How would your dog deal with an intruder?

[BarrelOfOtters]

Ours might not wake up from wherever she's lying with her feet in the air snoring gently.

She could well stand at the top of the stairs barking but will have one eye on her box of toys to decide which present they are worthy of.

I always thought my rottie mix would be overjoyed to find potential new besties in his house or garden however he's proven himself to be quite protective of us.

When someone broke into our garden he chased them into nextdoor's garden and then stayed outside barking and lunging at the fence until he was sure they had vacated nextdoor's garden.

I was stopped and threatened by a group of 6-8 druggies a couple of weeks ago, while I was walking my sister home. Initially, he was friendly, attempting to jump on the druggies for hugs and love. After a few minutes, he must have picked up on my fear because his hackles went up and he started snarling.

My Chi would bark and run under the coffee table where she would continue barking like a demented, rabid rat. She's all bark and no bite but is good at alerting the rottie x and pointing him towards what she deems dangerous intruders (usually wood pigeons).

My dogs are Lhasa Apso and they were bred as guard dogs. They would bark the house down. They heard a house opposite to ours being broken into a few years ago and they woke us up with barking. DH went down and switched the light on and thieves across the road left in a hurry.

My old boy is quite deaf and his eyesight isn’t great so it would take him a while to even realise anyone was there. When he eventually did, he’d probably bring them his favourite teddy and demand a fuss.

I don't have a dog but 3 of my children do

One has a staffie-he hates the postman and will do his big,deep bark from the other side of the door-I've had him to stay a few times and when the postman comes,he goes mental until I open the door

If someone broke in,he'd bark but as soon as they whip out the treats/belly rubs he'd lead them to the best stuff and hope for more treats/belly rubs on the way out

He's such a wuss-my son lives in a ground floor flat and one night,a pissed up idiot thought it would be funny to bang on all the windows as he staggered past-this was about 1am

This woke my son up,who went to have a look at what the hell was going on-the dog hid behind my son-but did bark once or twice!

Our friends dog is just as daft in his day to day life,but someone did try to break in once and the dog just went mental-if he hadn't have been stopped by his owners,he would have had them

I have been known to walk him down the street and he's taken a dislike to someone,and let the whole world know

He's so protective of them-hes staffie/whippet cross

My mates dog wouldn't even bother to wake up-staffie

I've gone round many times (I have a key and shes asked me to) and have had to wake him up just to let him know I was in front of him!

When we were kids, my best friends house was burgled. The dog hid under the dining table!

Mine would proper have them, she is a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

One would go for the burglars, and she's a big girl (bred for guarding flocks from marauders and wolves) one would woof a lot with her back up and one would woof and hang back. (Labradors x2)

Lick them tbh guard dog she is not.

Don’t think mine would do anything. She hardly ever barks but it’s loud if she does (Labrador).

At a friends house once she did bark at the neighbour who was in his garden but very close to the garden we were in, it was dark. It was so unlike her to bark, I did wonder what he was up to.

I think I can count on 2 hands how many times she has barked.

Hmmmm..... (looks at elderly, snoring spaniel)... I'm fairly sure he wouldn't even notice. In his younger days he would have been SO EXCITED! PEOPLE! PEEEEEOOOOOOPPPPPLLLLEEEE! OMG! and bounced up around them wagging his tail.

They’d quickly regret their choice as I have a trained personal protection dog.

Mine would have a go. He’s got a hell of a bark for a 10kg dog and I don’t doubt he’d lose his shit if someone broke in. He doesn’t like any arguing in the house (we don’t have a lot but teenagers) and will always try and get between whoever is having a go at each other.

All my other dogs would have been absolutely useless.

Mine would disorientate them by barking ferociously while wagging his tail. Then he would play for time until the police arrived by forcing the intruder to throw rope toys

Ours would run upstairs and hide.

My heart sinks when I hear people describe their dogs as "protective"

They would definitely bark while wagging their tails

They wouldn’t get past the door. Mine is nervous of strangers in his home and does a very good job of pretending that he is scary and not just shit scared of them himself!

He would bark and growl loud enough to wake the dead and I am absolutely convinced he would attack the intruder if they tried to cross the threshold. Exactly how I’d like him to deal with it!

Mines an Akita so I don't think it would go well for the intruder. I've heard stories but mines a bit soft by all accounts.

A friend of a friend gave us the "I'm a dog whisperer" lark so we let him loose. He growled and pushed him to the floor on the driveway. It's quite the display when someone knocks on the door. Fluff everywhere.

Yep, what they usually mean is ‘nervous and reactive and will demonstrate this by biting’, which is exactly what my dog would do. I don’t dress it up as him being ‘protective’ as he isn’t trained in protection, the only ‘protection’ he’d be doing is protecting himself by removing the threat in the first way he can think of, which is to bite it.

@CurlewKate Why?

With my dog, it is not something I have trained or encouraged. It's just the way he is. He's never shown any kind of aggression in any other circumstance and is well-trained and socialized. I understand dogs enough to spot fear in them and though in both instances, I was too shaken to watch him closely for signs he was fearful he's never shown fear in any other situation.

The chihuahua is the one you need to watch.

Cocker spaniel's bark would hopefully see them off. Think he would go nuts if someone came in the house. Quite happy about that really.

All hell would break loose. I think my dog would growl, bark aggressively and bare teeth. If the intruder tried to advance on her or near us I definitely think she would bite them. Just to add she is great with normal visitors - people she has met before she remembers, even if there are prolonged periods of not seeing them. She is also fine with anyone we invite in and close the front door. However any people at the door not invited in she goes nuts. She definitely knows what is 'weird' to her - an unknown person in our house in the dark would definitely be weird and she would not back down or be grateful for belly rubs. She is a German shepherd and I think any intruder would, correctly, abandon their plans

Bark, find a ‘gift’, spin in excited circles, present his bum for pats. Useless.

Depends. Does the intruder have a biscuit?