Would my German Shepherd protect me?

If you own a German Shepherd then you probably want to know whether or not it would protect you if you needed it to.

This post will show you whether or not it would be likely to protect you and how you can make it be more likely to protect you.

So, would my German Shepherd protect me? If your German Shepherd has not been trained to protect you then it would be unlikely that it would protect you physically. However, untrained German Shepherds have been known to protect their owners and they are a strong deterrent.

There are a number of things that you can consider when trying to figure out whether or not it would protect you. There are also a number of things that you can do to make it more likely to protect you.

How to tell if your German Shepherd would protect you

In the following sections, I’ll show you why it might be doing it, what to consider and what you can do about it.

It is difficult to tell if it has not been trained to

If your German Shepherd has not been trained to protect you then it is difficult to tell whether or not it would do it.

In most cases, it has been found that German Shepherds will act as a deterrent by barking and looking aggressive but they do not actually do anything physically.

With that being said, there have also been cases where untrained German Shepherds have protected their owners which is why it can be difficult to tell whether or not yours would do it.

It depends on the dog

If your German Shepherd has not been trained to protect you but it tends to get aggressive in situations such as when someone is at the door, when someone approaches you that it does not know or when other dogs are around you then it would make it more likely that it would protect you.

Whereas, if it tends to be very friendly even when someone it does not know is at home then it would be much less likely that it would protect you from an intruder.

It would still be a deterrent

Regardless of whether or not your German Shepherd would protect you, it would still act as a deterrent. People know that German Shepherds are a protective breed and they are used as guard dogs for that reason so most people would rather not target someone that is with a German Shepherd.

It would be more likely to protect you from animals

While it is difficult to tell whether or not it would protect you from an intruder, it is more likely that it would protect you from other animals. German Shepherds have a strong prey drive and it is in their nature to help fend off other animals that they see as a threat.

It might alert you to danger

If there is a danger such as a fire in your home then it would also be likely that it would alert you to the danger by barking. However, there have also been cases where they haven’t so it is still important to take precautions such as to have smoke detectors in your home.

Things to consider

There are many things that you can consider when trying to figure out if your German Shepherd would protect you. Below, I’ll show you some particularly important things to consider.

The nature of your German Shepherd

When trying to figure out whether or not it would protect you it would help to consider the nature of your German Shepherd.

If it tends to be quite dominating and naturally untrusting then it would make it more likely that it would protect you.

Whereas, if it tends to be friendly even in situations where the person might not be friendly then it would be much less likely that it would protect you.

Being overly friendly is better than overly aggressive

Another thing to consider is that being overly friendly is not such a bad thing.

Even if your German Shepherd is friendly, it will still act as a deterrent. It will also mean that it will be easier to manage, it will be better behaved when you have guests around and it will be much less likely to be violent towards someone that is friendly.

How to get your German Shepherd to protect you

There are a number of things that you can do to make it more likely that your German Shepherd to protect you that I will mention below. The best thing for you to do will depend on how you want it to protect you such as on command or when a person is on your property.

Train it using the panic word method

The panic word method focuses on training your German Shepherd to become protective when you say a certain word.

To train it to learn the panic word you would do as follows:

Get some treats that your dog likes

• Give it a small treat so that it knows that you have treats
• Wait for it to bark by teasing it with the treat if necessary
• Reward it when it barks or when it shows a sign of barking
• Continue to do the above each time you show it the treat say the command word so that it learns that the command word means to bark

You can watch the video below to see how it is done

Use positive reinforcement training to get it to protect your home

You can also use positive reinforcement training to get it to become more protective of your home.

You can do this by

• Walking it around the perimeter of your property while rewarding it with treats to teach it to learn that it is its property.
• Rewarding your German Shepherd for barking when someone comes onto your property

You can watch the video below to see how it is done

Train it to learn who is friendly

When training your German Shepherd it is important to train it to be well behaved around people that it knows. To do this you would reward it when a friendly person is around you both and it is being well behaved.

Be consistent

When training your German Shepherd it is unlikely that you will be able to make a lot of progress with just one training session. But, if you train it consistently, then you will be able to get much better results and it will become much more responsive to your command.