anyone have any stories of their dog protecting them?

[vinobell]

I'm just curious - i have a GSD, still a baby at 1.5yrs, and he is such a big softy i really wonder whether he would ever act to protect me.

when walking earlier, i had to go past 3 young men - felt a bit intimidated by them as they started shouting at me- but they backed off when they saw him - as he is a big boy.

it got me thinking whether if it came to it, DDog would ever protect me. he is a beautiful loving boy, but really just such a gentle softy I'm not sure he ever considers anyone as a threat? he has had such a charmed life he thinks everyone is a friend! has your dog ever stepped up when required?

My little Cavalier shocked me once. He is the softest, daftest dog going.

I broke a toe nail really badly (ripped a huge section down my toe, but it was still partly attached - blood everywhere type thing) and asked my mom to help sort it. I did a slight sharp intake of breath and my Cav went from lying on my mom's feet to growling and barking at her only pausing to keep glancing at me. He stopped growling once I told him it was ok "she's helping" but he eyed her suspiciously until she left.

Back in March, our Springer woke us up at 5am barking really insistently, totally out of character. I let him out into the garden, thinking he'd heard a fox or felt poorly or something, and stood rather sleepily in the kitchen waiting for him to calm down. He eventually came back in, quieter but not much calmer, and I went back to bed.

Just as I was pulling the duvet back over me, my partner leant over, looked out our bedroom window, and said "I think the studio door's open" (he's a musician and has a little glorified shed in our garden for all his gear). He legged it out there and found we'd been burgled - but only a couple of small things had been taken. There was other stuff left by the back fence, but Hero Dog had clearly woken up in time to disturb the bastards and stop them taking the lot.

I try and remember this when Dog is being a shit, as he's firmly in the teenage stage now.

I had a border colliey who was a rescue. She was so gentle and loving and on many occasions I had to "protect" her from teeny tiny dogs on the other side of the road. You'd think she was a useless protector but I was walking her one day and someone who had made my life hell and abused me for years approached me. She snarled and her fur was on end, the lead cut my hand when I was keeping her back. She send him running and I can honestly say she saved me from one hell of a beating that day and every day since

My little cocker/poodle alerted me when the grill caught fire. She barked continuously whilst scuttling back and forth between the kitchen and me in the living room until I budged.

I had a drunk bloke bothering me and not leaving me alone- my big (huge!) male ex-racing greyhound never liked anyone who smelled of booze (very mis-treated before I got him too, initially the rescue didn't think he'd survive) just walked towards him and kept walking into him, forcing him to back off. He would never have normally done that, it was his (passive aggressive?!) response to help me.

foxpox we have a miniature poodle and they are very much real dogs! Our boy is quite wary of strangers anyway so I don't doubt that he would go for anyone behaving in a threatening way towards me or DD. He has ears like a bat and even when he appears to be fast asleep, he's up and barking in seconds if there is any noise outside the front door.

I've always had GSD's and all of them have been wonderful with babies, children, cats and people who have been invited into the house. All of them have been protective of me on odd occasions- men approaching me on a night time walk would be under intense scrutiny and sometimes receive a small warning growl if they get too close.
Although invited guests get greeted with a soft toy selection a stranger walking straight in would certainly be "encouraged to beat a hasty retreat".

Our dog really belongs to my teenage DS; he does majority of dog walking, and ddog sleeps in DS bed.

If we shout at DS or tell him off ddog will bark at us and if DH and DS play fight ddog gets quite upset!

My first dog, a border collie, was amazing. He broke up play fights at home and had a knack of being in just the right place to stop trouble before it started. When another dog went for my youngest dog in a field, he appeared in the dog's path and it bounced off him and remembered it had urgent business elsewhere. He headed off a very unwelcome kiss with a well timed growl at the end of a terrible date and used to follow DS1 everywhere when he was small. I sometimes had to go out at night to do environmental measurements and he used to come with me and lay next to the tripod. God I miss him. He was my dog in a million.