Of Nihon Ken & Protection
Out of curiosity, how protective are your nihon ken of you / your home / property / etc.
I mean, if someone were to come into your house uninvited, [ whether you're home or not ] how do you think your pup/s would respond?
Just trying to get a feel for their guarding level.
[ note; I am not planning on getting a nihon ken to train it to guard, I'm just curious about their natural guarding instinct. Personally, I think just having a dog is enough to deter theft as most people would be too afraid to break in
] ~
I mean, if someone were to come into your house uninvited, [ whether you're home or not ] how do you think your pup/s would respond?
Just trying to get a feel for their guarding level.
[ note; I am not planning on getting a nihon ken to train it to guard, I'm just curious about their natural guarding instinct. Personally, I think just having a dog is enough to deter theft as most people would be too afraid to break in
] ~
Comments
So, she's really just all bark and no walk?
That said, if someone was posing a threat to me, I am not sure Miko would attempt to defend me. However she does give a rather ferocious bark if a stranger is outside. But she is not even 10 months old. I have a feeling she does not take much of a guardian role, because living with me, Jason, and Piglet, she has no reason to be on guard.
If someone posed a threat to me or Miko, there is no question Piggy would defend.
I will also say that Moto was very protective too.
ETA: I rarely talk about him so I guess I should mention that he was an intact male shiba lol.
A "sharp" Shikoku, like Ahi, would not allow [an uninvited] someone in the house if she didn't know them. Loa, on the other hand, would probably just run away. Ahi would also not allow anything to happen to her person - she is very protective of her pack. I have seen her defend Hilo before, she's a tough customer.
As for Akita, some are sharper than others, but all should, at the very least, give a very intimidating display at any intruder. When it comes to personal protection [not home guarding] I think an Akita would spring into action if they felt it was needed - I have seen Hilo do this for Jen when she was charged by a dog - he got to business, with out a sound, taking the dog down by his neck, holding him, releasing him, then just carried on his walk like nothing happened.
Now, if you did want some protection qualities in your Nihonken [and I know you will not get an Akita], you mos def should go with a Kai Ken. Kona would throw himself in front of train if it would save Jen with absolutely no hesitation. If I allow someone into our home, he will be cool - but if someone tried to enter without me inviting them kona would get to business - I am 100% sure of that. Kona can also be pretty scary for a little guy, he has a hell of a growl/bark when needed. If a dog charges us Kona becomes uncontrollable - he is a tenacious little guy when needed... My only complaint would be that he feels he needs to be that way a bit too often for my taste. Kona spends most of his time guarding our yard and home, he takes it very seriously.
Then there is Luytiy....
----
----
Brad - I would love an Akita some day...maybe 10 or 15 years down the line though, when I have my own home & don't have to wrroy about landlord breed restrictions
As of right now, God willing, it will be Shikoku first, then a few years after that a Kai. But I'm still super curious about the rest of the nihon ken, which is why I was asking about all of them.
[ I'd love an LGD, especially a CO or Pyrenese but I don't think I have the acreage for them lol ]
Jess - Is the protection thing a bully-breed trait do you think? Or just a Piglet trait?
Rina - Was he a black & tan too? Then he'd really look like a Doby! lol
Kaia is TOO cute!!! ~
I think it depends on how much drive your dog has. I'm just glad I have done all the Obedience work up to now because she is so driven. Actually, I'm not sure if I would want her to be any bigger...
I've not seen personal gaurding, but I'm also very conscious of how I am when we're around other people because she's very in tune to my emotions. Time will tell, I guess.
Nemo barks like mad at anyone coming to the door, but once they are in the door he runs under the bed and barks from there, then maybe runs out and barks some more. One time because of a miscommunication with the lady who works at the offices for our apartment, a maintenance guy came into our apartment guy to reattach the rod in our closet that we hang our clothes on. Apparently we have too many clothes because one night it just ripped out of the wall and bent in half. Anyhow, we gate Nemo into the bedroom during the day, to give the cats a break. The guy was in there with power tools and throwing metal poles around, probably making a whole bunch of noise. As far as we know Nemo just hid under the bed, silently. Not much of a guard dog.
Unfortunately, I have seen what happens when one of her people are put into a scary situation... And she does not hesitate to make her presence known and to attack if that presence is not heeded. I am thankful for her guarding and protective instincts. However, it gets really annoying when she freaks out about the UPS man.
Nola, on the other hand, is a little wary of strangers outside of our home, but if someone were to come in the house (invited or uninvited), she would lick them to death. But Bella's guarding instinct is also directed at Nola, and she will herd her into her crate until the "danger" has passed.
