Your Dog's Guarding Instinct!

[Slick]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?

I love these kinds of threads where we share about our dogs, but I am also particularly interested in this topic currently because Leo developed a guarding instinct from one day to the next when we moved from an apartment to a house.

At the apartment, he would never ever growl at people coming to our house, even if they completely came in on their own and uninvited. He just wanted to check them out immediately and they would receive a friendly greeting.

Then we moved to a house (when he was 1 1/2), and he growled when our new housemate let herself in. Ever since, it appears the guarding instinct is here to stay. At first I thought it was just because of the move, but we are very settled in now, and it has remained.
- He growls at the door if someone is outside that he does not know, including walking on the sidewalk of our side of the street.
- He REALLY growls if they let themselves in without us, but it is in a fearful slink-away kind of way. It takes him a few minutes to settle and be able to greet them, even if we have said it is ok.
- If we come in WITH a new person, he greets in a friendly way, but perhaps a little more submissively that he did in the apartment.

Personally, I am happy with it. I don't think he would actually do anything with a real intruder, but at the very least when I hear a bump-in-the-night, I know that it is nothing if Leo is still sleeping.
I am pretty thankful he doesn't alarm bark though.

What about your dog?

 

[Elrohwen]

Good thread idea!

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?

Sort of. He has a deep warning bark that he makes if he thinks someone or something is outside that shouldn't be there, but he uses it pretty infrequently. And it's more an alerting behavior than guarding, since he will bark once or twice, then come to find me and look at me like "There is something out there! Go check!" and then he'll run back to the window. I think he would prefer the adults deal with any threats - he's just there to tell us about it.

I didn't even think of resource guarding. He has basically no resource guarding behaviors at all, beyond occasionally running away with something to get you to chase him. He readily steps back and lets other dogs take things from him.

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?

He'll bark if he sees someone coming down the driveway, but again more in an alerting kind of way than guarding. If someone is let in he just wants to jump on them and greet them. I think his barking in that case is more frustration that he can't greet them, vs guarding. He is much more cautious at night though.

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?

He didn't really develop any suspiciousness until he was maybe 14-18 months old. And even then I've always had the impression that his deep barking moments were because he was unsure of a strange person approaching, not because he was trying to protect or guard me in any way. He's more of a look and listen first, bark later type of dog. The vast majority of his barking is frustration/excitement, not guarding. He can watch a squirrel outside and get all fired up about it and still barely bark.

 

[Linds]

Yay! Threads!

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?


Umm, not really? I mean, they'll guard food from each other sometimes but nothing to the extent I really think about it.

None guard anything from ME which is good because I dealt with that with Kaylee and hated it so much.

Sometimes Traveler will be laying near me and growl at Fergus or Didgie a bit if they come over to push in but that's about the extent.

They do they all alert bark to people on the property or near it which I don't mind as long as they knock it off when I say.


How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?

Lots and lots of barking. So much barking. And standing in the bay window. But, we get very very few people at our house. As soon as they're in they're all over them in joy except for Fergus who's a little nervous for about 30 seconds until they give him food.

I've never had someone come in uninvited, don't really want to find out though how they would react because I don't think they would like it at all.


And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?


Didgie was alert barking at things in our yard pretty young, like a few months. Traveler didn't care until he hit adolescence and Fergus came like this at 7 months.

 

[StillandSilent]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
Gambit- No. He's hateful to everyone, but out of fear
Gimmick- No. He's a slug
Quiddich- Yes. His Shar-pei has made itself known
How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?
He poofs his chest and gives a threatening bark. If they are people he has met before, he relaxes as soon as he can see them. If it's strangers, he remains guardy and has to be introduced slowly
And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?
He was somewhat wary when I fostered him last year, but it seemed to be more of a nervousness with strangers then true instinct. Now he's 2 and it is definitely a strong response

 

[k9krazee]

Crossbone is possessive of his things. I had him tied to a fence yesterday near his bag of treats, discs, all things good and a lady let her eakie put her face in the bag. Crossbone not happy.

As far as the house goes, he never alert barked at ANYTHING until he stayed at my parents house with Jack (who barks at everything/nothing). As soon as people walk in though they stop barking and look for toys.

 

[teacuptiger]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?

I'm sure it's there, it's just never needed to come up. She pretty much just alerts me to things that might be suspicious, not sure if that counts as guard instinct?

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house?

She barks this really scary bark (lol. Roxie. Scary. Haha.)

Invited?

Once someone comes in the door, she turns into mush.

Uninvited?

No idea, but I'd like to imagine that she would not be pleased. The most I can hope for is that she barks and holds someone there (the likelihood of Roxie biting is slimmer than a Slim Jim), but I bet she would either run away from them or lick the crap out of them.

