HOUSTON – Your dog -- he's your best friend, he's brave, loyal, lovable and the protector of your family. But would he protect your home if an intruder entered while you are away? That is the question we posed to three Houston-area dog owners.
Zach Papadakis owns a European Doberman named Enzo. He described Enzo’s temperament as “very, very protective."
Elizabeth Perez owns a German shepherd named Gjango and a beagle named Charlie. She described Gjango as “pretty aggressive, very protective."
Jason Spencer and his family also own a German shepherd. His name is Zeke. Spencer admitted Zeke is a big aggressive-looking dog. He described Zeke as terrifying.
“He is a scary dog," Spencer said. "He's big. He's got a loud bark."
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Armed with that information, KPRC Channel 2 News teamed up with Hamid Parvizian, the owner of Sit Means Sit, to perform an intruder scenario.
In the scenario, Parvizian and investigative reporter Bill Spencer entered the homes of the three families while they were away to find out how their dogs would react to men entering their home posing as burglars.
Dressed in bite suits made of protective materials and padding to shield them from any potential attacks, the men prepared to enter the homes.
First up was the Perez family’s home, where their dogs Charlie and Gjango were inside alone.
Perez’s prediction on how her dogs would react was pretty confident. She predicted Charlie would bark and Gjango would react to Charlie's energy.
“Gjango, I think, will feed off that energy and he will attack," Perez said.
With that prediction in mind, the men entered the Perez home.
As the men walked in, Gjango began walking away. He wouldn’t go anywhere near the men.
“He's wanting to get away more than anything else,” Parvizian said.
Charlie, the beagle, stuck around and began wagging his tail and sniffing Bill Spencer. The men were even able to steal a couple things while inside the home because the dogs did nothing.
Perez was stunned.
“I honestly thought he would bite y'all," she said. "Y’all looked scary in those big suits. I thought for sure he was going to attack."
Up next was Enzo, Papadakis’ huge, 100-pound European Doberman.
“Definitely, he's going to bark (like) crazy," Papadakis said. "Then I bet that he's gonna bite -- he's gonna go for it."
But as terrifying as Enzo looked, and as ferocious as his bark sounded, he wouldn’t go near the men when they entered the home. In fact, he wanted to get as far away as possible.
Once again, the men were able to get inside the house and take items before they left.
Papadakis admitted he was disappointed in Enzo’s reaction.
“Maybe we will have to do some training, like on protection," Papadakis said.
And lastly, it was Zeke's turn. The big, brawny German Shepherd was described as lovable by his owner, Jason Spencer. But what would he do to intruders entering his home?
“I think he'll make a lot of noise and he'll act real tough, and then when you come in, he'll want to play," Jason Spencer said.
With that prediction in mind, the men entered the Jason Spencer’s home.
As soon as they entered, they realized things were going to be very different from the other two scenarios. Instead of backing off or wanting to play, as Jason had predicted, Zeke responded by charging right at the men.
He stopped before he got to them, but he stood his ground and continued to bark ferociously at them while they were in the home.
Much to Jason Spencer’s surprise, out of all the dogs, Zeke’s reaction evoked the most fear in the men as they entered the home.
“I actually, for a split second, thought, 'Wow, this might be the deal,'" Parvizian said. “I thought he had a good opportunity to take that first bite.”
When we showed Jason Spencer the video playback, he was very surprised at how Zeke stood his ground.
“I'd say on a scale of 1 to 10, that's about an 8, and to me that's really good," he said. "I'm proud of him.”
The experiment proved that even though your dog may bark at the mail delivery person, or the pizza guy, they may not be as aggressive when it comes to an intruder inside the home.
“In truth, most dogs won’t," Parvizian said. "We all want our dogs to protect the home -- it's the dream we want, but most dogs truly, while they look very vicious and act very vicious, they will back down in most situations.”
Why? Parvizian said it’s because most dogs never expect to truly come face-to-face with the people they bark at from behind windows or doors.
“A lot of times they've been built up in the zone defense, so it is people approaching, the dog is barking and the people are leaving," Parvizian said. "They're getting amped up and they have the door in front of them. A lot of dogs that also bark, it's out of lack of confidence. They're doing a lot of barking because they know that it's a sign to tell everybody, 'Hey I'm here. Stay away. But whenever approached with a confrontation, most dogs don't have that training in them, which is the most important part. Or even more, have the ability or even want to get into that battle.”
Parvizian suggested a couple tips on how to make your dog a better watch dog.
First off, he said, do not pay a professional dog trainer thousands of dollars to train your dog into a watch dog. Instead, he suggested joining a dog protection club with your pet so the two of you can learn protective techniques together.
And secondly, he said teaching your dog to bark on command will also come in handy and suggested demonstration videos that can be found on YouTube.
For more information on Parvizian, or to reach him directly, click here.