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Guard Dogs

Guard dogs are a subject that I'm not sure I even want to write about, but as this site is meant for all aspects of man's best friend, then it should get an airing.

Guard dogs are mostly kept by people to guard property.

Dogs make perfect sentinels in this respect because of their natural pack instinct to guard the members of the pack and also the den when one of the females has pups.

Pack Instinct

When they become a member of the human pack, that instinct carries over to guarding the family house as well as guarding the family members.

In that situation, almost any dog can be thought of as a guard dog.

As long as a dog can bark loudly and cause a commotion should a would be intruder come calling, he will have done his job and seen them off. Of course the family pet doubles as family member and also intruder deterrent, so they are generally not seen as out and out guard dogs as such.

Common Stereotypes

People's general view of what they believe to be a guard dog stereotype is a large, mean and tough dog.

This can include breeds such as a Rottweiler, Doberman, XL Bully or German Shepherd sitting chained up in a builder's yard or scrap metal yard which is capable of scaring off an intruder.

These dogs, while showing exceptional obedience, live a completely different life to the family pet. While they have some human companionship during working hours, they are left alone at night. For dog, which is a social animal, this is a very sad and lonely existence, which is why I'm not happy writing about it.

When you take that miserable existence that a guard dog may face in a country like the UK, Australia or the US for example, it's bad enough. But when you take a country like Spain where the general population does not view dogs in quite the same light as we do, the role of a guard dog means living a horrible existence.

It is something that angers me in the extreme.

Inhospitable Environment

Dogs are often left alone without adequate shelter for days on end and often die young from contracting Leishmaniasis, which is a common disease spread by a tiny mosquito that only affects dogs and is fatal unless expensive treatment is administered by a vet.

The chances of catching this disease can be reduced by not allowing a dog out after dusk, as the mosquito does not fly during the day. Dogs left to guard a property are exposed to this threat simply because they do not have adequate, or in some cases any shelter.

Ok, now I'm getting angry at a people who are ignorant when it comes to looking after animals. Their humanitarian record in this respect is not good.

The country still loves to watch a bull being slowly tortured to death by sadistic so-called bull fighters (more like cowardly tormentors) who don't even get into the ring with the bull until it is considerably weakened by repeated stab wounds made by a small army of men on horseback.

So you can just imagine how they treat their dogs.

Even families with dogs are ignorant to the dangers and allow their dogs to walk unleashed along the streets, not seeming to care that their pet might easily run beneath a car. My neighbour, who is actually a very intelligent man, opens his front door in the morning and lets his Spaniel take itself for a walk.

Try telling him to put the dog on a leash and walk with him, and you get the typical Spanish shrug as if to say "what do you expect me to do about it?" One day that dog is not going to come home and his children are going to be terribly upset.

What has any of this got to do with guard dogs?

Well, I suppose my experience of living here in Spain for several years has enabled me to observe people who keep dogs more for the guard dog element than for an actual pet. Not all Spanish people are as bad as this, of course.

There are good and bad in all, and some truly love and care for their dogs. But still far too many do not.

I see some unbelievably ignorant people keeping obviously cold weather dogs like Huskies with their incredibly thick coats here in a place where the summer temperatures can reach 40ºC. So many of them die from heat exhaustion.

All to guard their homes and to show off to their envious neighbours, I shouldn't doubt.

Summary

While there are many good reasons to keep a dog more for their ability to protect a home and its occupants from intruders, it doesn't mean they should be ill-treated.

I expect there will be some indignant owners who will attack this article because they can't take the truth and honesty is not always viewed as being acceptable in a liberalistic way.

Well if you don't like it, go fuck yourself.

I believe that all dogs deserve to be treated well and given love and respect in return for the unconditional love, protection and companionship they give to their owners.


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Posted on 10 February 2009 in Dog Behaviour | 2 Comments
Last Updated on 23 July 2024