[I see my hands]

I'd like a sentry dog as part of security at a remote retreat but in the coming time of societal collapse the dog will also be another mouth to feed. I suppose I could add 7 years of Ken-L-Ration to our stores but that's a lot of space.

And what about times when the dog must be left alone for a week or more? What is a good breed for a sentry? I know a small yapper would alert me but not scare a bad guy. I'd like a scary bark. Does a dog mind being in a 12'x12' pen 21 hours a day?

[Brilliant]

I would not keep the dog in a pen. We give our lab the run of the house. We previously had another lab which we kept outside on a line after we had children. He was miserable. When we leave for more than a day, we put our dog in a kennel that our vet runs. She doesn’t like it, but it’s only for a few days.

A German shepard is probably your best guard dog.

[OneWingedShark]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komondor

Yes, it’s a bigger dog, 110 lbs +/- 20 lbs. It sounds nearly ideal for the societal collapse you desire (they rest during the day, keeping an eye out, and actively patrol during the night), but the pen is a bad idea for that type of dog; it would be far better to train it on its ‘border’ and let it roam inside.

An interesting thing about the breed is they bond to the male [master] of the house instead of the female [mistress] (which is the norm in other breeds). They are very territorial and consider their territory [and its contents], children, other animals to all be “the master’s.”

[AnAmericanMother]

You do NOT need a dog. It's not an appliance, it's an intelligent, thinking, feeling animal.

For a dog to be effective, it has to be a member of the pack, i.e. a full member of the household. Penning it up alone all day isolated from its pack (YOU) will make it crazy. It amounts to dog abuse.

Get a good burglar alarm with a power backup.