Like any dog, Goldendoodles provide a lifetime of love and companionship. However, are Goldendoodles good guard dogs? Below, we’ll go over whether or not our favorite dogs make perfectly protective pups.
We’ll also detail the general temperament of your Doodle so that you can better understand your dog as a whole. Let’s jump right into it!
Natural Breed Temperament
To determine whether or not your pooch would make a guard dog, it’s important to understand their predisposed personality traits. Goldendoodles are the adorable cross between a Poodle and Golden Retriever. Our Doodles take temperament traits from both of their ancestral breeds.
People-Pleasing Pups
In general, Goldendoodles are incredibly approachable. The dogs are super social and love to be around people, most likely due to their Golden Retriever genes. Your Doodle is likely very affectionate and pretty tolerant.
Activity Level
Goldendoodles are very athletic and require at least half an hour of exercise each day to stay in proper shape. Doodles love to play and will enjoy engaging in a variety of activities with their owners.
The dogs are relatively adaptable. They will do well in a variety of settings, as long as their physical needs, including exercise, are met.
Trainability
Since Goldendoodles are part Poodle, the dogs are incredibly smart. This means that your Goldendoodle has an above-average capacity for learning tricks and different skills. However, remember that this also comes at a price— Your dog’s intelligence can also be used to get into under the radar mischief.
However, as long as you establish yourself, your Goldendoodle will learn that being open to training is rewarding for both of you.
Do Female and Male Goldendoodles Have Different Personalities?
You may be wondering whether or not your Goldendoodle’s sex has to do with their personality. While there are obvious anatomical differences, the sex of your Doodle isn’t going to make a huge impact on your dog’s personality.
Ultimately, every dog is different and has varying characteristics unrelated to their sex. While male dogs may be more likely to exhibit marking behaviors before neutering. This won’t change your Goldendoodle’s temperament drastically.
Bottom Line: Goldendoodle Temperament
All in all, Goldendoodles are more intelligent, playful temperament. While these dogs are naturally pretty friendly to humans, including strangers, they’re also likely to let you know when a cat, squirrel, or other small animal is approaching.
What Exactly is A Guard Dog?
Before evaluating Goldendoodles on their own, it’s important to define exactly what a guard dog is. In general, most people on the lookout for “guard dogs” are actually in search of watchdogs.
Essentially, a watchdog will bark to ward off intruders or alert his owner of an approaching suspect, but will not necessarily attack. A guard dog may initially take on the role of a watchdog, but then proceed to attack or display signs of aggression once the intruder has crossed a boundary.
Guard dogs are trained to be protective over their homes, owners, and belongings.
Do You Need A Guard Dog?
Nowadays, professional guard dogs are in police or military settings. While a watchdog may help protect your home, training your dog to become a watch or guard dog doesn’t come without its risks. Your dog can become increasingly wary of strangers and may become unmanageably protective without proper training.
Can Goldendoodles Be Good Guard Dogs?
While Goldendoodles are incredibly smart and known for their trainability, they aren’t necessarily going to make the best guard or watchdog. This is because Goldendoodles have an innately friendly nature— Even if an intruder enters your property, a Doodle is much more likely to ask for affection than alert his owner or show signs of aggression.
However, you can train your Goldendoodle to exhibit certain behaviors that may ward off potential intruders from coming into your property. This could be as simple as training your dog to bark or “speak” whenever someone is on the driveway or nearing your doorstep, just to give you an extra head’s up.
If you’re looking for a true guard dog that’s predisposed to be protective, you might want to check out the following breeds:
- German Shepherd
- Australian Shepherd
- Bullmastiff
- Doberman Pinscher
- Rottweiler
- Staffordshire Bull Terrier
- Chow Chow
- Komondor
Duties Of Guard Dogs
It’s important to note that guard dogs, in general, are working dogs. This means that they won’t necessarily double as great pets. Great guard dogs are fully committed to the protection, so their overall focus and attention levels are already divided.
