Using Dogs for Home Protection

Although we are a company primarily specialising in training dogs for family and personal protection, this type of work naturally overlaps with the home environment. We strongly believe that dogs should be allowed to enjoy life as a pet, and for this reason advise against keeping them outside in kennels unless they are being worked. A family protection dog should live in the home, which it will quite naturally view as its own and want to defend if they perceive it is being threatened. Accordingly, our training reflects this reality and we ensure that all our dogs are used to home environments before they join their new families.

However, it is worth giving some consideration to how you will use your family protection dog to guard your home. Deterrence is an excellent first defence, and signage warning that your home is protected by a dog is often enough to put off many would-be attackers and intruders. Warning signs and stickers are easily and cheaply available from Amazon and displaying them may be regarded as best practice. Not all visitors to a home will be threatening, and proper signage can be a useful indication to legitimate guests that they can expect to find a dog in the property.

As dogs learn associatively, it is important that they train in the environments they will be work in. While much of our initial training takes place in a dedicated facility, we also work our dogs in home settings so we know they will protect where they will ultimately go on to live. We recommend that owners undertake protection scenario training in their homes on a regular basis, and this is something we are happy and able to facilitate. Our training team regularly travel abroad and across the UK to train dogs in their new homes. We view this as an important part of our aftercare offer, and encourage all owners to consider top-up training.

If you would like to book a home training visit or consultation, please email us at [email protected].