Instructions
List the specific actions desired from the dog. You may want your dog to attack intruders, to threaten them or merely to alert you to their presence, and each set of actions will require you to take somewhat different steps to train the dog.
List the normal actions of the dog such as barking, running or biting, and find the ones most similar to the behaviors desired. Then, pinpoint catalysts likely to cause the dog to act in that desired way, such as the presence of a stranger for barking, a thrown ball for running or a fresh piece of meat for biting. Be as specific as possible. Identifying both a behavior and its cause will help you learn how to induce that behavior on command.
Expose the dog to one of the catalysts, and then reward the dog for performing the desired behavior. For example, if you want to train a dog that already barks at strangers to warn you of strangers, have a friend pose as a stranger and then reward the dog for barking. Rewarding the dog will not only encourage the desired behavior, but it will also give you a means to train the dog to bark at specific times and places. Furthermore, exposing the dog to an apparent stranger or some other stimulus as a means of causing it to bark gives you a way to prevent it from barking at other times by simply removing that person or that stimulus.
Begin to reward the dog only under more specific circumstances, such as waiting for the friend posing as a stranger to step on your land or on a specific part of it before rewarding the dog for barking. The dog will soon bark only under the set circumstances, and you will then be able to set even more specific circumstances to train the dog more completely. The dog, for instance, could learn to wait until a stranger is next to your house or on your porch before barking.
Stop rewarding the dog for each correct string of barks and begin rewarding it for every other string; then, make the rewards even less frequent and more random without actually stopping them. This will teach your dog to take the desired actions even without a reward, finally training it to act as a guard.
How to Train a Boxer Bulldog to Guard
In facing this dangerous world, you may want or need to post a guard on your home or business, and few guards are effective or as dedicated as a guard dog. Of course, training a dog to guard can be expensive, and in light of that fact, you may choose to train the dog yourself. Fortunately, behavioral scientists have given us a means to do just that, and using the procedure requires only a little patience and know-how.