Do Female Dogs Make Better Watchdogs

Many people like to equate dog’s behavior to human’s behavior, while I agree some behaviors are similar to ours but many don’t.

Territorial aggression is more of an individual quality among dogs. There is no concrete evidence to indicate females are superior guard dogs over males. Conversely, there is no proof to show that male dogs offer better territorial defense than females. A dog’s gender is of no significance in determining value as a watchdog or a guard dog.

The breed in itself is more likely to be a factor in a dog’s guarding abilities, however there are many variations within a breed and it is not possible to rule out one behavior over the other.

Watchdog Barking Ability Does Not Always Equal To Guard Dog Protection Ability

A dog with a natural ability of watchdog barking does not necessary mean the dog has the ability to offer guard dog protection. Similarly is also true, if a dog with guard dog protection ability may not always bark at any passing sound or movement.

Most of the small dogs are best known for their natural watchdog barking ability. They are easily startled, quicker to bark, and are completely oblivious to their size.

Top 15 Dogs For Watchdog Barking

• Rottweiler
• German Shepherd
• Scottish Terrier *
• West Highland Whit Terrier *
• Miniature Schnauzer *
• Yorkshire Terrier *
• Cairn Terrier *
• Chihuahua *
• Airedale Terrier
• Poodle (Standard or Miniature)*
• Boston Terrier *
• Shih Tzu *
• Dachshund *
• Silky Terrier *
• Fox Terrier *

Source: The Intelligence of Dogs by Stanley Coren

As you can see that from the above list, 12 out of 15 dogs belong to the smaller breeds (18 inches and below). If you own any one of them, they may not be able to give you the best protection when faced with a determined intruder. This requires a job from those with territorial defense ability. Usually this group of dogs belongs to the larger breeds.

Top 6 Dogs for Territorial Defense

• Doberman Pinscher
• Akita
• Miniature Schnauzer *
• Rottweiler
• German Shepherd
• Chow Chow

Source: How Dogs Thinks by Stanley Coren

Based on the above 2 groups of dogs, it seems Miniature Schnauzer is the only small dog that has the two natural abilities—a good watchdog who is capable to protect its owner. Now, should you go out and get a Miniature Schnauzer for this purpose? Can I train my dog to have both attributes?

Note: These are some of the most common questions asked since the conception of this blog. I was apprehensive to answer but after some thoughts, I think readers here are sensible enough to gauge for themselves.

Can I Train My Dog To Have Both Attributes - Watchdog Barking and Territorial Defense?

It is very easy to train those dogs with territorial defense ability to be good watchdogs, whereas the reverse role is harder to achieve.

In fact, any average dog can be easily trained to become a “good watchdog” which doesn’t require owners to learn any special dog training techniques to achieve it. Many of us, at some point, had trained our once angelic quiet pet dog to become good watchdog barker without knowing it. Let’s see this behavior reinforcement sounds familiar.

Whenever our dogs startled and barked when something is heard outside or if someone approaches our dogs, we reward them in the form of verbal acknowledgment (”What’s it, Fido?”) or simply gave our attention to them by going to the window to see what our dog was reacting. Sometimes we would just instruct our barking dog to “shut up.” This is a negative attention.

Any form of attention is still an attention and can be reinforcement for our dogs for territorial behavior.

If you think that you need to prepare your pet dog to attack an intruder, do contact a well-reputed dog trainer who specialized in attack-trained dog training. The encouragement of uninhibited aggression in a pet dog should be left to the skilled professional, and you must become equally skilled in controlling the dog.

Dogs that are attack-trained are NOT ideal family pet for most households.

I do not recommend any owner to train their pet dog to attack an intruder without due consideration. Likewise, I do not encourage owner to train their dogs to be watchdog barker for the sake of it.

Most dogs will bark when something unusual occurs, some breeds are much more alert than others. It is not like we have intruders visiting our homes at odd hours frequently. I would think getting a good home security system in place is a better option to protect ourselves from intruders. This is not to say that watchdogs are not needed, there is just that much our companion dogs can do when faced with armed intruders.