Dogs are great for deterring wildlife and casual thieves. But a lot of "guard dog" owners are surprised by how cozy their dogs will get to a stranger who feeds them.
Sounds like you agree with me. I won't bother debating what you or these owners constitute as guard dogs though. I have been quite specific about what I am referring to - someone calling their dog a guard dog because they're not a small breed and have a studded collar is in no way comparable to guardian breeds who have been doing their jobs via bred instinct and not training for, in the case of my breed, between 5000 and 6000 years depending on who you talk to.
You did touch on one aspect that I used to be worried about though, the food tactic. I have seen some guard dogs completely change their demeanor when thrown some chicken parts, and it bugged me. To that end I took advantage of two friends visiting me once from out of town to help me find out if my dogs would succumb to the same temptation. These two and I go way back, and meet up every couple of years for a get together so we can hang out and party, maybe do a little fishing or shooting while we re live the old days. I picked them up at Logan and before we even made it back to the car they were stoked to play the role of trespassers bearing gifts of food, just so long as teeth weren't involved. I assured them they would be supervised, and would have an electric fence between them and the dogs. We bought some cheap steak and fresh bones at the store on the way home. Dropped them off at the end of my driveway and proceeded up my house and parked the car. Gave them a few minutes, then snuck outside on my deck in hopes of seeing the encounter begin. The dogs sent up the alarm when they are a good 200yards away still, and proceeded to look mean. My buddy Dave threw a piece of meat over the electric fence, and while the dogs sniffed it initially, they didn't eat it. When he tried to insert a bone between the lines as an offering, they charged, with my male climbing through 10,000volts like it was just a cloud of blackflies. My friends hauled ass and when I got down there they were both standing on top of my Kubota like treed raccoons.
A good time was had by all. While my female ASD now loves both of these guys, the male has remained suspicious and aloof whenever they visit. To this day he won't let either of them touch him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RK_6ARKYBvc Kinda what I'm talking about. These dogs had probably heard that woman's voice before, knew her scent, seen her around, but she decided to trespass on an area they were charged with protecting. Bad call.
These dogs were groomed to not just handle wolves, lions and bears, but also rustlers. You know, livestock thieves.
People.