Before acquiring a home protection dog, it is generally a good idea to take an inventory of your needs. You need to find a dog that can fit well with your lifestyle, and it’s also important to have a good idea of what sort of protection you actually want. Some people want a dog that will bark or growl at strangers, while others are looking for a dog that might actually attack in an emergency situation. People that are only looking for the former may do well with a smaller dog with a lot of alertness like a Pomeranian, while those looking for the latter will need a larger dog with a more aggressive temperament like an Akita, Great Pyrenees, or Neapolitan Mastiff. There are also large dogs with relatively mild temperaments, like the English Mastiff, that might be able to discourage people simply with their appearance.
Once you have a basic idea of what sort of home protection dog you are looking for, the next step is to do some research. You can sometimes find out a lot about dog breeds by visiting the library or surfing the Internet. Once you have a few breeds in mind, many experts recommend calling a few breeders and asking some questions. Many breeders are very willing to talk openly and honestly about their breed, and they can give you personal insights that might be hard to find anywhere else.
There is a lot of variation among home protection dog breeds in terms of their level of aggressiveness. Some of the dogs are naturally very aggressive and distrustful of strangers without any training, while others are relatively mild-mannered and might even need training in order to perform the job adequately. There are some dogs that might be very confident, while others are more timid or frightened of strangers than anything else. It’s also generally true that some protection breeds are very good at discerning between threatening and non-threatening situations, while others are generally distrustful of everyone.
Breeders and organizations generally put dog breeds into categories based on their uses. Most of the best home protection dog breeds are generally found in the “working” category. Some of them are also found in the “livestock herding” category, and there are also a few dogs in the “toy” and “non-sporting” categories that can be useful as home protection dog breeds.
Many of the dogs that work well as home protection dog breeds were originally used as livestock guardians. Dogs used in this capacity are usually raised alongside the livestock from the time they are very young, and eventually, they will bond with the animals. When these dogs are raised around a human family, they can become bonded to the people in the same way. Dogs like this don't usually need any special training to perform guard duties.