The Fila Brasileiro makes a fine bodyguard. It is completely loyal to its owner and has a naturally suspicious nature towards strangers. If you want a dog that will put your security needs first, this dog will be more than happy to comply. It was originally bred as a guard dog for livestock, but this devotion carries through to the owner and the owner's household. The breed's characteristics give it a good sense of smell and a powerful and intimidating appearance. You do have to be someone who is comfortable managing a strong and large dog, and must be capable of making sure the dog knows you are in control.

Taking the dog to obedience training when it is young can do this. Once it understands that you are the one calling the shots, it will be a much more effective bodyguard. It has tremendous instincts to attack if it perceives a threat to the owner, but this may not be in your best interest if the dog misjudges the actions of a stranger. So, to make the dog a bodyguard, you have to get obedience training so that it understands to wait on your command before it tries to attack anyone or defend you.

The dog was also used to hunt jaguars and other animals. It has a natural killer instinct but will also hold down prey without killing it if properly trained. The name Fila means to "grab and hold" in Portuguese and this is what they used to do to prey that they had caught.

The dog can make an excellent bodyguard for family members in your immediate family too. Despite its massive shape and aggressiveness towards people outside the household, it can be very gentle with children who live in the immediate household. It can even take some childish pranks without being provoked to anger, but the same is not true of other children who are not part of your immediate household. For that reason, although the dog makes a great bodyguard for you and your family, it should not be viewed as a pet dog that can be left unsupervised when other children or strangers are around.

If your Fila Brasileiro is trained to follow your commands, it can make an effective deterrent to strangers while not placing you in additional liability. Without training, it can be too eager to show its aggressive nature and fend off anyone who comes within your physical space. This can make it difficult to have in urban areas where people and other pets abound. As a guard dog, it works best in a country setting where it is isolated from unknown people crossing its path and neighbors' pets that might scamper into its yard.