For those of you who don't know, we had to put Vizsla down this past winter due to severe issues with diabetes and hip dysplasia. My wife was apprehensive about another dog; however, hearing of a predator/thief so close to home has changed her mind. We'll be having our third child in the fall (all are under 5 currently). My wife has several demands which are not practical if you ask me: short hair, no shedding, no drooling, protective instincts/apprehension to strangers, good with children, etc. I ignored her physical demands of the dog and looked into mastiffs. I'm not opposed, but she somewhat is. I would like a Cane Corso, Boerboel, or Dogo. She doesn't share my feelings. We both agree somewhat on a short haired GSD. I suppose at this point I would like to begin talking to reputable breeders. I do fear hip dysplasia for the breed as well as biting instinct (which I know is a pro/con). Any thoughts?

ETA: If we do go the Shepherd route, I would also like to to get into Schutzhund training if I can find a local group.

Honestly, a Doberman Pinscher sounds like it would suit your list of desired characteristics just fine. They do shed minimally, but all short haired dogs shed a bit. Boerboels, Cane Corsii, and Dogos would also be decent choices, although they can be wet mouthed. When my husband and I set out to find a dog, we had a list of traits similar to your own, and we got a Dobe. We've been really happy with our girl, even though my husband was initially opposed. He said he didn't much like Dobes, but he's been so impressed with our girl that he recently said he would like for us to get another.

It would appear you are looking for the "perfect" dog. Natural guardian, good with kids, etc., etc. They do exist. You can't get one by picking a breed. You have to pick one by picking a specific dog. And it's still a crapshoot, because you can only tell so much about a puppy from its behavior and its parents behavior. For every perfect dog there are hundreds of imperfect ones. Be prepared to own an imperfect dog.

You aren't looking at Mastiffs, you are looking at Molossers.

The breeds you are looking at are not breeds that "just anyone" should own. They take a great deal of training and skill, even for ones of good temperament. They can be dangerous with people and children, particularly ones of poor temperament. And if you ignore the "happy wife, happy life" rule, such a dog could wind up being ostracized from the family or worse. How much experience do you have with formal or competitive obedience training? Do you really want to go down this road?

If you get a GSD, and if you expect it to work for your wife, particularly protection work, she needs to be involved in the training. Will she do that? If not, it might not be a good idea to protection train it. Most dogs with enough drive for protection training spend most of their time in crates or training and not being family dogs. Yes, again there are some "perfect" examples, but the chances of you owning a "perfect" dog are again a long shot.

I would suggest a moderate drive Doberman. They are short/smooth coated, low shedding, and low drooling. They are extremely intelligent and take VERY well to obedience training. Train it to bark on command and it should be sufficiently off-putting to most miscreants without the risk of owning a semi-autonomous weapon system. And, at low to moderate drive levels, they are great family dogs.

ETA: damn, Naamah beat me to it while I was writing this

I see Akita-man and I are in complete agreement. Pretty much all of his statements are spot on, and he knows of what he speaks. Most of the Molosser breeds, short of those that have been bred to be complete lazy slugs, have an edge that can be a little much for many families.

And he's absolutely correct in that you can't just pick a breed and expect to get the perfect dog. You have to choose a pup appropriate in drive levels, energy, and temperament for your family, and then put in a lot of work training and socializing said pup to form it into the right dog. A good breeder can help you do that by meeting you, becoming familiar with your family and what you're looking for in a dog, and helping you choose a puppy. Most people want to choose their own pup, but a good breeder is far more familiar with the entire litter than you are, and will be far better able to match the right puppy to you.

Good info in here. The more I research, the more I'm realizing a big dog might not be right for our family...RIGHT NOW. I trust my oldest son who is 5 to listen if I were to tell him not to taunt the dog by pulling ears, touching their face, etc. but the younger ones I would really worry about when I'm not home and my wife is watching them. The other concern I have is regarding the dog's sheer size and clumsiness. I'm afraid of the younger kids getting accidentally knocked down or stepped on by the dog- at least until they are good on their feet (again 4+ years old),

We raised our Dobe and son together (both are 5 years old, separated by a few months), and never had a problem. Salem has always been extremely careful around 'her' boy, and would likely break her neck rather than risk running into him. She's also never been much one for jumping up on people. We also very carefully supervised any and all interactions between the two and concentrated on teaching our son appropriate dog manners.

Of course, those last couple things are mandatory no matter what size dog you get.

Dogs for protection.

In my opinion dogs should be considered a part of the alarm system not part of the bad-guy stopping system.  That's you and your firearm and your skills.  It also requires a much more powerful brain to assess and act appropriately than a dog will ever have.


For hundreds of years we had 'attack dog' breeds, which were allowed to attack anyone they pleased with the idea being that if the dog got ahold of them and killed them, they probably weren't supposed to be there.  Note this went from everything from guarding private estates to just being let loose in the woods to 'kill poachers' and if they happened to kill peasants picking berries or gathering firewood, well they were just peasants.  But then the gentry going someplace in their fancy carriage could also run someone down and as long as it was 'just a peasant' the attitude was basically the same. In the western world we generally don't have that mindset anymore.  Probably the last place it was seen was in the 'junkyard dog'.  And that's the short hand I'll use for this mindset.


That's because a dog can't judge a person.  They divide the world up into friends and strangers, not good guys and bad guys.


