The last thing I want is a dog that barks and attracts attention. I want a dog that only growls, so I know something is hunting us.....That something bad is approaching us. Plan B.) A lady that growls.........they should be plentiful.
A dog also needs to be quiet when signaled to do so, or it can still give the game away. Personally I would not take a dog, they can still leave sign even if they don't bark or growl. That sign may or may not be followed up on, but why take the chance. Then there is feeding the dog. Some say it will feed itself, but that could mean it may be chasing game all over the countryside. Again it can draw unwanted attention. Obviously dogs can be well trained to minimise the risk, but you have to be prepared to put the time into the training. Keith.
personally i'd want a dog that tells us someone is approaching, I don't care if that is by growling or barking, have had many dogs who fulfil this criteria, don't want some yappy little handbag type dog, my preference is for terriers, Cairn, Jack Russell, Welsh or Fox terrier spring to mind. I live in Jack Russell country-where the breed originally came from.
I agree, in your sort of situation being at home, that is a good idea, but if bugging out it may not be such an advantage to have a noisy dog. We had 3 guard dogs in the Territory, all three ended up getting shot. But they did do a good job in the time that we had them. Keith.
in my experience as a life long dog owner, most dogs will let me know someone is coming LONG before that person or persons get anywhere near us, so giving me plenty of time to form a "reception committee"!!!
I trained a dog to do just that! Growl and huff, not bark. I cannot stand a yappy dog! And certainly, not one that wants to alert me to every leaf that falls. She was a yappy barker when I first got her (at the age of three). I taught her to alert me to danger without advertising us to the intruder. Here's how I did it: whenever she started barking, I gently put my hand over her muzzle and said "no." Then I would turn my head in the direction she was looking in when she started to bark, then quietly huff and occasionally growl in a very low tone. She was super smart and quickly picked up on the game. I also trained her to not make a sound if I picked her up (she was lightweight, a ten-pounder). The position of her ears and head showed me where the sound was coming from. They were better than submarine periscopes for locating things that I could not see or hear, lol. I could even determine their position in the dark, just by placing my hand lightly on the back of her head just behind her ears. (She did not have floppy ears.) When I held her I could also sense what was going on by the feel of her body. If she was tense and trembling, it meant bad news because she wanted badly to tear the bear (or person) to shreds. (She always thought she was 80-pounds big.) If she was relaxed, I knew that it was probably only a possum, raccoon, or deer. I never whipped her or gave her cause to fear me. She loved me and I loved her and we were a great team which was a good thing for me because I was camping alone on my BOL for the first three years that I had her. As some of you know, I am profoundly hearing impaired and although I wear the most powerful hearing aids in the industry, she was my best hearing aid! She looked like a Miniature Pinscher but was actually a mixture of Dachshund, Chihuahua, and Rat Terrier. I sorely miss that little squirt. We had a lot of good times together. .
our last dog, a Cairn terrier, did not bark much, she only barked when she heard a strange noise, then only a couple of barks, most of the time she was silent. her party trick was when we went on our daily country walks, she would stand on her hind feet and sniff the air when she smelt a squirrel! I do miss her, she passed away a couple of years ago at the age of 14 years. we had her for 11 of those years.
Persistence and consistency are the way to train a dog, patience is what you need to teach yourself before you even start to try and train a dog. One of my dogs is a rescue, I'm actually her fifth owner. When we first got her she had been through clicker training, aversion training (clapping hands at her as a punishment) she had had beatings and finally been passed from pillar to post as so called trainers gave up on her. When she arrived with us at just 11 months old she was a nervous wreck. She is a saluki X border collie and is sensitive and super intelligent, after 10 years of almost constant companionship and training she has upward of 20 commands, understands a great many words and is the perfect family pet. She points, retrieves and used to hunt with a lamp when she was younger. She has been trained to ignore sheep even when she's excited by rabbits or foxes in the sheep paddock. Even though she sounds like the perfect dog she will still make the occasional mistake which is when I must remember my first lesson, patience.
My jack russell passed a few months ago after 13 faithful years. He had a bark for humans, a bark for moose, and a bark for unknown elements (earthquake or a strange noise). Each bark was unique and you knew what he was warning of. For bears and wolves he would growl and come and stand by my right leg. None of this was taught. To IBMEs point, having a dog that didn’t bark would clearly be beneficial when the world turns to crap. I’m looking for a dog in the 20-40 pound range that doesn’t bark.
there is a breed that is called besenji that is said not to bark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basenji
I was all excited until I got to the part where the dog was ranked 78th out of 79 in terms of intelligence. Intelligent dogs are a must. Cool looking dog though.
I would think that an African Bush Dog (another name for the Basenji) would require quite a bit of intelligence to survive its own history... It may not bark, but it certainly is not quiet, according to the article: For me, the perfect SHTF dog would need to be something super smart that I could train. It needs to be small (not eat tons of food!). It should also have nerves of steel (and not be a shivering nervous wreck at the sound of gunfire, etc. etc. etc.), and be content to live in a small space without the need to burn off tons of energy, or else go nuts. The dog I had was all that and more, and I credit some of it on her genetics (Dachshund, Chihuahua, and Rat Terrier) along with lots of love and a little training. I could fit her in my coat pocket... the perfect Survivalist's dog, lol. .