Moreover, guard dogs may only respond to one person or a small group of people. Your Goldendoodle is a highly social creature, so he may not be the best dog to train for a watch or guard dog purposes. Below are a couple of common jobs of professional guard dogs.
Protecting The Home
Guard dogs can be used to protect the home and will stay alert throughout the night to monitor the property.
Protecting Livestock
This type of guard dog, sometimes called a livestock guardian dog, takes on different livestock wrangling duties. This means protecting a flock from potential intruders like coyotes or other wildlife. It can also extend to basic herding duties. Livestock guardian dogs are placed and raised with the flock that they’re built to protect when they are puppies.
Protect Territory
Similar to protecting property, guard dogs can be used to patrol a specific territory or area and ward off potential intruders.
Where Are Guard Dogs Used?
While your Goldendoodle might not make a great guard dog per se, that doesn’t mean you can’t teach your pooch to bark at potential property invaders. As you’ll see below, most guard dogs aren’t used in a familial context anyhow.
Law Enforcement
Dogs naturally have a keen sense of smell, making them great at sniffing out substances. This skill is most practical in police settings.
Military
Guard dogs can be used to sniff out potential dangers at a much more efficient rate than humans. In addition, military dogs can be trained to guard or even attack, but they’re mostly a part of the team for their deep sense of smell.
General Protection
Guard dogs can be useful for anyone who needs an extra set of eyes on their property or home. This can extend to protecting livestock or personal property, but oftentimes an alarm system will work more efficiently than a guard dog itself.
Guard dog owners have to be extremely regimented during the training process, and as a result may inadvertently sacrifice some of their pet’s social skills.
The Downsides Of Guard Training
While guard training may make sense for a few dogs with specialized jobs, it’s generally not recommended to inexperienced owners. This is because guard training can come with a lot of real downsides if not executed properly as seen below.
Socialization Difficulties
Understandably, many guard dogs can pick up an unruly sense of wariness among other pets and other people. Your dog will likely have a difficult time enjoying regular activities like socializing at the dog park or having a pup play date. There’s always the risk that your guard dog will see another human as an intruder, even if they’ve met this person in the past.
Intense Training Protocols
Guard dogs require strict, regular breed specific training in order to be successful at their jobs. This can get exhausting very quickly and be difficult for an owner who isn’t used to dealing with guardian or working dogs.
In addition, improper training can just result in a dog who becomes aggressive regardless of the stimulus. While you may be able to train a dog to bark on command, you’ll probably require professional consultation to ensure that your working dog knows the full boundaries of his or her duties.
Having a breed that’s predisposed to be protective and fiercely loyal can be helpful, but that doesn’t make training a guard dog necessarily easier.
Potentially Expensive
Since you’ll likely need outside training, guard dog training can be more expensive than what it’s worth.
Liability Risk
Working dogs, especially those trained to intimidate or even attack can be a liability risk. Normal activities like taking a walk could be potentially dangerous for other dogs or walkers around you depending on your pooch.
Different Relationship
In general, working dogs are not pets. While you may develop a strong bond with your guard dog, it’s likely that their attention will be more focused on fulfilling their duties than companionship.
Guard Training Your Doodle
While Doodles aren’t necessarily well-suited to be attack dogs, you can still train them to bark upon the presence of someone on your property. To do this, first focus on teaching them the “Speak” command (See Video Here).
Next, work on having your dog “speak” or bark whenever someone approaches the door, driveway, or property. Reward with high-value training treats and toys.
Over time, your dog will begin to associate approaching visitors with barking. Reward the behavior and begin to phase out treats as your Doodle gets the hang of it. This should be just enough to let you know when someone or something is unexpectedly approaching your door.
Our Goldendoodles are great at a lot of things, including becoming an alert watchdog. While these friendly furballs won’t be prone to show aggressive behavior towards anything besides the neighborhood squirrel or cat, Goldendoodles can certainly be trained to bark upon the presence of an intruder.
Below is a Pinterest friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Doodle Board!!
