My current dobe...is totally protective.
- my first dobe pup in 1977 had more confidence (from the beginning) BUT would not show real bouts of protection (to the point of putting it's life on the line)...to family members
WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE, between 2 well breed pups ??
DOG #1 - I took a lot of professional training with it. (1 hour/week for 27 weeks + 6 hours/week practice).
Dog #2 - With the skills learned previously + I became tons smarter in reading my dog & communicating in dog language.
I trained her very early & much quicker, by myself (and sort of invented my own training methods, as we learned together)...Amy's private training with her Dad (on my dead-end street) and I eventually made her almost humanly smart / my Vet of 35 years, said my dobe is the most humanized dog, he has ever seen enter his practice in 35 years.
Protective of me to...but she reads me for constant direction / I trained her from 8 weeks old (almost to the point of dedicating my life to her) - I am her leader & mentor - unless I need assistance or help...she don't protect me the same way as my wife (but a #1 watch dog)- dobes are so smart, to read us....maybe she thinks I have a "black belt"...lol.
Amy is totally protective of my wife, till death (her loving Mom): - copied from an earlier text:
- if she don't know you (men in particular) and the first time you visit, she will stand in front of her Mom
- she submissed a larger dog once, that was loose and got to within a few feet of biting my wife
- she went nuts on a guy that we knew once, and a week later he was charged with +20 break & enters / guy happened to be casing our place, when he didn't see my truck and knew I was not home...dobe protected my wife that night
- she has kept a few people on our front porch, until I called her off / and fine with the other 99% (barking, but no growling)
- in the car, if my wife is in a mall parking lot and some shady character walks up behind...she goes beserk
So what was the PROTECTION difference - between 2 dogs, while the first one started out more qualified (in life):
I learned IT WAS ME...you harvest what you plant !!