Do your dogs provide security?

I used to housesit for a friend who had 4-5 labs at a time and I would lay there in that pile of large dogs, thinking "If someone broke in here tonight the dogs would be thrilled. They'd bring him a ball."

I had a golden retriever growing up, and she thought that everyone was her best friend. EVERYONE. We always said that if anyone broke in when we weren't home, she would probably want to go with them.

Considering people scream when they see my dogs, or when I'm out walking they cross the street.

Sitting on my porch, we get a lot of people walking by and occasionally one will ask me for a smoke, then they'll see the dogs because if someone steps of the sidewalk they stand up, if they come closer they move to the edge of the porch or in front of me.

At that point, I usually get asked "do they bite?" and I always say "well, they've got teeth." At that point, they turn around and continue on their way

I have a very large black male Bouvier, so, pretty good protection. LOL! Right now he's a pup, but I assume that when he matures mentally he'll start taking his duty to protect our family seriously. He alerts when he thinks something is amiss on our property, and only a lunatic would challenge a bark that big and deep. I don't actually know what "he's made of", in the protection department, but I've heard enough stories about Bouviers backing meter readers into a corner and holding them there until their owner comes to feel fairly confident in Louis' ability to deter people.

I feel safer with Frodo around, only in that I know nobody could just break into the apartment and hang out with him.

Siri offers nothing.

I've gotta tell you a story (probably told it before) for those with super friendly retrievers and such. My Lab, Bonnie (rip) was like that....loved EVERYONE. When a stranger would come up the long driveway we had, she might give a couple woofs but her tail would sway back and forth and she'd go greet the person, expecting nothing but a nice social visit....very, very friendly.

Well...one night, my hubby and I went out and left the two kids at home...they were teen agers, one a young teen. And when we got home, they had been on the roof for hours in October, freezing. They reported that they were upstairs in their rooms and Bonnie heard a sound and ran down the stairs to the front door. And she was unglued! Snarling, gnashing teeth, barking viciously. The kids were so scared they went out my daughter's window and sat on the roof. They heard in the dark footsteps in the gravel retreating. When we came home and looked around the door, the jam was damaged...cracked and split like someone was trying to force it.

The same thing happened with our GSD when the kids were very young. I was home though, in the shower. And the door jam wasn't wrecked. But our GSD went ballistic at the door. And he typically was pretty accepting and friendly to most strangers.

So, you never know. I think dogs, when well socialized as puppies can often detect something we don't. I think they're able to discern better than we, a friendly stranger from someone up to no good.

Love that story!

I heard something very similar - when our Bouv was very small I took him to Rona. An older man walked up to us and identified his breed, which is very unusual. Then told me a story about the Bouvier he had for 14 years. It went to work with him to his shop everyday his entire life - probably had 50 people coming through the shop everyday, strangers constantly, and the dog basically never lifted an eyebrow. Until one time someone came in ...... and that dog was all bark and flashing teeth. The man said the guy was very sketchy looking and acting, and his dog identified it immediately. Owner asked the stranger to go on his way, didn't want to do business with him. And for the rest of the dogs life, he never responded to anyone the same way again. The owner was convinced the stranger had intended no good, and his dog saved him from it.

That's an amazing story. This is the importance of having copious amounts of socialization from early puppy hood and onward through adult life, especially with a protection type dog or a working group dog. It's imperative that they are exceedingly familiar with friendly strangers, every nuance. That way they recognize when some little thing is off. That man's Bouvier did his job. Awesome!

Chalo definitely has a vigilant, serious, growly "edge" around the house, more so than I'd really like. It might be founded in insecurity on some level, and it's very much specific to our property. He's fine with meeting people at the door, but I do NOT let people meet him in our yard. I'm not sure what he would actually do in the face of a real threat, but he is imposing enough (in appearance and in general vibes) to be a deterrent. He makes me feel pretty safe as a single woman living alone.

I've only known Priya for two weeks, but I feel pretty confident that she has zero security value whatsoever. Fine by me!

Nope.
Nor would I expect/encourage him to do so.
He was raised to be polite and friendly to people and has always excelled in that respect.

I live in a safe building in a bustling city.
He is allowed one bark when somebody is actually physically knocking at the door and THATS IT and even that he very rarely does.
He is expected to greet anybody who walks in politely or go to his crate if he doesn't like them/they are carrying a lot of stuff (like the grocery delivery people)

When I'm not home and Merlin is... sometimes new dog walkers come, dog grooming lady, grocery delivery, the building maintenance people come by to fix stuff, the landlord, friends come by to eat or pick up/borrow things. Lots of people have keys/come by. He is ok with that and needs to be especially now that he isn't crated anymore.

Having a dog that isn't OK with that is at best... a **** lawsuit waiting to happen and at worst...Merlin getting hurt or hurting somebody else.

The only security he provides is perhaps a visual/audible deterrent if somebody tried to break in he would bark and that's fine with me.

Meg clearly missed that point of her socialization. She is pleasant to everyone, and enjoyed getting loved on by the guy who lived down the street from us. Who, about a month after Meg was all over him, borrowed his friend's gun and shot four people, killing two. But he was really good at butt scratching, so Meg was cool with him.

I pretty much just agree with Fran. With the way I expect my dogs to exist in society, I don't personally like a dog who going to err on the side of protection. It is much more likely that a dog like that is going to cause me issues with service men, friends, family, or something like that, than that the dog would actually be called upon to protect me. It's nice to have the visual/noise deterrent, but I don't particularly want a dog who is going to take it further.