Black Russian Terrier?

Has anyone dealt with this breed? I've got a tough case tomorrow, and I
wanted to get a better picture of the baseline of what's normal for this
dog. I have a call out to the rbtc, but am not expecting to hear back before
I go in.

The standard says "The character and temperament of the Black Russian
Terrier is of utmost importance. The Black Russian Terrier is a calm,
confident, and courageous dog with a self-assurance which sometimes is
rather aloof toward strangers. They are highly intelligent, extremely
reliable. They were bred to guard and protect. The behavior in the show ring
should be controlled, willing, adaptable, and trained to submit to
examination." (pretty standard stuff for a guarding breed), but I've come
across other descriptions that include labels like "ManStopper". I've
.gotten a good overview from the research I've done, and I suspect that this
dog has really not received the intensive socialization that many of the
sites stress is necessary for the proper adjustment of this kind of dog, but
there are often chasms between the description of what the standard should
be, and what those traits can actually look like in a developing pup. I'm
used to the stable guarding breeds that approach people cautiously or
indifferently, but are pretty balanced about it. But then if someone saw
their first GSD during one of their developmentally hinky phases, they'd be
thinking "uh oh, this could be trouble", unless they understood what those
phases are about.

While I have zero idea of what would make an inexperienced home import a dog
like this, I have even less idea what would make an importer of rare breeds
actually sell a dog like this to a first time home. Ok....besides greed.

Robin Nuttall...

I think you are very justifiably wary. BRTs are one of the Russian
breeds coming out of the cold war era. I have not personally met any,
but their rep is that of a very hard, very tough dog.

While I've not met any BRTs personally, I have met a number of imports
of guarding breeds. I would suspect the BRT to be more like a Doberman
in temperament than, say, a GSD. In that sense, I would expect a HIGHLY
suspicious dog, one that is very quick to alert and growl (and hackle)
with little provocation. A high level of suspicion is pretty endemic in
import Dobermans. It's counted as a strike against them because it is
not GSD-like. I think it's part of the breed and just deal with it. In
Dobermans, patience is often rewarded with tolerance, and almost all of
them grow out of the suspicious stage easily if it's pretty much
ignored. Also with Dobermans getting the dog off his home turf can make
a huge difference, ditto getting the dog away from the owner in many
cases. I've also found in these highly suspicious dobermans that a
busier location is actually better than a more isolated one. Viva is
always quite calm at shows and in busy, hectic places. It is the single
person popping around a van or into an empty room that triggers her
suspicion. At this point though, you, a stranger, would have no idea it
was there. Now it's just that when we walk at night she's always on her
toes and alert to her surroundings--which I consider perfect behavior in
a guard dog.

Of course everything I'm telling you could be total BS, but it's just
something to keep in mind...

TaraG...

Not at all. Helps in fact. This dog is a 7 month old female. The owners are
fist timers. They need to have a dog walker come in and walk the dog a few
days a week. They spent about a week acclimating the dog to the walker, and
as long as the *owner* puts the leash on and hands it to the walker, the
dog is "fine" (though there is some question in my mind as to whether this
fine really means "shut down" which would NOT be good). The walker has been
coming in alone for the last week or so, and as soon as the she lets the dog
out of the crate, the dog runs upstairs, gets cornered and then growls. I'm
glad to hear the dog isn't reacting immediately and is, in fact, looking to
get away....but given the nature of the breed, I was concerned about fear
issues present in a breed with this level of aggression. If its a hinky fear
period, that's one thing. If its a screwed up head on a dog who was bred to
rip people apart....well, that's another can of bananas.

A big difference from what you describe though, is that she hasn't yet
really adjusted to the busy city streets. She's extremely noise sensitive
and possibly reactive to people moving too quickly near her. The breed sites
I'm reading keep saying that they need HEAVY exposure until 6 months of age
if they are going to be comfortable with things later....and this dog was
only placed two weeks ago. Not sure if she got any exposure at all, at this
point

I appreciate your input. I'll let you know how it pans out.