Is it fine to let my dog spend all day guarding?

[Sheswatchingyou]

I own a young dog a breed which was originally bred as herding/guarding/watch dogs they are know to be very aloof/suspicious of strangers and are known to bark! She my 5th of this breed but previously Ive got them as puppies and socialised them well or as well socialised adults and not sure if this is relevant always males. Up until getting this dog I would have said that they are easy going and not overly bright. She came at just under a year and was I think it would be fair to say poorly socialised with people she's excellent with other dogs and lives with an older male of the same breed. She's settled down well shes a bit quirky but thats ok. But she's obviously very bright and has since the summer and now more settled and confident and as my back door is open all the time so has free access to the outside when Im home she has decided her role in life is to guard/watch my property. I live in a very rural location with a few neighbours/little activity and my house is on the side of a hill so she can sit up high in my garden (10ft above where might people walk) and look down the valley and see who/what is coming or going. She'll sit out there all day if allowed and in all weathers. If any one comes within 100/150m of the house she'll bark for about 30 seconds if they come within 5-10m of the house or my neighbours house she'll bark frantically and growl at them, not my actual neighbours who she knows although not necessarily likes. She sits high up so no one can touch her and although she could leave the garden she doesn't. For context today shes been outside since 7 30 am and has done this about 4 times (its very quiet where I live).
The question is is it ok to just let her do this? Not because of the neighbours who dont care and find it amusing and I'm not worried she'll bite anyone they cant reach her or that she'll leave the garden but from her point of view is ok just to let her do this? She's always on the alert. Is it fulfilling her natural instinct so just leave her or should I discourage it. If I call her she comes straight in lays down for 5 mins and then goes back out again. In the evening if I sit down she will lie down and sleep and at night she sleeps on the bed with me and even though she can hear things outside never makes a sound in fact my male dog will bark if he hears my neighbours dog barking or a fox/owl etc but she is completely silent!
Ive tried taking her quiet dog classes etc but she's so very wary of strangers she just couldn’t cope and just froze/panicked, ditto a 1:1 trainer who couldn’t get near her and she wouldn’t listen to anything I asked her to do. I do mind games with her and walk her about 2 sometimes 3 hours a day which she loves.

Hmm I wouldnt allow it. It sounds like she spends a lot of the day on high alert, not properly resting and lots of dogs find this type of behaviour stressful. The adrenaline of it can create a nervous dog

I would also be worried that this behaviour can be very escalating. Dog barks, person goes away so they bark a bit harder next time. The circle gets smaller and the reactions bigger

Realistically when you have a visitor, postman etc can she be called off and settle? Is the house and land the only thing she guards?

Sometimes it suits if you live in a rural property but may mean that she can't go on holidays, struggles if you move house, but also progression to guarding other things like the car

Lots of farm dogs struggle anywhere that's not their own farm, which suits them but doesnt make for a well rounded dog. They sometimes arent then a dog that can go for walks amongst people. It depends on what you want your life to be

The struggling with strangers is something I would want to work with. Just for practical sake, there might be a day where you need workmen on the property, or her to be looked after by someone else or need her in a different setting

It sounds like your garden is not secure, and she is very reactive and nervous. She doesn't currently leave the garden, but as the PP this behaviour will escalate. You need to help her relax and secure your garden. I wouldn't let her sit out there and guard.

She's doing what she wants to do and what she was breed to do. You will make her miserable if she can't.

She only guards the house land away from here she actively avoids people coming near her. At one stage if she hadnt been on her lead she would have run back if I met someone coming towards me now off the lead she skirts round them giving them about a 10ft clearance. She has excellent recall.
Workman friends etc she generally goes and sits upstairs and watches them from above she wont let them near her, no barking/growling she just runs away. My older dog will growl at workman so is shut away. People she's "accepted" e,g. my DCs who don’t live with me, a couple of friends she stay downstairs but watches from behind the furniture very occasionally she'll come out and sit nearish to me/them on the floor. She's on the sofa now if I got up and went over she'd run away but if I sit on the sofa she'll get on and sit next to me and she loves an ear/belly scratch but its all on her terms. I never push her to do things she doesn’t like. She shows no aggression at all.
So my neighbours had a visitor today so they were within the 10m of my house she barked madly all her hackles were up. I called her and she came in the house immediately, I cant get near enough to her to give her a treat or scratch her ear but put a treat on the floor stepped back and she came and took it she then sat down for 5 mins with the other dog then went back out again to where she sits.
She's very food orientated and if she's on her lead and I meet someone who's dog friendly Ive tried to get people to feed her a treat either drop it on the floor or without looking at her sort of nonchalantly lower their hand not touch her obviously but she's often too scared to take a treat especially from men. She wont always take one of me if there's noises she's not used too e.g someone laughing in a garden people around.
I live very quietly in a very rural location and luckily meet few people. Generally on a walk I wont meet anyone, it was busier this morning I met 3 people and as long as she can avoid them its all fine. I'm not overly bothered about her watching/guarding my home and as I said above that is what she is bred to do so I wonder if she's fulfilling her genetic need? But I just worry a bit that its not good for her to be so alert all the time. Having said all of this she has improved a lot since Ive had her, she likes a very strict consistent routine and I think she happy in her own funny way, she loves going for a walk (not something she'd experienced before I got her) she adores running/jumping in long grass or playing on a beach she get so excited, she's currently laying on the sofa on her back with her legs in the air. She looks super chilled but Im not anywhere near her she would jump up and run away if I moved. I just want to do the right thing for her.

