Hello,
My family and I are moving to a town in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California where I know there to be a substantially high mountain lion population. The homes are secluded, there are awesome walking and bike riding trails and plan to make almost daily use of them.
That being the case, I plan on buying two puppies but am unsure of the best breed to GUARD me and my family when out and about!!
Thanks
carlos_oceguera
Favorite Answer
AMERICAN BULLY trust me just look at the pics
http://www.bulldogbreeds.com/breeders/pics/american_pit_bull_terrier_35085.jpg
http://www.doubledownpits.com/imagemanager/images/butterbeanweb.jpg
http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b109/voice_dzzle/NDABACK003.jpg
Spartan Mike K
Boeboel. It is said they are the only dog that was created specifically for the purpose of guarding a family. That is the reason they were created, gaurd dog. There is no other breed of dog that was created for only that reason. I will leave some links at the bottom that you can check out. There is a story in South Africa in the news papers, you can decide for yourself if you believe it or not. It occured about 8 years ago, there was a zoo that they would take stray dogs and feed them to the lions as a cheap food source. One of the dogs they put in there was a 150lbs female Boerboel. Some how the female Boerboel managed to get a hold of a female lions neck and held on for life until the lion died. The zoo saw this and was amazed and the dog went on tour all over South Africa, it was on CNN. If you ask me, the zoo made up the story for puplicity, but who knows, stranger things have happened. In reality, no one dog can successfully fight a moutain lion, but 2 might have a chance. Either way, they would give you and your family enough time to get to saftey. That is the most important thing. Read about Boerboels, they are pretty unique and gifted gaurd dogs.
here is a cool little list, it is somones opinion like anything else though. Boerboel is the #4 dog on it
http://listverse.com/nature/top-10-badass-guard-dogs/
Heres one of the best sites for breed information on dogs
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/boerboel.htm
more slack
No dog can fight a lion and come out the winner, so forget that angle.
Mountain lions are ambush hunters. So try to choose a dog that will be alert to the presence of a lion- and so spoil the lion's advantage of surprise.
So a gun dog of some sort would do well as they're keen to the presence of animals.
EDIT: my pig-hunting friends up in Mendocino County swear by Airedales. Read more about these dogs here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airedale_Terrier . And where there's pigs, there's mountain lions - more mountain lion depredation permits are taken out in that county by far than any other in the state.
Anonymous
There are a few real keys to dog training, whether you are trying to train your dog to come when called, sit, stop barking or any other behavior. Understanding their importance is critical to achieving rapid results that are long lasting and help develop the bond between you and your dog. Read more here https://tr.im/uwPmA
The first is simple; you must win your dogs mind. If you don’t achieve this first then you will be struggling the all the way. When I talk about winning your dogs mind what I really mean is that your dog looks to you for all the decisions. Before you do anything else watch one of the amazing video sites that show you the 5 Golden rules to establishing yourself as the pack leader. If you aren’t putting these in place then you are setting yourself up to fail. Just at the crucial point where you really want your dog to listen they will go and do their own thing. For sure your dog may play ball occasionally or even most of the time, you may even have a dog that is obedient 99% of the time, however if you want a dog who always listens to you and does as you ask then you need to win your dogs mind.
The second key to success is to motivate your dog. It is really important that you discover what it is that your dog enjoys both in terms of exercise and play but also in terms of a reward. If you can make the experience enjoyable then you will both achieve more and look forward to training.
Some dogs love to fetch, others love agility, and other dogs simply love obedience training, or swimming out into water and retrieve. At least to start with find out what your dogs love is and help them develop this, what I am saying is work with your dog. The other point to recognize is to make training enjoyable reward your dog.
crispin
The Rhodesian Ridgeback was bred to hunt African Lions in South Africa. The phrase "able to hold a lion at bay" is based in Ridgebacks. If I was going to have to live where you're describing I'd have to Ridgebacks. "American Bulldogs" as have been suggested were bred to fight in a small space, they lack the agility and speed of a Ridgeback. And if you go hiking somewhere or some distance that a ridgeback can't follow and keep up you can probably take on a cougar barehanded anyway.