Most of the molosser breeds were developed along the 'junkyard dog' mindset.  For some, they were dual purposed as catch dogs for cattle or hogs, for others they were more directed toward livestock predators than human intruders.  For dogs like the mastiff and bull mastiff, they absolutely existed primarily as 'junkyard dogs' back 300 years ago, but pre WW 1, that was basically bred out of them. For both mastiffs and bull mastiffs, Doge de Bordeaux, and Neopolitan Mastiff,  deep down they have a defensive nature, but it's DEEP down, and you can't always rely on it.  Dogs like the Presa Canario, Cane Corso, and similar breeds were both multi purposed as catch dogs but also maintained more of their breeding as guard dogs/'junk yard dogs'.  


A lot of effort has gone into giving them a more solid, not as confrontational more defensive mindset.  If you are going to go this route, its absolutely critical you find a breeder whose top requirement is steady temperament.  Unfortunately may breeders are churning out dogs to be used as status symbols and where unwarranted aggression is encouraged.  Example: When you invite your thug friends over the dog reads STRANGER and barks and lunges -possibly from fear, possibly from aggression/defense - and your thug friends are impressed...until the dog gets out and mauls a child.  A proper dog, you invite your friends over, the dog reads STRANGER, and stands up, locks eyes, and is ready for what may come without starting shit, possibly giving a low growl.   That's a hard dog to find.  It's a hard dog to create. And creating it takes a lot of work on part of the breeder looking at generations of dogs and their temperament, more work on the part of the breeder with early socialization, and then more work on the part of the owner.  Miss any of those 3 and you might find yourself in a really really unpleasant mess.


Flock guardians.  They followed a similar path, with more emphasis on animal threats, although they were bred to be plenty wary of humans it isn't really a 'junkyard dog' level.  As with the Mastiff, the flock guardian breeds who are most commonly encountered have had the temperament to do their work bred down to a shadow of what it was.  A sheep farmer in North Dakota worried about wolves would be sorely disappointed in the performance of an 'AKC Grand Champion Best in Show' Great Pyrenees.  Note there is some variation based on when dogs were imported and how they were bred.  There are some working Great Pyrs, but they tend to trace their ancestry to later imports...so less time to breed away from the true working dog..and tend to be bred for dual companion/work vs companion/ribbons. So, again, these aren't a good choice when looking for a family protector.


One caveat.  On the eastern fringes of europe to central asia, areas of soviet control, flock guardians were bred to be used as 'junkyard dogs'.  Some of these breeds were literally developed to be mobile fur covered mines.  Like a mine, they don't care what foot steps on them, they are going off.   Can some people handle these?  Absolutely...but then some people can train grizzly bears and lions too.


In the end, for defensive family protection, look at the dog breeds developed for police work.  Doberman. German Shepherd. Dutch Shepherd.  Belgian Shepherd (Malinois is just  1 of 4 types). Giant Schnauzer. Bouvier Des Flandres. (add Boxer and Rottweiler, to a lesser degree, and the german lines not the american lines).  These dogs can be defensive, but they are bred to think and plan...but especially to listen.  For the most part they are of a herding lineage, where thinking and planning is really important, but so is listening and getting guidance.  Of course not all herding breeds are the best fit.  These all have some underling defensive drive to go along with that decision making and obedience to orders.


Note that like so many of the breeds above, long term breeding for winning show ribbons has diluted the working component in many individuals within those listed breeds, so finding the right breeder is key.  Note that going for IPO/Schutzhund is generally the better bet, but be aware that in many instances now people are breeding to 'win' Schutzhund rather than using it as a litmus test as it was intended.  There are dogs that are capable of bringing in great scores in Schutz, but would underperform if asked to do actual police/military/personal defense work.  


Finally, with all that said, I think a welll behaved, obedient large breed dog of ANY breed is relatively equal (up until you pour 10K of specialty personal protection into them).  No burglar is going to want to face a large dog, be it a black lab, doberman, golden retriever, or german shepherd.   It's like arguing 45ACP vs 9mm vs 357 mag....a thousand real world variables is what is going to make the difference.  Any large dog is going to warn them off OR they are going to take steps to neutralize dog (needles pushed into a hotdog, hotdog thrown into back yard a week in advance...or a gun).  Actually acting like you'd want them to if confronted by an intruder, breed is a tiny section of that...finding the right dog within any of the breeds, that's probably 20-30% and the remaining is the training and exposure.

That's an excellent post by Akodo...he obviously knows what he's talking about.
Akodo... wish you were closer, we could use an "instructor" like you at our dog club....though I'm passing the Presidency off to our current VP....as we're moving out of FL.
Anyhow....
That's a solid list of dogs provided, "Dobie's" are great family dog's...and as stated...train...train...train.
Sadly we have a brunt of people coming into the dog club with their "puppies" hitting the 6 month mark...who decide that it's time to start training...this is usually because the dog has become unmanageable...bad habits formed...etc. They really missed the best time to train....establishing sound fundamentals, socializing, desensitization, and "pack leadership".
Reputable breeding is paramount IMHO, with referrals / documentation on prior lines, temperament, hips, eyes, elbows, parents on site, etc.
I'm fond of my Rottweilers, but take into consideration the environment they will be living in. These "guys" don't take the heat well here in FL during the summer. (Any dog can overheat)
Good luck with your search, and just my .02...even though a breeder is listed as a "Breeder of Merit" through the AKC website...do a bit more homework on the particular breeder your looking at. I'm familiar with a "few" listed in there that I wouldn't purchase nail clippings from.
Some breeders have gotten out of control...breeding form over function....it's just sad....but a reality.