A new friend's breed choice - ?

whoa,,, I dont think that is what you need.  How much energy can you stand?  How much intensive on going training are you willing to commit?  Whatever you choose you need LOTS of socialization and exposure to places and people far beyond the area you live.  There are a number of breeds within the working, herding and even non sporting group who might fit your needs.  More information about you, your level of experience with dogs and what breeds would be helpful.  An honest appraisal of the time and effort you have available daily to develop an alert, alarm, deterent dog will help you get a better list of possibles.
 
 

I'm with MRV on this one. Could you share some more info about your experience? Then we can offer some suggestions about breeds you could research that might be a good fit.

Oh, also, my Am Staff would be happy to show a stranger into our house. Then show them where the silver and the treat jar live. He has zero natural guarding ability. When there is a noise outside, he rarely gets off his chair to investigate, and if he barks, it's usually in the wrong direction of where the noise came from.

His sister (a GSP/lab mix) is a great alarm system, but she often looks at him like, "seriously, you have no idea how to guard! The threat is out this window!" (Threat usually being a rabbit or bird.)

i avoid the Canary dogs.... you described several candidates, but a Cane Corso and his brethren will be potential problems if you dont know what you're doing. they can be dog aggressive and man aggressive, even with people they know - as in friends of the family, not necessarily family.
if you want a bully breed, and it sounds like you do, then go for an American Bulldog. They are natural guardians of children and the homestead. they are standoffish, but not cowardly, and they are protective, but not psychotic.
OR you could go for a Doberman. i grew up with both breeds and love them dearly. Dobermans were bred specifically as guardians of man. i personally have never had a bad experience with one, but then again, these were well bred and well trained.
I like chows too, but i've never owned a purebred. i've only had chow/husky/shepherd mixes. they were good dogs for the family, but very independent and didnt mind running off to entertain themselves. One of them stood out in that he was my constant companion (i was around the age of 10 at the time), he followed me everywhere and did what i did, but when i was away from home for the day, weekend, or summer, he was a neighbourhood terror.

Are you opposed to adopting from a rescue/shelter? I'm sure you can find a great dog from either of those places.

My two cents is this:  Stay away from dogs that were bred for the specific purpose of guarding.  My reasoning is pretty simple:  It doesn't sound like you've had enough experience with protective breeds and that to me spells trouble, maybe not for the first year or two, but definitely somewhere down the road.
 
Any large breed will serve as a great preventer of crime, whether against person or property.  A friend of mine has the sweetest lab/dane mix.  But if you knock on her door you'd swear that he was going to kill you if you were to break in.  Oh yeah, she adopted him at a Dane rescue and he weighs 125lbs.
 
I have a 55lb dog that would make anyone think twice about breaking in, he makes enough noise to scare the bejeezus out of anyone.  He'd never harm a person though.
 
If you are dead set on getting a "protective" dog, I would hope that you'd spend at least a year or 18 months in basic, intermediate and advanced obedience with the dog to ensure that you know his needs and can communicate effectively with him or her.

heres a link to a page of dogs that are good "guard" dogs. Make sure you do alot of research cuz you dont want your lab to get hurt.
[linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/guarddogs.htm]http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/guarddogs.htm[/link]

ORIGINAL: AussieHeeler

heres a link to a page of dogs that are good "guard" dogs. Make sure you do alot of research cuz you dont want your lab to get hurt.
[linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/guarddogs.htm]http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/guarddogs.htm[/link]

You dont know how true that is.... it seems a bulldog will mostly tolerate another dog of the opposite sex or at the very least another bulldog.
Beware.... get a puppy so it will hopefully not have authority issues and seniority problems with the lab.

ORIGINAL: Karaoke

Thank You so much, dear friends! Will think over a German Sheperd Dog. Hope they will do better with our lab.

I would not do that either, necessarily.  GSD's are great dogs, but need extensive socialization, and they don't always appreciate the play style of an exuberant Lab, nor are they always great with kids who run, scream, and whine (that is a problem with many of the herding breeds - they tend to nip and chase kids if you don't know how to
prevent it).
You might want to think about a Boxer or an American Bulldog, but only if it comes from a good breeder and you are very committed to seeing that it is properly socialized and trained.  To be honest, if you are here on a message board asking about dogs to use as a "deterrent", then you don't have the experience to own one yet
I think you should consider becoming much more educated about what it takes to own a guardian breed before you jump in and get one.  It would be a shame to ruin a dog like that with newbie mistakes - especially because it then makes it hard for the dog to get another home.  Maybe you could do what mondayblues suggested - there are a lot of nice, pleasant mixed breed dogs in shelters that would be fine with your family and your current dog, but still have the "appearance" you want.  And, you's be saving a life - the big black scary looking dogs are usually the last to be adopted even if they are real sweethearts. []