 

[Laurelin]

So far hank has not alert barked at all. He also is overly obnoxiously friendly with dogs and people.

Mia and Summer alert bark. A lot. Summer is super people friendly and not growly. Mia is very suspicious and also can be really grouchy. I wouldn't call her a guardy dog though. Just one that likes her space and is often worried about things. She'd rather no one ever exist.

 

[SpaceMutt]

Both of mine have guarding instincts.

Tulip guards space - the couch, her crate - as well as things (chews) and people (me).

Astro used to guard things (chews, toys, at his worst he would guard leashes and anything else even remotely used in connection with him).

Tulip does not guard the home, she doesn't even sound an alarm bark, and thank goodness because her piercing little bark is awful. Astro does guard the apartment, mainly when someone is outside the windows too close (I am on the ground floor) or at the door. He does a low, deep growl that gets louder and meaner until the threat either goes away or I tell him it's fine. He stands taller and plants himself and as Stillandsilent described puffs out. He doesn't run around or get frantic, he just chooses where to make his stand and then that's it, no one is getting past that point.

On our night walks he guards me as well. Same deal, he sees someone threatening and he walks toward them a few feet, plants himself in front of me, doesn't move, stands taller and straighter and lets out a few commanding "go away!" noises. It has never not worked to get someone to move away (and it's been rare that he's had to do it, all times were with a drunk man coming toward me at night while I was alone), but I do think that he might escalate. He shows no sign of backing down. If I try to move he just carefully, calmly and methodically moves so that he's still between me and The Bad Guy and continues to let it be known that the presence is not appreciated. Once the threat backs down and leaves it's like a light bulb turns off and we are just on a normal chipper walk again. The whole thing is fairly slow and calculated looking, he's not reactive barking at the end of the leash and flailing, just the opposite.

He lightly guards the car if I'm in it, doesn't if I'm not there.

I've worked with him very hard to get him over his resource guarding of stuff, and now he's a gem about that. Happily trades me stuff or just lets me have it because of so many positive trades and exchanges in his history. He has a rock solid "drop it" now. I also worked hard to get him to cut out his Pei-guarding of the home/car/me if I tell him to let it go, I never wanted him to take matters into his own hands too much. If I invite you in, you're fine. He's actually very people and dog social once he's decided you're not an intruder, he doesn't have any natural suspiciousness of people who are just existing, and actually really wants to love on you - it's specific to certain situations.

He started guarding at less than a year old. Tulip came with her (far more problematic) guarding, at two years old.

 

[DJEtzel]

I think there is a huge difference between fear reactivity, alerting and guarding.

I would not call anything that Leo is doing "guarding".

All of my dogs will bark and alert if someone comes to the door and comes in the house while I'm there. Frag and Patton will do lovely bark and holds (guarding) if I'm not there. Frag will back down if the person ignores him and goes about the house. Patton will continue a growly bark and hold for a little while if I'm not there to ask him to stop. Recon is a goof and would welcome anyone into the house.

None will bite anyone walking in, Frag and Patton will growl if they engage them threateningly and I (or someone they know) is not there to tell them to stop. I am anticipating Patton having no problem biting someone as an adult without me there if someone engages with him threateningly, much like his father. That's the only time I'm ok with a dog biting anyone in my house.

 

[pinkspore]

Ru - Nope.
Uly - Nope.
Brisbane - Oh hell yes.

Brisbane is reactive. Very reactive. He began poofing up and spazzbarking at people when he was around 8 weeks old. While I have managed to convince him that joggers are fine and the gardener is probably not coming to kill us all, he's still a potential bite risk in various circumstances.

When new people come to the house, I put Briz in his crate in the bedroom until he has chilled out a bit, and then I give the person some treats to hand him when I let him out to investigate. Once someone has undergone this initiation they are officially ok forever, as he remembers people years later even if he's only met them once.

I've mostly convinced him that strangers are cool as long as they don't come in the yard (we have a fenced front yard and no back yard), so he mostly ignores people on the street. He alert barks when someone opens the gate and then either happy-barks if he knows them, or scary-barks if he doesn't. He would definitely bite a stranger in the yard without a proper introduction.

Anyone who attempts to break into my house is going to have Brisbane attempting to break out and destroy them at the same time. This is how he broke the window in the living room, and why he is on Prozac now. He no longer body-slams the window, but I am still certain he would attack and intruder.

Brisbane doesn't normally guard me on leash except in certain circumstances, and it's probably more reactivity than guarding. Since certain circumstances tend to be things like "walking through the really bad part of town in the middle of the night", I'm ok with him messily devouring anyone who gets within leash range.

