've seen her get between the kids and visitors she doesn't know, not in an aggressive way, but in a protective way.

[♥]

Hmmm...

Well, maybe I'll get a gun AND the dog.

Seriously, we're going down for training with one dog in particular and probably going to try him out and see how it goes. I'll feel like I'm living with a wolf - he's huge and reminds me of a wolf with his prick ears and black mask face - but maybe that's the point.

Hmmm...

[Dakarʒ]

Somehow, this thread has made me appreciate my life.

[Mastrap]

^ Same here. I could not imagine living in a place where I would need either a gun or dog to feel safe. In Toronto we do lock the house, but the cottage in the country is unlocked even at night.

[Cold Warrior]

Statistically, most places are very safe. However, random violence can strike anyone at any time, and criminals tend to choose the weakest links (no alarm, no dogs, etc.). I'd rather have a dog, an alarm, and a couple guns to ensure I'm prepared to meet a home invasion threat, rather than not be ready.

[Mastrap]

I didn't mean to say that there's no crime where I live - that's an utopia. But I am not worried sufficiently to make preparations for an eventuality that is highly unlikely to ever happen.

Of course this could potentially land me in a situation where it will suck to be me. However, the same can happen with a gun in the home or a dog on the loose.

[Rumor]

I saw a stat somewhere that said homeowners with guns were more likely to be shot during a home invasion. It didn't say anything about dogs though. I think in general, thieves tend to skip the house with a barking dog*.

*By dog, I mean a real dog, not a football.

[Laminar]

Speaking of footballs, my roommates and I just got a Pug. It barks.

[Rumor]

Like a squeak toy.

[♥]

↑

This is a Malinois. They are not squeaky.

[Lateralus]

[Laminar]

Aww, what a cutie!

[Dakarʒ]

Well, this thread's gone to the dogs.
don't hit me

[Laminar]

I might still.
Not that it would hurt...

[♥]

That little dog freaks me out, to be perfectly honest.

(Isn't he dead, also?)

[RAILhead]

He is undead.

[Mastrap]

Yes, I think he died. From what I've read he was a very friendly little doggie.

[Face Ache]

A couple of weeks ago my five year old daughter accidentally trod on my golden retriever's leg, badly injuring it. My pooch didn't even growl. I wonder if a guard dog would take it that well.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Face Ache 

A couple of weeks ago my five year old daughter accidentally trod on my golden retriever's leg, badly injuring it. My pooch didn't even growl. I wonder if a guard dog would take it that well.

No. Most dogs wouldn't. Goldens are like that, but that's something that's pretty much them. If she'd stepped on MY GSD's leg, he'd have yelped up a storm (my vet says the world's biggest babies are male German Shepherds), but he wouldn't have hurt her.

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

^ Same here. I could not imagine living in a place where I would need either a gun or dog to feel safe. In Toronto we do lock the house, but the cottage in the country is unlocked even at night.

Same here. We've never locked our houses. Even when we leave.

[Face Ache]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

No. Most dogs wouldn't. Goldens are like that, but that's something that's pretty much them. If she'd stepped on MY GSD's leg, he'd have yelped up a storm (my vet says the world's biggest babies are male German Shepherds), but he wouldn't have hurt her.

A lot of dogs in that situation would have snapped instinctively. I know my old blue heeler and kelpie would have.

[ghostdawg]

A good dog for Watch Dog barking is a Scottish Terrier...for real attacking a Bullmastiff.

[Graviton]

A robot dog on the back of an elephant with cannons strapped to its sides.

[♥]

No pitbull plugs here?

[Mastrap]

^ You've got kids, right? There's your answer.