My german shepherd protect....yeah,right.

Question
Dawn,
I have an almost 2 year old german sheperd, LT.  We purchased him when he was 8 wks old.  My husband is in the military and wanted to get a "big" dog to protect the family/house when he was away.  Well, I've always handled the training of our dogs.  LT does great with hand commands and obedience.  However, he is no guard dog.  In fact, he is the biggest lap dog I've ever owned and seen.  I can't help but to spoil him with love, play and treats...but there are times that I would appreciate a bark or a growl from him.  I can honestly say that he has never, ever shown his teeth or any aggression towards anyone.  At this point, anyone would be able to come into my house and clean it out...and Lt, with a wag of his tail and a big lick on your hand, would let you.  Is there anyway for me to train him to protect the family?

Answer
Hi Sue,  Unfortunately you are not the first one to be in this predigament.  A lot of people believe that because they are GSD's they will protect once they get older, and that is just not true.  Some dogs have the natural ability to protect and some don't.  Doesn't matter what their breed is.  If they don't have it, you can't bring it out in them and if you try, all you end up doing is making a mean dog you can't trust with your own kids.  A dog's protective ability. if they have it naturally, will start to show around a year to a year and a half in age.  That is why purchasing a puppy doesn't guarantee he will be a good protector when he gets older because you have no way of forseeing that behavior coming out in him.  Genetics can play a role in it, and if the parents are good protectors (bark when you show up to view the puppies etc), then odds are yours will too once they grow up.
Sometimes you can take an adult dog to a protection class where other dogs are working and they can learn by seeing the other dogs work, but most of the time if the dog does not have that natural suspision, all they think is that it is a lot of fun and play, but don't take it seriously, so when you go home they don't relate it to home.  
I had a 120 pound shepherd who was the same way.  Big lug, wouldn't hurt a fly, but everybody was more afraid of him because of his size than my 65 lb female would have killed for me.  We Schutzhund trained him, and he was great, but all it was to him was play.  She was serious about it and would try to kill the guy (and had protected me many times in my business), but with him you could take the sleeve off the decoy's arm, throw it up in the air, come after me and he would go after the sleeve.  He had no natural ability in him at all to protect.  You are probably in the same boat.  At least with his size, most people won't even attempt anything.  Wish I could give you better news, but as the saying goes, "been there, done that".  :(

Dawn