Where do you live and what kind of predator populations are you dealing with?
Herding dogs and LGD's are very different, temperament-wise, energy-wise and training-wise.
If you live in an area with coyote-sized predators and bigger, then I would recommend getting an LGD. Even within the...
It actually takes a lot for a dog to confront and engage a human. Mind you, I'm not talking about a poorly-trained mutt growling at or even biting a scared human. I'm talking about a police dog actively tracking down, biting and then subduing a hostile stranger, or a protection dog fighting...
I'm reluctant to engage with this conversation, because I don't want to see this turn into a breed debate. But I do need to add my input on what I consider to be common misconceptions:
1) GP's and most other LGD's are landrace breeds that have been bred, raised and trained to protect...
1) There is a bit more nuance to that conversation on people-aggressive dogs. Just like with anything, there are good, well-trained protection dogs and there are poorly trained ones (or no training at all). Just because someone owns a dog that is inclined to protect against human threats...
I've no doubt they make great LGD's, but standing guard and warding off a few coyote and going toe-to-toe with a human aggressor are two very different things and require very different attributes. Most LGD's, with the exceptions of some the eastern and asian breeds, were bred specifically to...
I don't expect a doberman to be useful as a dedicated LGD, but I very much doubt that a single or even a pair of entrepreneurial coyotes would be capable, much less willing, to take on even a half-decent doberman. These are opportunistic predators we're talking about here, they're not looking...