By Sam Nieves
If I say family watch dog, what do you think of? Chances are what immediately pops into your head is something like a Rottweiler or a Doberman. A large dog that looks as if he could turn an intruder into small manageable pieces. Your basic junkyard dog, essentially, although possibly with less froth.
Which is wrong, or at least incomplete. Guard dogs and watch dogs are actually two different things, although there is some overlap, and if you want to make sure your family is safe and happy, it's good to know the difference. There are lots of great dogs for either role, but they are different roles.
If you're thinking of large, powerful dogs, probably colored black and tan, what you're thinking of are guard dogs (Rottweilers, Dobermans, German Shepherds etc). A guard dog is one that is bred to be able to intimidate and incapacitate intruders and other unwanted guests. By necessity, they need to be powerful, smart and well trained.
A watchdog, on the other hand, is there to make sure that you're aware of whatever it thinks is out of the ordinary. They are not there to attack intruders, but to serve as a kind of living alarm system. If you want a good watchdog, your dog needs to be smart and alert. They don't need to be big or scary, because that isn't their job.
If you have a dog, they're probably already serving as a kind of watchdog. Dogs are by their nature territorial and pack oriented, which means that if they see someone they don't know, they are going to start barking.
In fact, most dogs need to have their watchdog tendencies trained out of them. Their natural tendency to bark at anything out of place tends to extend to squirrels, cats, mailmen and sometimes nothing at all, so people train them to be quiet.
The key to getting a good family watch dog is in how you train them. What you want is a dog that has been trained to be discerning at what it barks at. If your dog barks at everything up to and including leaves on the ground, you're going to start ignoring him. On the other hand, if he doesn't bark at anything, well, he's not any kind of watch dog, even if he's a great dog otherwise.
Some breeds make better watchdogs than others, although almost any breed can do the job with the right training. Hounds don't make great family watch dogs because they tend to be scent oriented, and will bark at things you'll never see. This doesn't mean that they aren't suitable for the job, a dog is a dog and they will bark regardless if they see an intruder, but after speaking with so many owners that have hound mixes or hound dogs in general they entertain me with their experiences. One example is a beagle mix barking for no reason into the moon, so it looked like. Hound dogs can react to scents hundreds of yards away. This Beagle would bark every time he would catch scent of small game up in the mountains positioned less then a quarter mile from the back yard.
So what breeds do make for a good family watch dog? Well, Chihuahua's, for one. They're smart, they're alert and they have a distinct bark that they're not at all afraid to use. Most terriers make good watch dogs, and Jack Russell's and miniature Schnauzers are known for being great family watch dogs. Other popular smart watch dogs are Papillons, Poodles and Miniature Pinschers. these mentioned breed of dogs are rated among the smartest in small dogs.
In general, you want to look for a dog that is happy to bark, easily trainable, and bonds well with your family. If you get a dog that can do that, you've got a dog that can protect your family from harm.
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