He also does something that I can only describe as a bastardized herding drive thing where he occasionally tries to shark people when we walk past them. It was adorable when he was a baby puppy making sudden u-turns to dive for people's ankles. It is way less cute to have 40 pounds of teeth suddenly turn and leap at people. Careful management has prevented him from actually succeeding at whatever he is attempting to do, but it has meant always, always being aware that sometimes my dog would really like to bite people.

 

[Laurelin]

He also does something that I can only describe as a bastardized herding drive thing where he occasionally tries to shark people when we walk past them. It was adorable when he was a baby puppy making sudden u-turns to dive for people's ankles. It is way less cute to have 40 pounds of teeth suddenly turn and leap at people. Careful management has prevented him from actually succeeding at whatever he is attempting to do, but it has meant always, always being aware that sometimes my dog would really like to bite people.

Hank does this but so far only to dogs and not people. Trey used to do it to people who changed direction really fast in front of him. I think for both it has more to do with reactivity to motion and wanting to control motion than guardiness.

 

[Fran101]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
:rofl1:
when it comes to people? Never. You could take his toys, take a bully stick out of his mouth, kick the door down...doesn't matter.

With dogs? He can be touchy with his bully sticks and prefers to eat them in private lol but toys are fair game.

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?
Carrying a weapon?
Dragging my body around/needle poking/hitting?


Either way it's gonna be this

or just sitting quietly if the person doesn't say hi to him/if im unconscious
but there's a reason for that.

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?

To be fair to Merlin, he has no guarding instinct because in the world of SD-in training, he shouldn't and we made sure he never would... but he showed his first sign of "..I don't really like that you are doing that to my person" around 8 months old.
I have seizures, they leave me unconscious, people NEED to be able to come up/help me/come in the house/break in etc..
from the VERY early days, we squelched any kind of suspicion of people or those kind of intrusive situations.

Especially when it came to me screaming/crying, which often happens after a seizure around whoever wakes me up depending on how I fell. Merlin IMMEDIATELY wanted to know what was going on and he did stiffen at first but we worked hard and now, he knows it's part of the process and we've practiced him remaining relaxed, friendly and out of the way.

He gives a big bark when he hears someone is at the door, and then goes to say hello if they come in and that's just fine for me.

I have no intention of my dog being home protection and people need to be able to get to me...it's not fair to expect him to understand the difference between medical people and intruders and I feel safer knowing he just stays out of the way.

Plus he is hardly a visual deterence anyway lol :rofl1:

 

[BostonBanker]

Gusto really has no guarding instinct that I've seen at 3.5 years old. He barks his head off when people come to the door, but they can come in with no issues. I can't think of anything I've ever seen him guard.

Meg, I always said had no guarding instinct (and she probably doesn't from a strict 'this is what that means' standpoint). She will guard the car a bit through, whether I'm in it or not. If a stranger tries to get in, she will grumble and growl. I don't think she'd ever back it up.

She also REALLY doesn't like people coming upstairs in our condo. The top floor is all my space, and nobody else comes up here more than a few times a week. Even when it is my parents, with whom she has ZERO issues, and they live in the house as well, she will growl often when they come upstairs. All they have to do is tell her to knock it off (or I do) and that's that. Again, I don't think she'd ever back it up, but I do usually put my hands in her collar or make her come up the stairs last if a service man or anyone has to be upstairs.

It's fine with me that neither dog will really guard; I'd rather have a dog who gives people a pass than one that makes me worry they will bite at the wrong time.

 

[Maxy24]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?

I don't know if it's a guarding instinct or just fear, but yes he reacts very loudly when someone comes to the door and he doesn't know who they are (or he does but they're taking too long to come in).

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Uninvited?

He's very aggressive towards unfamiliar people entering our house, he barks and charges and may bite. We've never had anyone uninvited come in, I doubt it would be any different except that by not knocking he may be a little less likely to bite them.

If it's someone he knows he'll bark when they knock and stop when he realizes he knows them. If they come in without knocking he'll sometimes be quiet and sometimes give a couple of barks as he hears the door opening.

 

[*blackrose]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
Abrams: yes
Cynder: no

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house?
Abrams: He roars and bellows and jumps at the door. Generally sounds like there is a 200 pound beast about to break the door down. Most people take pause. Once we get the door open and he's able to see them, if they are a person he knows (and likes) he happy barks and dances and gives kisses. If it is someone he doesn't know, we typically throw him outside or in the garage to let the person walk into the house without being dive bombed by him.

