Question:
I acquired a doberman with the intention of having a dog to protect my house and my family; but my 3 year old doberman has been the sweetest family dog. Since I got her into my house (2 years ago); she had only barked 5 times - all upon seeing cats. I never minded because I read somewhere in the doberman book that, Doberman has the natural protective instict, and when a real danger approach, it will instinctively protects its owner.
One day when I was walking her in the park, a stranger approached; without saying anything, he punched me in my face and sent me to the ground. He went into my pocket and took away my mobile phone and wallet. All the while, my doberman only stood there watching. I went back home feeling so lousy and diappointed. How can I train her to be a real guard dog?... the sort that does not even have to fight... but at least signal me when to flee when danger approached.
Answer:
I forgot to add that while it is probabbly the best suggestion I could ever got is to get a professional help; this is not applicable in my situation. I am living in a small island in Indonesia where even Vets are rarity... let alone K9 trainer.
Answer:
Oh DiDi I am so sorry this happened to you. I hope you are allright. To answer your question - if I understand you correctly - there is nothing you can do. It takes a professional to train a dog properly & takes a long time of constant re-training. I am a little surprised that the dog did nothing, not even bark.
I hope this kind of violence does not happen often there. Get yourself some mace or something similiar to carry with you on walks & be thankful you have such a great family dog.
Answer:
I dont know if there are any, but if so, find a schutzhund trainer. Or if you can possibly afford it, you could pay for her to stay with a trainer for a while, though most of the training is for the human. I am sorry this happened to you, but self confidence is the key to a dog being protective.
Statistically very few dogs will fight a person without some sort of professional training. The training is to build their confidence and make them controllabel (by you) during a high stress situation.
If these are not possible, is it legal for you to carry pepper spray, a gun, or a club? I know it is very little consilation, seeing as this already happened to you, but MOST attackers will avoid a dog from fear of a bite, and most of all because they are afraid the dog will bark and alert witnesses.
Sadly without a professional to help you, there is not really anything you can do, except know that your dog is not weak. Dogs are like people, if you were professionally trained in hand to hand combat, you probably could have taken this man down easily...with professional training so would she...without it? She may have been more afraid than you were.
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I'm very sorry that this happened to you. FYI, though many people assume dobies are aggressive dogs, I have known many that are just sweet and playful. In fact, I knew a male dobie that was so submissive it was actually comical at times when he was faced with cats, etc.