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J
jc22_uk
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Guarding/Temperament Testing
Do just that- hire a trainer/decoy from a local group or club to come out and pose a threat. The best choice is to do this at home, and out and about on strange territory. A decoy will know what to do as far as actions and behaviors go, therefore it is safer for all involved. Another good idea is to have someone video the encounters so you can watch them later. We tend to miss things in the moment or forget them. Trainers will pick up on slight hints that we as owners may miss as well. Good luck!
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    • J
      Hello everyone, Have been keeping dogs all my life (GSD, Boxer, English Bullterrier) and at present have a pair of Neapolitan Mastiffs which are my pride and joy and my favourite all time pets. Basically, I live with my fiancee in my own property now and protecting her and our possessions has become more of an issue. We live in a fairly rough area in South London and I have to work away sometimes. Both of my dogs (Dog and a bitch) are very guardy and vocal when strangers approach the house and are a very intimidating visual deterrant as you can imagine (the male is almost 140 lbs in weight). Both dogs have good basic obedience which I am happy with, I would never expect to achieve anything like some of the GSD and Mali owners on the forum, partly because of my lack of experience in this area, but also the differences in the herding breeds and the molosser types. What I want to find out (and perhaps try and breed for in the future), is if my Neapolitan Mastiffs will not only bark and warn a would be "bad guy", but will actually engage a person when the chips are down, be it an intruder or an attacker or whatever. There seems to be a lot of dogs that are bred purely for form and not function these days and as a consequence, many of the mastiff type breeds are nothing like their more than able predecessors. Any advice/recommended reading would be greatly appreciated. I am not after qualifications or titles or anything, merely wanted to test my dogs and see if they are up to the task in a "real life" situation. A couple of sites I had seen abroad literally had "strangers" (trained decoy's) jump out on the dog owners/pretending to attack them and gauged the dogs that way - not sure how scientific/accurate this would be. Any thoughts/ideas would be most welcome. Thanks guys, James
      • Nikki I was going to write something but I see you are already doing it so I will wait. :D
        • Do just that- hire a trainer/decoy from a local group or club to come out and pose a threat. The best choice is to do this at home, and out and about on strange territory. A decoy will know what to do as far as actions and behaviors go, therefore it is safer for all involved. Another good idea is to have someone video the encounters so you can watch them later. We tend to miss things in the moment or forget them. Trainers will pick up on slight hints that we as owners may miss as well. Good luck!
          • Good one Nikki - Kris what are your thoughts?

            • J
              Thanks for the input guys - much appreciated! I have no doubt that my Neo's will protect when push comes to shove but want this to be the acid test so to speak and breed only from dogs that have the correct nerve and drive in the future. Nikki, is this something you have tried with your dogs/thinking of trying? What were your findings? Regards, James
              • i have found out that love over seeds any type of training espically when it deals w/ the family. by not letting him around people when they come around not trying to make a mean dog but your basically putting this in his head that you are the pack leader and when you are not around they are the pack leader. also let him out too after you have put him up for a while and train him like that as well. i have a 14 month old pit bull and pitbulls are human friendly but he has been trained to be a walking pistol. w/ me and w/out me and most definatly w/ my wife. he also is a calm down to earth dog also. he is a i'm gonna steal a kiss on your face kinda pitbull, but only when we allow it. this is just how i have trained our dogs and didn't spend all that money for training that might work and might not. hopefully we can chat more on here but gotta get back to work! :D

                • Z
                  dogmanns_girl I think by putting the dog away when guests are over you are denying him socialization and making him unable to know what appropriate human behavior is. Train and proof your dog if you want a protector. Most dogs will tuck tail and run when pressured by an attacker, no matter how much you love on them.
                  • Zoey makes some very good points. IMO a good personal protection dog needs to be VERY well socialized in order to distinguish between normal and threatening behavior. You can't have them wanting to unjustly attack everyone within sight in public nor would it be beneficial to have them locked in a crate at home while a "visitor" is attacking you. You mentioned both but I don't see that you ever directly stated if you want your dogs to be guardians of person, property or both? I agree that a decoy with experience with Neos and the arger molosser type breeds would be your best bet. Look hard and find one that is familiar with the breed traits and actual personal protection training - it's very easy to find helpers/decoys that are very sport/trial based and that is not the kind of evaluation/reaction you want this person to accomplish with your dog. Keep in mind that just because someone has a sleeve or bite suit doesn't mean they'll be beneficial to what you want out of your dog.

                    • J
                      Thanks for the input Xamen - appreciate it. Both of my dogs are well socialised with people and other animals, they are already good property watchdogs/guardians in that they are very alert, vocal and intimidating when visitors arrive. I just wanted them tested to see if they would genuinely protect in a more realistic situation. I want to propogate the old type of Neapolitan Mastiff with more emphasis on this and health in any breeding programme that I attempt.
                      • I have done some TT's with mine outside of my home. The next steps will come after this ridiculous heat in the form of different dogs on strange territory and then hopefully on their home turf. After doing it on strange territory with this breed I am seeing the benefits of doing the same at home. Walking a fine line here, but IMO mastino are more protective at home and I would love to see the differences in the same dogs, 2 tests. :wink:

                        • J
                          Hi Nikki, What did the tests entail? How did it go?? [blockquote]Walking a fine line here, but IMO mastino are more protective at home [/blockquote] That would be my initial observation also and those of the breeder of my dogs. Good for you Nikki, I think its a really positive contribution you are trying to make re TT your breeding stock. In the UK this seems to be of little importance to 90% of breeders, they concentrate purely on the breed standard with scant regard for anything else and as a consequence, most of the dogs over here have very watered down temperaments and its hard to find true mastini.
                          • [quote=4myneo]IMO mastino are more protective at home[/quote] Similar to the CO. They are usually more protective on their property but that doesn't mean that they won't or (IMO) shouldn't react when attacked on strange turf.

                            • J
                              Totally agree Xamen. Would be hugely disappointed if the dogs showed genuine protection ability only on the premises. Don't think this will be the case though. These are some of the things I want to test for. With my dogs and those of friends and breeders I have spoken to, it certainly appears that Mastini develop guarding instincts at home and in the garden at a comparitively young age and take longer to develop these same instincts on strange turf. My 9 month old b1tch doesn't have these instincts off of the property so far but is very guardy at home. My 2 year old male is very protective both at home and outside on walks or in the woods.
                              • Right Chris, I think for me it's just personal knowledge. The strange territory TT should be done first as a way to select stock- then at home for me to see just what the differences will be. Hope to get moving on the rest of the dogs here in the fall!! :wink:
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