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Originally Posted by Mastifflover
Whenever I see people talk about how they want a "mean", "aggressive" dog it kind of irritates me. If you aren't first and foremost getting a dog as a companion you are doing yourself and especially the dog a big disservice. On top of that you open yourself up to a boatload of liability if the dog bites someone because they are not properly trained.
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What Mastifflover said, in spades. Guard dogs are first and foremost companions just as any other dog is. He needs to spend time with you and any other people in your family, and get the same love and companionship from humans that any pet would get. He needs to be socialized properly around other people. He needs to be trained, and *you* need to be trained to handle him properly.
If you don't treat a guard dog properly, or if you mistreat a dog of a strongly territorial or aggressive breed, you won't get a guard dog. Instead, you'll get a mean dog. Mean dogs are difficult to control and inevitably bite the *wrong* people. When that happens, your dog gets killed for your mistake (which is utterly unjust), and you end up with bills to pay, a lawsuit, and often a criminal case on your hands. In worst case scenarios, a person or some people will die because of your mistake,
A properly trained guard dog is not a mean dog. He'll warn people who are encroaching on his territory. He'll attack people who continue to come despite warnings, or who sneak into places that the dog knows he is supposed to guard. However, such a dog is *under control*. When called off by the owner or anybody that the dog has been trained to listen to, he will quit attacking immediately. I've watched dog trainers and guard dog owners with their trained guard dogs, and the degree of control the owner or trainer has over the dog is breathtaking. That's the result of a dog who loves and trusts his owner. You don't get that any other way.
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Knock on my door and you'll hear a 207 pound Mastiff on the other side that sounds like he wants to make you kibble. But here's the best part. If your someone I know I tell Hannibal to sit and I let you in, then the only thing you have to worry about is being kissed and slobbered on to death. Training is the key no matter what kind of dog you want to get.
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I'd love to meet your mastiff. A well-trained, happy mastiff is a wonderful sight. :-) Of course, I happen to think a well-trained, happy *dog* of any breed is a wonderful sight -- I like all dogs better than I do most people and I'm not a people hater by any means. ;-)