However, when Hachi and I really started to bond, we were walking and behind us was a tall dark kind of figure, Hachi did a 180 and started barking at the guy, who crossed the street because of her maniacal barking! That was protective, I think...
Frost will run to door and stand up agaist the glass window by the door when anyone comes near the door (including me or kids). he will growl, his tail wagging, ears swept back ( my kids call that Spock status -after str trek character).
I have to leash him before I open the door and let the guests get in. As soon as the person comes in he will try to jump on them. But i think he is more excited to meet the new person. I use the leash to control him and make sure he does not run away.
After 2-3 minutes, once he settles and the newcomer settles down, he does not care what the person is doing except occasionly he will sniff them again.
In the backyard he will run from side to side to figure out any "sound" that he wants to track and watch intently.
Many times, he will bark from kitchen patio door looking at neighbours' movement in their home opposite me. But many times he will not bark but just watch neighbors in their kitchen. So I am not sure.
So i think, at least Frost is not a guard dog, but his barking and other demeanor will be enough for a stranger to think twice.
Any insight into classifying this behavior is welcome. I am quie curious.
Funny how they went from nanny dogs to having people walk across the street when you walk them
On walks, anyone approaching us from the side gets barked and growled at. In the car, a motorcycle that overtakes us gets him riled up - or sometimes a person looking at us from the sidewalk.
So far, that's all it has been. Barking and growling. If they don't heed his warning, he moves to a new spot to bark and growl. Now if you approach him with what looks like intent to hurt him, then the fangs come out. My uncle made that mistake by going for his head to try to pet him when Yoshi was barking.
Food may deter him, but once it's swallowed, it's back to the business of barking. I doubt Yoshi would protect me from another human, but if another dog were to come, there's no doubt in my mind, Yoshi would put his life on the line in an instant.
Amber, I'm with you that is sad
The backyard things sounds like prey drive to me. The neighbor thing sounds like a combo of curiosity and guarding - he is curious until he sees something that he considered abnormal and then he barks.
If you wanted to tone it down a bit, you could probably just redirect him to the door or somewhere else with w treat. Do that enough and he will run to that spot when someone runs by... don't make a big thing about it, just redirect and treat.
That's my take on what you described, tho I am no expert.
----
----
Rakka, on the other hand, I'm not as sure about, because I haven't really seen her think someone was an intruder. She always gives a "who goes there?", but I don't know beyond that.
As for protecting a person, well, none of my dogs have ever had to defend me yet, so it's impossible to know. I know that they stick up for each other, though. Mess with one of them and you've messed with them all. For instance, my sister gave me her outdoor cat, Oskar, and I tried to get him to live inside for a while, but he wouldn't stay inside and when he was inside, he'd just poop and pee on the counter all day long. Then, my in-laws wanted an outdoor cat, so he's over at their place and has a heated dog house and all that. Anyway, when Oskar was staying with us, everyone got along for the most part. Well, Oskar would sometimes hiss and swat at the others as they walked by, but they were all really good and just ignored him - dogs and cats included. When they saw him outside, it was no big deal, they just ignored him. Then one day, I was feeding the pets, and I opened the door to give Oskar some food outside, and instead of eating his food, he ran in and attacked Rakka's face, then started eating her food! There was a moment of silence as all the pets looked on in shock, then all hell broke loose! I barely managed to get Oskar back outside in one piece. Tojo had actually managed to get ahold of him, and once I got him out the door, Tojo barked after him like, "That's right! You get out and STAY out!" Now, there may as well be "Wanted: Oskar DEAD OR ALIVE" posters hanging all over the place. All the dogs and both the cats turned on him like that. So, yeah, don't mess with one because they'll all turn on you!
I have no doubt in my mind that Ninja will protect the house if someone bursts inside while we are asleep or away. I haven't seen her react to anyone negatively when we are on walks though, only towards some dogs.
I live in a townhouse in a college town with a fenced backyard. I wanted to bring my Akita, Ninja, with me but my mom wouldn't give me her. =( I was also a victim of an armed robbery at gunpoint within the past year (outside my townhouse, girrr) and a dog that will protect me used to be my number one concern. My townhouse has a breed restriction (no aggressive breeds and must be under 50lbs) so I am going to get a Shiba Inu or a Shikoku. When I move into my new, bigger place, I'll get an Akita for sure... I read somewhere that the Japanese would use some Akitas as the police dogs too!
Too bad Brad won't give college students Shikoku's
-Joe
edit: Ninja is my Akita.
Mika, I'm not certain. However, before we adopted Keigo, we took Mika to Pittsburgh on a little trip to Kurt's Alma Mater (Carnegie Mellon). We spent 3 nights in a hotel, Everytime someone walked by the room door, she gave a warning bark and did some pacing and whining for a bit afterwards.