Thank You, my friends,
As far as I can see the main question in breed choice is my personal training skills and will. Frankly speaking for 30 years I've been living with dogs and trained all of them. But the training was specific: my pets would perform many funny things (for instance count one-two-three when see my palm with appropriate number of fingers, etc), but would protect neither me nor my property. So I've got no experience in training guard\watch dogs. As I live "far from civilization" I won't be able to regularly visit any training centres.
The second aspect that counts much is my lab

that is very kind and joyful and woldn't even protect himself.
I am not sure chow is a good choice (as far as I know chows they have very specific temper/nature). Shepard dog would have been O. K. if not our previous beloved shepard dog that had passed four years ago - my wife loved him so much and says it will be not easy for her to get a shepard dog once again (he had undergone special training before he became our family memeber so we hadn't gained any experience in training, only maintaining his skills).
So thank You in advance for Your advice, have a lovely weekend,
Anhony.
P. S. I feel special to Dobermans since I was bit by one when a child :-(

I've "investigated" the kindly advised sitehttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/guarddogs.htm and decided to have a closer look to a [linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/spanishmastiff.htm]Spanish Mastiff[/link]. What is Your opinion?

I read the following about the Irish Staffordshire Bullterrier: [linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/irishstaffordshirebullterrier.htm]"Good with other pets if raised with them from puppyhood."[/link]
Does that mean that if he grows up with the elder lab from his childhood (properly trained of course) there would be no conflicts between them in the future?

ORIGINAL: Karaoke

I read the following about the Irish Staffordshire Bullterrier: [linkhttp://www.dogbreedinfo.com/irishstaffordshirebullterrier.htm]"Good with other pets if raised with them from puppyhood."[/link]
Does that mean that if he grows up with the elder lab from his childhood (properly trained of course) there would be no conflicts between them in the future?

i would think so, i know people that have staffies and other breeds. my advice there would be to have it spayed or neutered to avoid the hormonal dominance issues.
Check out this forumhttp://thepitboss.editboard.com/index.htm
there is a guy in there with an Irish staffy. very very handsome fellow...er.. the dog,not the owner.

I have had two labs and they both were EXCELLENT protectors. Neither dog was aggressive in any way, but both made it clear you do not mess with their family.

Our first lab, Shadow was so protective. People who knew her said they would never try to pet her over or through the fence if we were not around. We had a new golden pup who jumped up on the fence to allow people to pet her, Shadow would walk along and take her out by the back legs and push her away from the fence. One time, we had a police officer in our home, he was obviously invited in, but Shadow stayed between his gun side and us at all times. She also challenged another dog who threatened another golden we had. No one messed with her, but she was the most loving dog, never growled at a soul (who didn't need it). Part of me thinks that is why Shadow lived to be 15, she could not leave and have the goldens on duty. We got Belle about a year before Shadow passed, I always feel once she knew she had Belle trained she could go.

Our current lab Belle is probably not as protective but she has the world's biggest bark, and she is not afraid to use it. We have a ranch home, with a big bay window. Belle barks at situations she feels necessary. She is also a big lab, so here she takes up this window, and she is barking LOUDLY. I feel that is all we need. I don't know what she would do if someone were to come in but I doubt she would let them (the goldens would though). One day at dog class we were entering the building and you have to pass through a double door vestibule, there are no windows so I did not see there was a dog in the vestibule. It was this particular dogs first class and he was nervous, he "came at me" as I opened the door. I don't think he was trying to be aggressive, however Belle lept in front of me an snarled at the dog. She did not make contact but she did back that dog back.

I guess I am saying don't underestimate your current lab. No they are known for being loving dogs, but they are true to their families too.

ORIGINAL: Karaoke

Thank You once again, my friends. I'll formulate my question in a bit another way to make it clear:
I'm loking for a dog that will be:

1) loyal and friendly to my present lab (3 y. o.)
2) love my family members and be clever
3) a great watch/guard dog for my family and my house (not friendly to strangers, of course)

My friends now advise me either cane corso (they say cane corso is not even dribbling, which is a certain pro and I've failed to find any contras)
or Perro De Presa Canario (aka Dogo Canrio). Haven't met either of the breeds so need Your help. [8|]
With kindest regards,
Anthony.

With all due respect, these are not the breeds you need, if you even have to ask the question.   Frankly, most dogs just being in the home "alarm barking".  If you have a family and need more than that, you should probably be in the witness protection program anyway. []