Submitted 8 hours ago by Patnou@lemmy.world to [deleted]
Wow your comments are scary.
You are definitely not fit to have a dog right now.
Go read about dogs care, extensively, and in the meanwhile do not try to do anything to this poor dog.
“I saw my kid be nice to people, but I want him to have the instinct to instead beat them up with a baseball bat, how do I do that?”
And the little mention of “but I’d like to not abuse him too much if possible” at the end. That’s really disgusting.
I just meant like if one of our family was attacked by another dog or animal he would step in to help. I would caveat saying I want him to stick up for himself because he is always picked on at the dog park. And if I had a kid he would be one chunky mofo because we spoil the shit out of our dog.
Dogs generally have a good sense if something is wrong or if someone is being aggressive towards you. You don’t have to (and shouldn’t!) make a dog “mean”, he’s perfectly capable of it if he feels something is up.
Seriously? So if i took him down to the big dog park he won’t run in fear of the other dogs? I just want him to kind of have some fun on his own but be protective of my family and I. I guess mean was the wrong word.
I used to have a dog, her name was Zöe, named for one of the characters on Firefly.
She was the best dog. Completely safe around children and the elderly, never barked, never nipped or bit, she was smart, observant, and just the biggest sweetheart.
But if she determined that you were disliked by Her People, you weren’t safe.
My wife told me a story about Zöe, that happened while I was at work. We used to live by a river - it was literally in our back yard. A couple of guys showed up, ostensibly to ask if they could go fishing but more likely to look for things they could steal, as the river was maybe 6" deep at that time, and there were much more accessible places to get to the river. My wife wasn’t comfortable with them there, but they weren’t taking No for an answer. Our other dog was bouncing and barking from the back yard, and they were worried about her, and as a result, they didn’t see Zöe, until she started this angry hateful growl that was accompanied by bared teeth an inch long and a 4" wide strip of fur standing up along her back. My wife said “I can’t really control that dog, you really need to leave.” And we never saw them again.
Tl;dr: Your dog is very likely only nice to YOU and people you are comfortable with.
I agree with the commenter who said dogs usually have a sense for danger. If someone is breaking into your home, your dog will be the first to know, and then let the household know. There’s some statistic I can’t recall exactly, but people are less likely to continue breaking into a home if a dog is barking (like a German Shepherd barking, not a Chihuahua
The temperament of your dog also largely depends on its breed. Some dogs are friendlier than others, or some are perhaps more suited for protection than others. If you want a family guardian, you’ll probably have to invest (money and time) in the breed + training for said dog.
Your pup being “too nice” isn’t a problem, it sounds like you have a happy, friendly dog for your family.
Why not hire a service that will train your dog to be a guard dog. You want a guard dog to do a lot more alerting than attacking.
You don’t want it mean, you want it effective.
No, there’s no oversight for these kinds of trainiers, you’re way more likely to get someone who has no idea what they’re doing. This is way too dangerous to put this to chance.
On top of that, you have to work very hard to maintain that level of training.
Just teach your dog to be confident and well behaved, and they’ll know when it’s time to step in and protect you. Dogs do NOT need special training for this.
None around here unless I want to let the sheriffs office take care of him for a while
Leave it alone with a husky for a while. The husky will teach it how to assert itself without being mean.
You screwing with me or what? Why a husky? I came from WA and never seen a husky that was protective of itself or family. I mean I would love a Husky …also GO HUSKY’s sorry favorite College Basketball team. How would one dog do that to another?
My advice is not to try to make him mean.
If you want him to protect your home you can train him to bark at strangers when at home.
How do you make a dog bark?
How do I do that. He’s pretty sound sensitive. But like i said above just way too nice he will bark at us if we dont pet him or rub his belly enough
Dsklnsadog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 hours ago
You wanna change a nice dog because is not useful to your needs? You don’t deserve a dog.
Patnou@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
No. I mean super nice. Like he will run up on a stranger and wanted to be petted. I kind of mean like going to the dog park without running scared from the other dogs.
wabasso@lemmy.ca 6 hours ago
Isn’t “having a cute companion in my house” arguably similar?