This is what I wonder. This is in her breeding they are guarding/ watch dogs the breed society advises that they are naturally "very suspicious of strangers and therefore need very careful socialisation at an early age" which she obviously hasn't had.
I dont think getting out of the garden is an issue TBH it is completely fenced so unless she was absolutely panic stricken then she might squeeze through one a tiny gap which is filled with bricks and I could get get sheep wire and fill it with that then she definitely could get out but generally when scared she cowers away and freezes.and because my house is on a hill she's 10ft above anyone that comes near her. I'm not explaining it very well.

The only thing that would worry me is if she gets out of your garden and bites someone, you could be in real trouble.

So Im not good at explaining when I said she could leave the garden it is completely fenced in bar 1 tiny gap where the fencing meets a dry stone wall. Ive looked at it my older male dog is too big he couldn’t squeeze through he's also exceedingly dim and I very much doubt he has enough brain to even work out there is a gap. But she's clever and nosey but looking at her and the size of the gap I very much doubt she'd get through now she's fully grown.

She definitely wouldn’t bite anyone I cant explain it but I know she wouldn’t. If she escaped she would bolt to the front door she would be so terrified no one would get within 10m of her only me. She goes to doggy day a care once a week which she loves and the women who runs it says she shows no aggressive tendencies at all. She says its the the older dog who is generally very friendly that she feels if a stranger cornered him he could easily bite she says she always lets him come to her then hes super friendly.
I'm not portraying them very well! The older dog is super chilled and friendly and funny but a little watchful of strangers and doesn’t like strangers taking liberties e.g. he in particular doesn’t like stranger touching his ears he doesnt do anything but you just know he doesnt like it but I can touch them and he loves it! As a breed they are not bouncy all over everyone like labs this is not in their genetic make up. They are loyal to those they like but well socialised fairly indifferent to those they dont know.

I only ever had one LGD but he was part of the family. He loved guarding the garden chickens etc. But.. what is concerning is how ‘aloof’ your dog is with you if you can’t touch her etc. I had to put my hand in my dogs mouth to give him worming tablets, had to brush his hair (well, we both hated this so he went to the groomers twice a year).
They don’t do well in puppy classes, mine never played with toys, or pulling games, he would have liked to ‘wrestle’ but I didn’t do feel confident to do that with a large dog.

She is scared/suspicious/aloof with all humans. I believe I am the one she accepts and dare I say likes the most. I can touch her if she comes and sits/lies with me but I would never go to her because she would run away. I cant catch her in the house and put her lead on I have to say "we're going for a walk" then she goes to the front door I then say "wait" she sits and I give her a treat then I put her lead on. On a walk I call her she comes back immediately but to get her lead on I have to say "wait" she sits down she gets a treat and then I can put her lead on. If she looks like she's going to run to far from me on a walk I say "stay with me" and she stops and waits until I wave her on with my hand. This has all come about by trial and error! I think she wants to do the right thing for me but I have to be very consistent, she likes a strict routine and I have to have realistic expectations. Most of the night she sleeps on the bed with me on a back legs in the air with her head on a pillow (she doesn’t believe in sharing a space 😃) but I never invite her on and wouldn’t dream of doing this because this would make her anxious she gets on when she's ready.
I regularly take her to the vets just as a visit nothing is done as she will be spayed soon, she needs to get used to them and the environment and she's getting better. She panicked when I gave her a shower the other month after jumping into disgusting stagnant water which she loved but she stunk to high heaven and hid for 24 hours after the shower.
Sometimes I think I not a good enough owner for her and that she'd be better with someone more knowledge but she has in her own funny way bonded with me. I took her to a small dog class the lady who ran it was lovely although it wasn't overly successful TBH, but the lady who ran it said she never took her eyes off me once she was constantly looking for reassurance so I hoping that I am the person that she trusts the most.

People on here don’t like the idea of a pack leader but I think that, at times, it’s a valid way of working. That plus the fact that she is a guardian with a strong personality means you might need to be stronger in taking the lead.

I would go up the hill on occasion, sit quietly higher than your dog and have five or ten minutes observing the world yourself. Get her used to that.

You say she is very responsive to instruction so if you are expecting someone to the house, get yourself up the hill beforehand. Then, when your delivery or whatever arrives, you are there to stand up in a relaxed manner, tell her to stop barking and wander down to answer the door.

She is a guard dog. She will always want to observe and advise you what’s happening. The trick will be to manage a situation early rather than responding to her actions.