No one ever said that a guard dog had to be big or tough, I used to know a guy that kept bichon frise...in all other ways he was a complete Michigan militia type hard ass but he kept cute fluffy little bichons
I usually have dogs that bark with a deep "voice". My voice is deeper than most any dog -- my larynx is huge. Little yap-yap dogs annoy me. I want to kick them up against the nearest wall. I've lost my temper and injured them before. Try not to do that around their owners (but have). Don't want no attack dog. I want a lazy dawg that is still territorial. If I grab my wife, our dawg will come after me and even bare its teeth. The dog is very afraid of me, however it won't put up with any aggression towards "Grandma". I like that. Though I've not hunted with this critter, I'm absulutely certain that this thing would make the best squirrel-hunting dog imaginable. Goes bat-sh## crazy when it spots a squirrel. All I need it to do is chase the squirrel to my side of the tree. Bang!, squirrel gravy! Yard dawgs that live up under the porch are the best. Best breed = Heinz 57. Don't get one that is too big -- often, these can develop hip problems, as do shepherds. Don't get one that is "one-owner", because they are dangerous around kids. Chows are an example of a "one-owner" breed. Look for a shorter thick muzzle, but not puggish and not a fighting dog breed. People think of Rottweilers as being fighting dogs. No they're not! German butchers bred these big wide-shouldered dogs to pull their butcher wagons through the streets where they sold meat. I imagine Rottweilers as being the happiest of dogs in centuries past, because what did they get fed, meat scraps on bones! A good days work then meat scaps = dawg paradise! No matter how rough your butcher bossman, you'd get taken care of and in a big way. To a dog, it is important to be needed as part of its pack (humans would call this a family or clan) and to know where it stands in the hierarchy of power. A dog is happiest when it knows that you are the boss. These critters are NOT humans. They have their own sort of pride and that involves knowing where they stand. Being firm with one of these potentially mean animals makes the animal feel secure. When you reward them, then they are in paradise, they have fulfilled their genetic mission, their brains fill with the "happiness chemicals". Again, these things are NOT human no matter how much you want them to be human. All working dogs need to be worked or allowed a LARGE space to run. If you don't, they'll develop weird/crazy behaviors and get hip problems. Guaranteed. You had best interact/play-rough with them a lot or they might just no longer see you as boss and you'd BETTER be their boss, just sayin'. Working dogs are your work also. Me, I like lazy dawgs.
If you want to know ANY time someone is approaching, you need to get some Guinea Fowl. they are egg producers, meat animals and an alarm system all in one. I like a dog that will be quiet and then when ordered will make a person think that they are about to get eaten alive but then never bites anyone. I've had two that I trained that way. one was a big German Shephard and the other was a HUGE Malamute Husky. Now I have yappers. I will say this though if my Yorkie weighted a hundred pounds she would be TERRIFYING!! LOL.
My son has huskies that don't bark, they growl when they play together, that's about it. I thought Basenjis yodeled or made some weird guttaral sound.
You did say that doesn't bark... I'd say plan B is out... Maybe a nice watch Guinea pig When we lived in SC we had adopted what they called a Carolina Dog. Apparently was once a more wild variety, looked a lot like a Dingo and she was about 30-40 lbs. she didn't bark often, more of a growl and alert pose. It might be more the specific dog and training than the breed but there are to be breeds that don't bark much. Probably a little Google-Fu will find some potential breeds. This is what our Valentine more resembled but she had a more compact shorter build and had more of a reddish tinge. But heck, she was a Heinz 57 so hard to say what all traits she was carrying.
Malamute huskys are close to being wolves and wolves don't bark. My Malamutes both like to talk though. If you talked to them they would try to talk back. I have seen where people taught their Malamutes to say things. They can be very communicative... https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...5E750DDD448B61812FCC5E750DDD448B618&FORM=VIRE
I have had dogs for over 40 years. Every single one has been a rescue. Very seldom have we only had one; usually two or three, and occasionally four. We had a Cairn Terrier, and she was great with the kids, who were little at the time, but she barked a lot. My favorites were the Daschshund, Australian Shepard, and Norwegian Elkhound. Quite frankly, I have had just about all the fun I can stand. I do not like dogs that bark, and all of mine do. They are predominantly my wife's dogs, and she us useless when it comes to training. Living with that wears thin. I agree with IBME. I would love to have one that didn't bark. By the way. I need to rehome a dog. Small, terrier, barks a lot. If you are interested let me know, and I will jump over my neighbor's fence, and get it for you.
We used to raise huskies, sometimes having upwards of 100. Your son’s dogs are unusual, huskies bark nd howl a lot when they are in the mood
I would think there would be something physically wrong with a dog if it never barked . I ended up with a Mountain Cur that I really didn't want . That dog turned out to be the best watch dog I have ever known . The only time it barks and with a lot of growling is when someone it doesn't know approaches my retreat . It's VERY alert and would probably terrify anyone up to no good . It has never tried to bite anyone but under the right circumstances I believe it would . It is allowed to roam freely around our homes and actually patrols two homes 24 hours a day , seven days a week .
My Dog is a Husky/Lab Mix. Unfortunately she's all bark and no bite. She'll growl and bark alerting that someone is on our property, but she'd sooner sniff/lick them to death, than actually defend us. But, nonetheless she's still a good girl.
