my rott is too friendly

by joseph
(kersey pa, united states)

i have a two yr old female american rottie and she is too friendly.

i want her to be more protective around the house which is the reason i bought her. she is very active and hyper.. she is a good dog, very smart but she wants to be everyones’ friend and i don’t want that..

if u can give me some advice on how too help my situation i would appreciate it very much.

Hi Joseph
Although Rottweilers are a guardian breed they should never be openly or indiscriminately aggressive. That’s a misconception about this breed and it actually sounds as though your girl has the correct temperament.

Rotties are extremely intelligent dogs and they are very intuitive in terms of ‘reading’ people and situations. Your Rottweiler has obviously not felt that you or your family have been at risk or threatened, or in a situation that requires her to protect you. A dog who freely barks, growls, snaps or tries to ‘run off’ strangers or visitors isn’t a good guard dog, it’s a dangerous dog, and this isn’t something you should ever encourage in any dog, least of all a Rottweiler.

Obviously all dogs are different and you may own one of the very rare dogs who won’t protect their owner or family if faced with a real threat, but I very much doubt it. Your Rottweiler sounds calm and confident, willing to make friends and not fearful or snappy, that’s what you want to see. I believe that if you were to find yourself in a situation where you or one of your family were at risk, your Rottie would react entirely differently.

I once saw one of my dogs act very suspicious around someone, a stranger to me, (and this was quite out of character for her), it was obvious that she didn’t trust this person. I’ve no idea whether she had good reason or not as it was a passing encounter, but SHE sensed something and watched this person very carefully, ready to spring to my defense if needed. Normally she’s the friendliest dog you could hope to meet! I think your dog will have the same ‘sixth sense’ so I wouldn’t be too concerned about this.

Don’t try to encourage her to act aggressively or defensively if she doesn’t feel the need, this can cause anxiety and result in fear-based actions or reactions which are out-of-context for a situation. Never a good situation.

You say she’s a good dog, and smart. So trust her judgment. Just love her and be grateful for her ‘steady’ temperament, it really is a blessing.

I hope this helps some and I wish you the best of luck with your dog.