Help me find dog breeds

[Coffee N Chickens]

I just noticed that the OP is in the UK. I used to be a dog club's representative to my state's dog council when breed specific legislation was a big issue. (Dating myself here.) If memory serves, there are guardian breeds allowed here that are banned over there, so some of these breed suggestions might not be possible. Have things changed?

 

[SpotTheCat]

So it sounds like you want a dog who can be trained so it will bark, and bite unless your order it not to?

No I want a dog who is wary of strangers, who is polite to them when I am there and say the person is fine, who will bite in extreme situations or at least looks like they will

 

[Folly's place]

So you have a visitor that your dog 'doesn't like', so you have this dog locked up? This cancels everything you expect your dog to do! What if this person is the bad guy? Your dog, to be effective, needs to be a polite presence with visitors, and under your control, because you have let them in. If something goes really wrong, then your trained dog can get between you, or be a distraction, or whatever.
What's best for most of us is a basically friendly dog who can be impressive but manageable. I think your best bet is to get a dog who basically likes people, isn't the boss puppy in the litter, and isn't back in the corner either, and then invest in the training and socialization necessary to have a well behaved family member, while guarding appropriately. Biting is last on the list!
Mary

 

[chickentrains]

No I want a dog who is wary of strangers, who is polite to them when I am there and say the person is fine, who will bite in extreme situations or at least looks like they will

Any belgian breed I mentioned. Looks scary, will bark. They'll probably even chase somebod off.

 

[Critter721]

Maybe Appenzeller Sennenhund? Seemed to tick a lot of your boxes. Might be hard to find, but maybe easier for you to find than here in the US.
https://www.akc.org/dog-breeds/appenzeller-sennenhund/

 

[SpotTheCat]

I just noticed that the OP is in the UK. I used to be a dog club's representative to my state's dog council when breed specific legislation was a big issue. (Dating myself here.) If memory serves, there are guardian breeds allowed here that are banned over there, so some of these breed suggestions might not be possible. Have things changed?

I haven’t heard of any banned breeds at least not of the breeds so far people have mentioned.

 

[chickentrains]

I haven’t heard of any banned breeds at least not of the breeds so far people have mentioned.

most "pit bull" type dogs are banned.

 

[NatJ]

No I want a dog who is wary of strangers, who is polite to them when I am there and say the person is fine, who will bite in extreme situations or at least looks like they will

Is the dog supposed to be protective when you are present, or when you are gone?
I would think the correct training for one will be very different than the other.

In either case, you should definitely train some basic command like "sit," and teach the dog to allow visitors to pet it and otherwise handle it when you say so. (Also helpful when the dog needs to go to the vet. You don't want the dog to need anesthesia for a simple vet checkup!)

 

[SpotTheCat]

So you have a visitor that your dog 'doesn't like', so you have this dog locked up? This cancels everything you expect your dog to do! What if this person is the bad guy? Your dog, to be effective, needs to be a polite presence with visitors, and under your control, because you have let them in. If something goes really wrong, then your trained dog can get between you, or be a distraction, or whatever.
What's best for most of us is a basically friendly dog who can be impressive but manageable. I think your best bet is to get a dog who basically likes people, isn't the boss puppy in the litter, and isn't back in the corner either, and then invest in the training and socialization necessary to have a well behaved family member, while guarding appropriately. Biting is last on the list!
Mary

I don’t want a family pet, I want a dog who is polite to strangers and visitors, but will be wary of strangers and in extreme situations will bite, I won’t lock it up if it turns out how I want, I said I would do it so people know I will if I need to. The uk is not that dangers that I expect anything to really happen with visitors and we basically get no visitors.

 

[SpotTheCat]

Is the dog supposed to be protective when you are present, or when you are gone?
I would think the correct training for one will be very different than the other.

In either case, you should definitely train some basic command like "sit," and teach the dog to allow visitors to pet it and otherwise handle it when you say so. (Also helpful when the dog needs to go to the vet. You don't want the dog to need anesthesia for a simple vet checkup!)

When I am gone it just needs to look scary and dangers, when I am there I would like a dog who won’t run away if I get attacked or something like that, again I don’t think I need something to the point of a trained protection dog but I don’t want something completely oblivious to the situation, who runs away or is friendly to strangers

Basic training I will definitely do, all of the things you listed are things I want to train it to do. I just don’t want it to be like some dogs, as friendly to strangers as its family is definitely a no for me.