How to Train Your Dog to Guard Your Home
Jump to section
Introduction
You come back from sunny vacation, unload the car and reluctantly head back to normality when you see an unhappy neighbor in their yard. You give them a wave but something is clearly up. The neighbor proceeds to tell you there has been a burglary while you’ve been away and the police haven’t caught the culprit. You have young children in the house and struggle to sleep as it is, you don’t need to add another worry to your list.
Security systems can be expensive and pain to install, but you already have the best burglary deterrent living under your roof. Your dog may be soft and cuddly to you, but with the right training, he could be a lean, mean protection machine that could keep your home safe and burglars at bay. You’ll be able to sleep easy at night and have one less worry when you leave the house.
Top
Defining Tasks
Many people are surprised to learn that training your dog to guard your home is relatively straightforward. A lot of the training consists of showing him where his territory is and incentivizing and rewarding him for protecting it. You don’t need to train him to ferociously bite any strangers, just to give an intimidating bark. This training can work on both young dogs and older dogs. Puppies will be keen to please and quick to learn, so you could see results in just a week or so. Older dogs who have spent a lifetime being placid may need an extra couple of weeks before the training takes hold.
A few weeks may sound like a long time, but it’s a small price to pay to keep your home, family, and treasured possessions safe. This training will also strengthen the bond between you and your canine pal.
Top
Getting Started
Before you turn him into the hounds of the Baskerville, you’ll need a few bits. Treats or his favorite food broken into small pieces will be required to reward and motivate him. You’ll also need a leash, a body harness if he’s strong, plus a person your dog doesn’t know. A secure fence or boundaries will also be needed to remove the risk of anyone getting hurt during training.
You’ll also need a quiet 10 minutes a day where you won’t be distracted. The only other thing you need is patience and then training can commence.
Top
The Enforcing Boundaries Method
Effective
0 Votes
Effective
0 Votes
Establish a perimeter
Secure him to a leash and walk him around the perimeter of the house in the morning and the evening. Make sure you take him around the entire area you want him to protect. Doing this everyday will reinforce to him where his territory is, he’ll then naturally want to defend it.
Familiarize with toys
Place some of his toys around the perimeter and play with them there. You can also give him his food closer to the boundaries. This will all help engrain in him where his territory is.
Time for the test
Leave him alone in the house and have a stranger to him approach the door or window. Have them knock on the door or window until your dog gives him a response, such as a bark. It is important you use someone he doesn’t know otherwise he likely won’t display any signs of aggression.
Run away
As soon as he barks, have the unknown person make a sound and run off. This will drill into him that he needs to bark until the unknown person runs away. Then quickly enter the home yourself and reward him with a treat.
Practice makes perfect
Practice this each day for at least a week or two. You can then monitor his behaviour when people like the postman or delivery men come to the house. If he automatically barks and goes to defend your home you can stop the training and cut down the frequency of treats. He will then officially be ready to guard your home full time.
The Bark Method
Effective
0 Votes
Effective
0 Votes
Monitor his behavior
Keep an eye on him and look for triggers that make him bark. Before you can train him to guard the house, you need to be able to train him to bark on command. Taking him out for a walk or feeding him a meal are common triggers.
Time the command
Once you’ve identified a trigger, issue a ‘bark’ command just before you think he will bark. Timing is important here, if given too long before he won’t associate the command with the bark.
Reward
As soon as he barks, give him a treat and lots of praise. Repeat this process each day for 10 minutes. As he begins to understand the command try practicing when he isn’t in a situation that will make him bark anyway. After several days, you can slowly reduce the frequency of treats and move onto the next step.
Up the stakes
Have someone approach the home and give him the bark command as soon as the individual knocks on the door. Again, timing is important so he connects the knock on the door with the bark command. Give him a treat as soon as he barks.
Be consistent
Practice this each day for at least a week. Try and have different people approach the house and also have them knock at windows as well, so he knows to bark at any unusual sound. He will soon get the hang of it, at which point you won’t need to give him a command at all, it will have become habit to bark at anyone that approaches.
The Leash Method
Effective
0 Votes
Effective
0 Votes
Show him his territory
Walk him around the perimeter of the home every day for at least two weeks. Before you move onto the next steps, you need to ensure he knows where his territory starts and ends. Once he knows this he will be naturally inclined to defend the territory anyway.