Once we've welcomed them into the house and we warn them they're about to get dive bombed, we let Abrams back in. He typically barrels towards them, either barking or not, and then proceeds to give happy barks, dance, and give kisses. If someone tried to come into the house without us present, without him knowing who it was, I'm not sure if he'd let them past the door.

Cynder: She goes "on alert" and maybe will let out a little "boof" and then she politely greets them at the door, regardless if uninvited or not. That's about it. LOL She didn't even used to do that, but Abrams' loudness has had that effect on her. The only time I've heard her bark is when she is *very* concerned about something, and that something is normally highly unusual/suspect.

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?
Abrams has always been wary of strangers (aka, people who aren't immediate family, no matter how frequently he sees them) around "his" property from the time he was a wee baby puppy. I'd say here in the past few months (he's 18 months old now), his wariness (alert barking while staying in one place) turned in to real protectiveness. His bark changed, he became much more serious about his "job", and he now approaches perceived "intruders" with confidence versus a torn "I don't know what to DOOOOO". That being said, he's not aggressive and is very much just noise and show, and I've never been worried he'd bite a welcomed guest.

He's kind of dumb and likes to roar and charge at anything suspect. Like a house guest that he's been living with for the past four days getting up at 2 in the morning to go to the bathroom. Again, never worried he'll bite, he just dramatically raises the alarm that something isn't normal.

In the past month or so he's also started to get upset when Michael and I loudly argue or seriously play fight. He'll get between us, holler at us, and try to physically separate the "offender" from the one on the "defensive". He's not too intense or serious about it because he knows both of us, but I have no doubt if a stranger where to offer similar behavior Abrams would be very quick to correct it.

I'm hoping as he continues to mature and develop a more level head (right now it comes and goes) that his protectiveness will stay at a similar level, he'll just have the brains to react to things rationally versus FLAILOMGFLAILREACTION.

ETA: One has to realize that Abrams is just overall a very loud, physical dog. So while he sounds like a horrible beast, he's really...not. He's just loud and physical. His friendly greetings are almost just as loud and physical, it's just a different noise coming out of his mouth and different body language. LOL He play wrestles more physically with us than he does when he's upset about us "fighting".

 

[LostAndConfused]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct? Nope.
How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited? spin, spin, spin, muzzle punch you in the face
Uninvited? He is crated when we aren't home, but I've had friends come over and let him out. He loves them

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop? I'll let you know if that ever happens


Now, if there is something outside that he doesn't like, he will bark. He'll bark at people walking past, or when the neighbor dogs are out running.

 

[Toller_08]

I probably could have organized this better by answering each question directly haha. Oh well. Here are some random jumbled thoughts instead.

Dance: To be honest, I don't know that Dance truly has a guarding instinct rather than a very strong reactionary, "everyone save yourselves!" flight instinct haha. When people come to my house that she doesn't know or doesn't know well, she barks. And barks. And barks. And literally won't stop until I remove her and put her elsewhere, either in her crate or my bedroom or something. Then she can form coherent thoughts again instead of "Omg stranger danger!". It's my least favourite trait of hers. In fact, I hate it. But we make do. With people she does know, even those of us who live here, she barks when she hears them outside and hears the door open (she even barks when we say "hello" even in passing conversation sometimes), but if she realizes she knows you, she's all happy wiggles and smiles and is quiet except for her greeting roos. I've never had somebody enter my house uninvited, but the reaction would be exactly the same as the first situation I described. Lots of noise and fear. When she sees people outside, she growls low always too. And if they come close, you can bet she's going to bark. She even alert barks for things she thinks she's heard. Grr. Very annoying, despite almost eight years of trying to eliminate the behaviour. She's been like this since day one, but has actually gotten better as she gets older... eventhough her better still isn't that good.

Ripley: His guarding instinct didn't really kick in until about a year old. He has no confidence to back it up though, so his guard instinct is pretty much suspicion and insecurity based. But he's actually pretty quiet around the home. If he sees people outside, or dogs, sometimes he'll growl or bark but quiets immediately when told. When people he knows come over he might bark at the door once and then he's just super prancey and happy and then proceeds to try and crush them into a wall for cuddles (much to his dismay, this is frowned upon lol). When people he doesn't know well come over, as long as Dance isn't around, he watches them for a while quietly and gives them a thorough sniff over, then eventually decides they'll serve as good petting stations. If someone came into my house uninvited though, you can bet a lot of noise would be heard. I really don't believe he'd let somebody he didn't know well just walk in. The one time we had friends come over to fix something in our house and we weren't home, apparently he was not a happy Doberman. But he settled a bit more once he realized he kind of knew them. If they were strangers, I doubt that would have happened. He's all noise though. I doubt he'd ever bite anybody or anything. It's actually on walks that I see his insecure side come out. He's super suspicious of most people, especially men, when we're out for a walk. He stiffens, growls, or contains his growl but does that weird whispered woof thing that insecure dogs do. No idea why, as he wasn't like this until he hit about four years old. He's fine when I tell him to leave it and nevermind, and if I introduced him to someone he'd be fine, but from a distance he's really weird. He's also way more guardy in my yard. I constantly have to tell him to stop growling out there when he hears things. But he rarely barks. Just growls.

