Urgent!! need advice on training a guard dog!!

[flight301]

My mom was totally all for obedience school at first, she wanted me to call the local obedience trainer before we even found a dog to adopt to enroll in classes! I don't mean to bash Dave, he is just soooooo bad with dogs. He is not a good candidate for a dog owner at all, he is impatient with animals (as in he doesn't like putting any extra time into them, he doesn't see the cost/benefit of it, hes short sighted I suppose) and puts minimum effort in to training, which is why the previous dogs failed and were not well trained. It was us, not the dogs. He is a good step-father, just crap with dogs/pets. My parents were raised on no nonsense/non-sentimental farms and they don't have that sentimental streak like the average pet owner does, they're unusual in that sense.

Thats where I come in, my parents need a guard dog, and I have a strong desire to have a nice dog I can train to be obedient/while it still functions as a happy working farm dog. I will spend time with it in my free time, and it will be a guard dog when i'm not around.

I must add that once I train it well I'm sure my parents will LOVE spending time with it. There issue was they couldn't manage the other dogs due to them being chicken killers/chasers, or for them running away, etc. The dogs weren't trained enough for my parent to manage them/spend time with them. My parents just don't understand the level of training that is essential to a guard dog/obedient dog. They don't get it!

Again, i'm taking all this down! Thanks!

 

[kareninthesun]

Great advice...and I'll bet there's videos on YouTube for training.My son owned an ambulance/paramedic company. There's people there all the time, the shepherd gets along with them.

 

[dainerra]

sorry, I know what you are going through. I have 2 GSDs and sometimes I meet people who seem to think that they come from the womb fully trained and obedient.

here is a video you can show him. Might make a difference!!! lol

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...7-so-you-think-you-want-high-drive-puppy.html

 

[RHRanch]

All dogs, not just G dogs benefit from obedience school. All of my dogs went through multiple courses of obedience, from begginer to advanced. If you want a dog that is an asset, take it to obedience school. I would add that if SD doesn't want it to go to obedience school, even if you and mom win and take it anyway, it will be undermined by SD's lack of faith/adherence to the training you are giving dog in obedience school - so if it were me, I would cancel adoption because clearly, not everyone is on the same page on how a dog should be raised, that will spell disaster in any situation.

 

[flight301]

"so if it were me, I would cancel adoption because clearly, not everyone is on the same page on how a dog should be raised, that will spell disaster in any situation."
I will figure this out tomorrow. My mom is not a bad candidate for a dog owner actually- it might surprise people to hear she is actually a retired vet (im not kidding, this might be shocking to some. she retired in the late 90s due to cancer). She is just not good at training dogs! She is great WITH dogs, but bad at extensively training them to be working dogs. I know she has had pet dogs in the past that were nice dogs, but not a good obedient working dog. I know She is very respectful and empathetic about dogs, but she has had no success with training dogs in the past I think out of desperation to achieve a 'working dog' she is considering Dave's notions (she is skeptical but taking it under consideration which is why i'm hysterical. My mom is not internet saavy and left the independent research to me).
I cannot emphasize enough that my Mom is the alpha in my parent's marriage, what she says goes. If my Mom decides that I am right, I'm certain Dave will not sabotage me, he is NOT like that. He may not be enthusiastic about what i'm doing, but if he sees that I am effective at training the dog, he will go along with it. He simply does not understand dogs, and seems to attribute he past failures to the wrong reasons- rather then himself. His arrogance is getting the best of him! He honestly thinks this will result in the type of dog they're looking for.

If I do not get my way, there will be no dog at our farm. I'll know by tomorrow.

 

[dancingsquirrel]

I'm confused about the part where you had to facilitate and sign all the adoption papers. Why is this so? Sounds like a hinky situation, I would cancel the adoption.

 

[flight301]

I'm 100% certain this is legit, we're adopting from a organization on petfinder.com. I'm not gullible, I can see pretty easily through fraud/scams. We filled out an application and talked to several different people in the organization. I researched it, I'm sure its a good situation.

By facilitate I mean I used petfinder.com to locate the breed/mix we were looking for, I typed in the answers to the question on the application, I talked to the people in the organization along with my Mom to pick the puppy we wanted. My Mom actually had a Rottweiler 25 years ago and has fond memories of the breed, which is part of the reason we chose a Rottweiler (I realize GSD/Rottweiler need lots of socializing/training, my Mom was on board with me before Dave got involved. These are serious dogs with serious instincts that need to be controlled). I did all the research on the 2 breeds, weighed the good and the bad. I talked to the foster Mom about the puppies, asked tons of questions etc. I read through this forum at most of the 'guard dog' related threads, I have several threads with training info printed out to study for myself. I understand this situation looks bad, but it will not be once I instill confidence in my Mom. She is worried the dog will turn out like the previous Dave efforts- so she's vulnerable to his crap opinions. Dave is a nitwit and didn't understand his own failings. I think she will realize Dave is not qualified to give radical opinion like this, I have several pages printed out of the dangers of not socializing a guard/working dog, and my mom is aware of this already in her Vet experience. We had talked about Dave's notions yesterday and she expressed it wasn't a good idea- but Dave must have been talking to her all day about his stupid plan. I mean, our initial plan was NOT even for a guard dog- just a chicken protector/predator deterrent- mainly predator deterant more then anything. Essentially, we were looking for a NICE dog, an obedient dog, but also a practical dog that is compatible with the farm. THAT was what I was told. This 'guard dog' business came out of Dave-left field, I am going to confront my parents about it tomorrow. None of our previous dogs were remotely aggressive or guard dog like, so I can't understand why Dave is being like this.

I will take Dave down if I have to, I will cancel this whole adoption if I have to! We are not dog abusers, our dogs are always treated nicely, fed well w/ organic food/meat/etc, given a good amount of space to run around in! But I consider training a dog like a rottweiler poorly not & socializing it a recipe for disaster and essentially abuse!

 

[flight301]

"ETA: be sure to check your homeowners policy before you bring this little guy home. German shepherds and rotties are 2 of the most often banned breeds in insurance policies."
Will talk to my parents about this. We live on a rather remote road with no really close neighbors. Im not familiar with homeowners policies at all, i'm not sure we have this type of insurance (im completely clueless about home owning).

 

[Mama_Bear]

Quote:
That is true. It's not fair to the dog. I've had GSD and Rotties - and they are trainable but that means A LOT OF time, effort and patience and persistence on the owner's part.

It doesn't sound like a puppy would be the best fit for an immediate solution. If the need for protection is urgent, it is illogical to consider a 12 week old puppy being able to be prepared to step in as a guard dog. It would be more likely, the puppy would consider the chickens to be squeaky toys.

Are there other options?

 

[flight301]

Quote:
Valid point- this was actually my Mom's first notion- she wanted a dog past the puppy phase- but we eventually decided that we didn't want to risk having an older dog that was set in it ways & unable to be around the animals. Actually we tried to adopt an older dog who had lived with a foster Mom with chickens initially- but someone adopted her right before we got the chance to. We weighed both situations and decided on a puppy. I would say I am more guilty of arranging for a puppy, I am willing to commit to training it...

I know it can take a really long time to train the puppy- I've told them this & my Mom understands- we are aware of this. We want a guard dog in the long term- even though we have been having predator problems in the present (we've been having horrible fox issues for the last few years its not new- but we bought about 100 chicks and have lost about 1/3 this summer- my Mom decided it was time to get a dog to train for the future).