Eric has suddenly decided he must protect me from danger and I have no idea why. He's most protective of me on our garden or on the street in front of our house. So when I put the washing out he stands watching the fence ready to growl and bark if the neighbour gets, what he considers, too close to the fence. He's not at all bothered if he's in the garden and we say good morning, it seems to be when he is near our fence.
Likewise at the front of the house, he's not at all bothered by people passing by but if he's with me he'll bark and growl to warn off men more specifically men we don't know so he's happy about my friend's husband but not about random passers by.
He makes no attempt to snap nor does he move towards them but he is very obviously pleased with himself afterwards for seeing them off I suppose.
He does none of this when out and about on walks in fact he loves a fuss from anyone and he doesn't feel the need to guard anyone else but me.
People tend to laugh when he does it probably because of the size of him and no one has felt in danger, nor do they have to alter their path because he doesn't move from me.
Could this become a problem? He's very food motivated so if I kept dropping him treats he'd probably ignore I think but then again I praise him for barking when someone knocks at the door and he probably sees our boundary as an extension of this.
What do you think?