Use a long leash
Secure him to a long leash outside the home. Make sure the leash is long enough that he can still move around plenty and approach any strangers. You can use old rope or anything that is long and strong enough.
Find a brave friend
Have a stranger approach the home from an angle your dog can see. Stand close to him and keep an eye on his reaction. It is quite likely he will naturally bark and want to ward them off as he’ll feel more vulnerable on a leash. Also ensure you’re behind your dog, if he’s in between you and the stranger he will feel it’s his role in the pack to defend you.
Gentle encouragement
If he doesn’t automatically bark at the stranger, encourage him to. You can do that by saying ‘find him’ in a firm but questioning voice so he knows you want him to do something. As soon as he starts to approach the stranger or barks, be sure to give him a treat and lots of praise.
Practice this each day for 10 minutes
Consistency is key with this type of training, so keep it up daily. Once he gets the hang of it, have a different stranger approach from a different angle, knocking on the windows. As he naturally develops a protective habit you can lose the leash and cut down on the number of treats you give him. He will quickly become defensive of his territory and you’ll be able to sleep easy at night knowing you have a 24/7 alarm downstairs.
Written by James Barra
Veterinary reviewed by:
Published: 10/15/2017, edited: 01/08/2021
Training Questions and Answers
Winchester
Sheltie Shepherd
Thirteen Months
Question
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
hes very skittish and i want him to protect our home but he rarely barks and is very skittish around people
Oct. 14, 2022
Winchester's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1133 Dog owners recommended
Hello, I would focus on building his confidence and teaching him to alert bark when their is someone on the property. A dog who will physically stop an intruder with something like a hold or standing their ground, is usually one with confidence and a stronger defense drive. When a dog meets a threat, a dog will generally free - flight, or move toward the threat to overtake it - fight. A dog with a stronger defense drive is the dog who can stand their ground of move toward a threat to stop it. A dog who naturally goes into flight, may not be a good protection work candidate, and you shouldn't expect that dog to physically stop a threat; however, the dog who is likely to flee or be passive, can be taught to look like a threat - by teaching them to be alert and bark when someone who shouldn't be there arrives. This alone can often be enough to deter an attacker or thief. To teach pup to bark and be more alert, first, teach pup the Speak command. https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-german-shepherd-to-speak Once pup knows the speak command, recruit friends pup doesn't know to step onto the property while pup watches from a window or fence. Command speak and reward with a treat when they do. Practice with telling pup to speak each time the person is on the property, until pup barks on their own when the person enters without saying speak. At that point, have the person step onto the property, wait seven seconds to see if pup will bark on their own, reward if they do, and command speak if they don't - then reward but give a smaller reward when you tell pup opposed to when pup does it on their own. Practice until pup will bark each time someone enters the property. Practice with different people you can recruit, that pup doesn't know so that pup will learn to do this with anyone who enters the property and not just that one person. Draw pup's attention to people outside or people on your property, and reward pup when you see them watching someone in general - so that pup will begin watching people and staying more alert as a habit. Pup doesn't have to bark to reward this one - just reward when pup is watching someone and you notice that. I also recommend teaching the Quiet command, so that you can tell pup when to stop barking after they alert. Quiet method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark With a fearful dog especially, be careful not to encourage true aggression and use fear to try to provoke pup to "guard". That type of training can actually make things a lot worse and give you a dog who is simply unpredictable and may attack a friend. You want to use positive reinforcement to make alerting and watchfulness and a new person being around something pup enjoys, so pup appears confident and like they mean business - while also discouraging pup's fearfulness and timidity of people. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
Oct. 17, 2022
Finn
Husky Pitbull
1 Year
Question
0 found this helpful
0 found this helpful
So my dog protects the house well. Almost too well. Every sound it seems like sets him off. But I would like to work on teaching when this is acceptable and when it's not. Thank you in advance!
June 22, 2022
Finn's Owner
Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer
1133 Dog owners recommended
Hello Makayla, I would start by teaching Quiet. I would also work on desensitizing pup to the things you don't want them to bark at. Check out the Desensitize method also. Quiet method and Desensitize method: https://wagwalking.com/training/train-a-shih-tzu-puppy-to-not-bark Check out this video series for more details on desensitizing also. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAA4pob0Wl0W2agO7frSjia1hG85IyA6a Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden
June 22, 2022