Advice on breaking a guard dog...

[El Caballo Loco]

WARNING: Long read ahead.

I could really use some! My wife and I adopted an 8 year old male beagle/manchester terrier mix. We went over his behavior and history information at the shelter and we were both extremely impressed with how calm and collected he is, especially for having beagle in him.

What we failed to notice was the previous owners reason for bringing him to the shelter:

"No use for guard dog anymore"

DUN DUN DUN

So we get back home with him and he's still very calm, listens well, adjusts to the home well, and seems to be a great fit.

We met the guard dog in him today. My wife is a massage therapist and one of her clients knocked on the door. I could see the dogs hackles raise and he started growling but before I could contain him my wife opened the door (not a dog person and oblivious to these signs) and the dog got a nip in on the clients thigh. It was no issue with the client as he understood and is also a good friend.

I put the dog for a time out in a dark closet for 1 hour until the client left. I let him back out and kept him at my side and under control and he remained calm and controlled again.

Another behavior the dog possesses is to sit on the couch in front of the window which has a good look on who comes to the front door. He growls at every stranger he sees.

I understand the client crossed what could be considered a boundary the dog established (threshold of the front doorway) and that there needs to be an Alpha male role established (oh, I got this!).

If there are any dog owners with experience in this what would your recommend? He is literally one of the most well-behaved dogs I've had except for when he goes on the defense.

I'd much rather break him and keep him than pawn him off on someone else.

As of right now I am sticking with the time-outs and repeating time out the whole way to the closet. I give the command of enough initially, and then time out on the way to the closet to let him calm down and realize he's doing something wrong.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Mazin]

What sucks is you have no idea how the "Guard dog" was put in him. My intial suggestion would be to ether leash him when you have a visitor or try a shock collar (I hate those), begals in general are some time just lil ass' about their homes anyway but this is a tough situation and if I come up with anything better I will post it up...GOOD LUCK MAN!!!

[BigBear]

You will HAVE to leash him when you have company. Best thing to start out doing is introducing your dog to company. In other words. Tie up dog in backyard, let the human in the house, THEN bring in the dog on a leash. Make sure you and your humans ignore the dog. If he raises his hackles or starts to growl, admonish and take back outside. Repeat until there is no defenseive edge.

After that, make the dog lie down in front of the guest. If he refuses, MAKE him. YOU are the alpha. Best way is to grab back of neck (watch out for getting your bicep too close to mouth), reach under the back two legs with your other arm and roll him gently over. Once he's on his side, keep your hand on his neck and his exposed thigh. He WILL fight. You must hold him until he submits, it might take a while.

Then, while you still hold him, let your guest come stand over dog and pet on the rear (stay away from head/mouth until dog is broken, but you DO need to approach from the front so teh doggy sees.. Just don't pet the head in this step yet). It's a long process and you'll never be totally rid of the "guard" part if the training did it right. However, you should be able to communicate to your dog when to turn it on and off. If he's getting edgy in the house, then in his mind, it is HIS territory. You need to convince the dog that he is in your territory. You are the alpha.

Lots of correction, repetition, and doggy treats should get the desired effect. Never encourage the guard dog unless he is an actual working dog. ALWAYS admonish him for raises hackles... it's a long process, but it can be done.

Just keep a leash handy.

Edit: Also, remember that dogs have wonderful senses. If he senses that you are hesitant to have him around strangers, etc... he'll take charge and the guard will come out since he takes that hesitancy for you not being in control of the situation. If you'd ever like to expose him to other dogs, I have no problem letting him run with mine. They need to be socialized.

[funkfool]

Take him to cripple creek or Vegas.
I have no input of any more value.
forgive me...

[mcantar18c]

That's a pretty good quality to have, IMO, and not something I'd want to break him of.
I think people are looking at this the wrong way... don't train him to be less defensive or be less of a loyal protector (what he sees his role as)... instead, focus on training him to listen to your commands when you want him to back off.
Its simple conditioning... repeated exposure to stimulus (have guests over) with a positive response (like a treat) for the target behavior (backing down when you give him the proper command). You need to be the Alpha 100% of the time, but it seems like you've got that part down or at least understand it.

My dog always lets me know when something ain't right, and he can be pretty intimidating when he wants to be. When I tell him to leave it or to back off though, he goes and lies down or sits between me and the unfamiliar person if we're talking at the door or something. To me that's exactly how things should be.

[El Caballo Loco]

Mazin and BigBear, thanks a lot.

BigBear, definitely some good advice there. I may take you up on your offer once we establish some guidelines around here and see how things progress.

mcantar18c, you brought up a really good point of not wanting to break that habit. I definitely agree with you of it being a good quality.

Something I didn't include is that my wife is a massage therapist and does a lot of work from home.

[Mazin]

I want to add that the biggest Issue is time, it will take awhile but the dog will conform to the owner..

[BigBear]

Rgr, you can still break the dog from being aggressive without the magic word. It is a good quality to have but in your original post it sounded like you wanted it gone.

Something else I didn't mention. If the dog used the couch to peek out the window, and that visual cue is the trigger... Move the couch or don't let him on it, lol. I always like seeing people's faces when I open the door and there is a dog staring at them unbeknownst, lol.

[Clint45]

He is 8 years old???

That behavior is deeply ingrained. Find someone who wants a guard dog or put him down.

Post pics of dog. I'm sure someone here will give him a good home.

[funkymonkey1111]

what is it that you are hoping to accomplish by putting him in a dark closet?