Chimera Kennels

I have a good friend who has had GSD's for her whole life. After the last one died she was given the opportunity of a Staffordshire bull terrier pup from a very well renound show breeder.

To cut a long story shut my friend had the pup for 8 months and then it was stollen. She took the pup out to the garden to hang up the washing (garden has a solid 5 ft fence the entire way round) and the phone rang, it was ta wrong number but when she came back out to the garden the dog had gone. The gate was still closed and the perimeter of the fence is faultless. The family immediately searched the whole neighbourhood and have not found anything, this was 2 weeks ago.

I have spent a lot of time around the dog and it has never strayed far from its family, not even when in an enviroment with multiple distractions. This has not been the first time this has happened to similar show breeds within the area.

My question..........

Has anyone had or know of people who breed or keep breeds without defence drive that have to have a dog to watch over the other dogs, I have heard them being refered to as kennel dogs.

Thanks in advance.

Alex

This is a classic game dog breeder scenario, even mentioned in some popular books.  I know an APBT breeder of at least 20 years that has a EM, lost afew before but hasn't lost a dog since getting the EM.

I know of a couple of local pit breeders one has 2 GSDs and the other has Bandogs. The guy with the Bandogs lost a very expensive american bully before he got his.

It's a pretty common setup around here.

Many people do.

When selecting a dog to protect your 'other animals' (dogs and chickens in my case) as well as act as a deterrent to intruders and burglars would spend a lot of time training a dog or would you get a dog that you felt did all of the above instinctively?

Because of my limited experience I would wonder how far natural instincts would carry the dog if it was tested by a confident or driven intruder.

davesdad at September 2, 2010 at 6:41 AM

When selecting a dog to protect your 'other animals' (dogs and chickens in my case) as well as act as a deterrent to intruders and burglars would spend a lot of time training a dog or would you get a dog that you felt did all of the above instinctively?

 

Because of my limited experience I would wonder how far natural instincts would carry the dog if it was tested by a confident or driven intruder.

 

 

Natural wins in my book but most trainers will disagree, most in my opinion believe dogs are just clay that they must mold into a real dog...ha! Natural or trained is irrelevant if your intruder is confident and driven, a smart one knows what he's in for before he gets into it and comes prepared, I say irrelevant because no training or instinct will out wit a bullet.

MikeV at September 2, 2010 at 6:39 PM

davesdad at September 2, 2010 at 6:41 AM

When selecting a dog to protect your 'other animals' (dogs and chickens in my case) as well as act as a deterrent to intruders and burglars would spend a lot of time training a dog or would you get a dog that you felt did all of the above instinctively?

 

Because of my limited experience I would wonder how far natural instincts would carry the dog if it was tested by a confident or driven intruder.

 

 

Natural wins in my book but most trainers will disagree, most in my opinion believe dogs are just clay that they must mold into a real dog...ha! Natural or trained is irrelevant if your intruder is confident and driven, a smart one knows what he's in for before he gets into it and comes prepared, I say irrelevant because no training or instinct will out wit a bullet.

I agree a bullet beats a dog, also i just recently aquired a female pitbull thats  razers edge with some oldschool and newschool blood on top and watchdog underneath, and im telling you, if theres something or someone in the backyard that wasnt there, shes hittiting it lol, and shes only about 5 months, her and my female bandog pack up alot, playing together, sleeping together etc.... so maybe my female bandog is showing her the way , i also agree that natural win, both my female and male bandog i know would bite someone FOR REAL if they tried to even step foot on my property , my female is alot more level headed, when shes not fired up, but my male has a strong defensive drive, and a realy good natural susspcion towrds strangers and  my female is just a firecracker....... so im not to worried about  my pitbull getting snatched..... but you said bullets, what about something as simple as pepper spray, do you think a shot of some good pepper spray could put a good dog on its ass???? or is it overated?

That's a good question, I know delivery people and meter readers carry dog pepper spray. I'd be interested to know if anyone has seen a trained working dog get sprayed?

David Ishee at September 11, 2010 at 6:57 PM

That's a good question, I know delivery people and meter readers carry dog pepper spray. I'd be interested to know if anyone has seen a trained working dog get sprayed?

Yeh i heard it does, but like you said wonder if it would work against a working dog.... or if its a myth, i bet they would need some bear spray for one of your dogs david lol..... with them being about the size of one...

Like all things, even bullets, it will work some times on some dogs. I say "even bullets" because I once saw a video of an APBT (untrained mind you) that was shot 3 times and was still engaging the threat. The dog ended up dying, but it remained forward until it couldn't continue. Many fully trained dogs won't have that level of commitment. That said, good training will only make the dog better as it will AT LEAST add a degree of control and command to it, and in many cases it will add more than that. However, the opposite is also true...and that is bad training can set a dog back. Just like people...each dog has a range of potential when it comes to what they will become.