Hello all,

Firstly, please excuse my utter ignorance on the subject, I am not a new dog owner, but I am about to take on my first pedigree dog, and my first pup. My question is about dominance, submissiveness and natural guarding instinct.

Lets say, for instance, that you have two dogs; the first dog (who for the sake of argument is the dominant of the pair) is a breed not really associated with guarding people or property, but is instead, more of a breed who licks the faces of the thieves, while they steal the family silver; a Golden Retriever, for instance. :)

Now, the second dog, who is the submissive dog of the pair, is a breed more closely associated with guarding, lets say a Dobe, Rottie, or whatever.

Will the 'guard dogs' submissive standing reduce his guarding instinct? Do guard dogs tend to be dominant, and less likely to do this should they find themselves as the submissive dog in the pack? Or is a breed’s temperament and instincts largely unaffected by their position in the pack?

Many thanks for any incite; and yes, I am aware that I am probably vastly over-simplifying the situation. ;)

Hi Stu

Over the years that I have owned Bull Terriers I have always found the most dominant dog to stand back and let the lower members of the pack do the work for it. Our dogs would go out and bark when anyone came to the gate and the APBT would just stand quietly and watch. Now with the two I have now the bitch is the more dominant and she lets the male do the barking duty while she just looks on. They say that females are more dominant than males but I think it is just that us guys let them think that so we have a bit of peace from the female of the species moaning all the time.

Mick

Hi Stu

It depends upon what you mean by guarding as many people have different perceptions such as
~ constantly patrolling the boundaries of property
~ barking if anyone tries to come in
~ barking if they hear the slightest noise
~ preventing people from entering with their body language
~ biting anyone who tries to enter

Many dogs will bark if they hear another dog bark - even if it is miles away

Many dogs will bark if someone comes to the door that they don't recognise - but this often does not start until adolescence unless you encourage them to be noisy when they hear anything outside (but don't start this if you have close neighbours)

If you have a drive most dogs will bark if a strange car comes up it

These are regardless of rank (but I can't say about breed).

I have a very submissive bitch but I had someone here to service oxygen generators one day and she was out when I let him in, he started to come downstairs and she stood at the bottom and roared at him - he was scared to come down. She then proceeded to do exactly the same the next day to the man coming to service lifts and hoists. She would have been the last one of mine that I would have expected to do anything like this (but was very well praised for doing it :) )

I realise this does not answer your question but it was not specific enough :)

Christine