Has anyone any experience of RR bitches (vs dogs) as watchdogs?
I know that RRs weren't bred primarily as watchdogs or guard-dogs in the conventional sense, as for instance Doberman Pinschers and Rottweilers were, but it was a secondary duty in their protective capacity as defenders of the Boer families. I've read many comments along the lines of 'Ridgebacks don't make good guard dogs', sometimes with the rider 'although sometimes a bitch RR will make a good guard dog, but never a dog RR'. I've read the same about other breeds too. And it's happening here. Kim's always been somewhat aloof but rarely protective/defensive, almost never barking at strangers. Gypsy barks at anything and everything and is extremely protective; a little kid on a scooter will set her off, or even something invisible. She doesn't deliver the typical doggy barrage of barking, but there's some serious, businesslike, deep-throated 'woofs' and the hackles go up as she runs to the nearest door or window.
Is this common with bitches because of protective maternal instincts towards pups, or is it more perhaps just that she hasn't been socialised? Or a combination? My guess is a combination, but I'd like to hear others' opinions and experiences with dogs vs bitches in this context.
I should add that she's curious and watchful but not defensive/aggressive/frightened when we meet kids, people and other dogs on the road when she's on the leash, and that as soon as I go to the door to greet whomever it is, she calms down, although it takes reassuring words delivered in a confident, calm voice and a steadying hand on her shoulder; it's only when she feels someone or something is threatening her home.
She sets Kim off too, so two big, scary dogs now meet strangers at the screen door, and the strangers certainly find them intimidating, at least until I get there and calm things down. We barely have a crime rate to speak of around here, but somehow I don't think it's something we need concern ourselves with at all any more. Those few deep, throaty 'woofs' really don't sound like the usual volley of empty threats, I have to say. And I don't think the very evident fear of the visitors (strangers) helps the situation. Two of the three teenage girls who came together collecting for a charity this afternoon actually physically jumped back in fright when Gypsy barked, and all were only too eager to find an excuse to knock on someone else's door, despite my reassurances. And living in this village, a veritable 'dog city' with seemingly more dogs than humans living around the area, they must be very used to dogs, so that's saying something.