Journey: She just turned two and just recently, since moving into this house, started barking at noises outside and when people come to the door. I'm pretty sure it's not that natural for her and if not for Dance's bad influence, she never would have started. But now she barks when people come to our door and come in too, thanks to Dance. We also don't have company over a lot, so she does get a bit unsure at first when people come over and will bark a bit, but she's fine if I'm there with her and settles quickly. Then she proceeds in her quest to make the guest her new best friend. But otherwise, I wouldn't say she has much guard instinct about her. She only barks at people if she's worried, and the only reason she ever worries is because of Dance unfortunately, which is the exact thing I hoped would never happen and the thing I tried to prevent. But that's why Dance is put away most of the time for a while when we have company. I don't know how Journey would be if someone came in uninvited. Probably unsure and weird if I wasn't around, but if I was around, she'd be fine and settle easily. She's naturally a people dog. No idea how she'd react if someone was truly wrong and dangerous, as thankfully we've never been in that situation. I do know that during evening and nightly outings, she's much more observant of people.

 

[Slick]

I guess I used the wrong word.

What I meant with "guarding" is whether they alert at the door or not. Not really resource guarding and such

Leo never ever ever barks, so I think for him his alert is a growl where other dogs bark.

 

[Equinox]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?

Yes, absolutely. He guards people, food, toys, his bed, and generally anything that he can possess. He's very possessive in general, though he is not very territorial at all (not sure if this is genetic or trained, because we did work on this).

He guards against people inside and outside of the family and very strongly against other dogs. He is not allowed to guard against me

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house?

Invited?

Hurls himself towards the door sliding, hollering, barking with ears and tail up and him straining towards said visitor. Then he proceeds to jump, whine, muzzle punch, and holler some more LOL Again, not territorial at all.

Uninvited?

Well, no one has ever gone inside our house while he was home alone, so there's always been someone to call him back, tell him to calm down, and greet whoever just came into the door. So more or less it is the same reaction from Trent.

Either way he will eventually settle down or go to a different room or a place mat if told to.

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?

He started guarding high value food as a very young puppy. Guarding other possessions started a little over 1 year, I believe? I'm not sure when he started acting very guardy over me and taking offense to people "intruding" in my space (and reacting to my own nervousness or fear), but I first noticed it when he was around 3 years old.

 

[monkeys23]

Does your dog have a guarding instinct?
Lily - yes
Scout - yes

How does he/she act when somebody comes to the door of your house? Invited?
Lily - Just watches carefully if it is someone she is concerned about and will quietly and calmly put herself between me and the person. If she is feeling possessive she'll have to be touching me. She will guard Scout from aggressive dogs as well and is kind of the playground monitor making sure everyone is appropriate in play.
She has been taught to alert bark at strangers walking by our house for deterrent purposes. There are a couple visitors to my neighbors upstairs that she barks at every time... interesting. And then the brother who doesn't live there, but visits often... they get so hilariously excited when he drives in. I have no idea why they like him so much.

Scout - She is a very safe dog despite being a nervebag and due to her issues I thought she'd never ever show her GSD character. However she has several times in a very calm and level headed fashion. When I had bad roommates the year I got her she would lay literally on top of me while they partied all night and the one time someone touched my door, she went nuts. Thank goodness we were only there a month and a half.
She will not let someone who doesn't live here (or at my mom's) into the house if I am using the bathroom or showering. It has only happened 3 times in the almost five years I have had her. I'm pretty much all she cares about so yeah.

Uninvited?
Generally they are both fine with people they know letting themselves in. They are really quiet dogs. They don't even bark when people they know pull or walk in the drive... they might however descend into ridiculous yodeling and howling for joy and joyness.
A stranger would not go down so smoothly walking in univited, lol.

And for my own curiosities sake, when did your dog's guarding instinct develop?
Since I got both of them as young adults I would say it was probably 12-18 months like Chicago (my friends Rhodie) did. He has been a big part of things since she adopted him at six months old and that's when his instincts started showing. He's a very good boy and takes keeping us safe very seriously.