Would your dog defend you on a walk? If so what breed is it?

[MontezumasPuma]

I love my Springer to bits but if I was attacked while walking she’d either wet herself or throw herself at them for a fuss. I work and walk in remote locations and could do with a dog that would stand up for me. We have 5 year old DS and 19 month DD so the breed needs to be family friendly.

@BeMoreBarbie I didn't actually notice that the dog was half Staffie before I was horrified by the anecdote. And I did notice how he behaves the rest of the time. That doesn't matter. It's a dog that-according to it's owner-would have killed. It needs to be PTS.

I've got 3 boxers.

There's been a few occasions when out with the children or by myself I've been approached by strange men. Interestingly my male will hide behind me but the two girls who are half his size always position themselves between me and the perceived threat.

Once we were in a fairly rural area,kids were swimming in the river and we were sat a few metres up on the bank. A man came out of the clearing and approached the children, both the females went and sat right next to the children in the water and didn't move until the man had left. He was an older man and I don't think he did have any bad intentions, he was telling the kids about a certain sort of crayfish that lived in the water.

The girls also make it known that they're not happy when exh play fights with the kids.

They're truly amazing family dogs - challenging to train so you need to be consistent. The really good thing about them is that although they are huge softies, their bark is intimidating enough to make people think twice!

I've had boxers @Georgethebear and I completely recognise your description. I had bitches too and they are very maternal in their actions towards us kids. I haven’t read the book but I believe Clare Balding talks about her boxer in her autobiography. Her dog was so protective she used to throw herself out of a window so she could follow her.

My terrier would do this, I have to be really careful about opening windows especially upstairs!

You don't know anything of the kind. Decades ago I attended a first aid course - we were show images of the damage done to a woman by her golden retriever. The dog turned on her, at the edge of a golf course. She crawled to a road, but died in hospital. She apparently hadn't known her dog had the potential to kill.
@Pebblesflintstoneandbambamrubble knows the dog she was with has that potential. The dog is now home with her friend, who presumably also knows. To have such a dog in the house is foolhardy.

Most dogs won't protect their owners unless they are specifically trained to do so. Even 'protective' breeds like German Shepherds require training to be protective.

What they will do however, is bark at anyone they see as a threat. This is usually enough to scare someone off, although it's unlikely that the dog would actually do anything.

Do tell what evidence you base these conclusions on. They sound like rather sweeping statements with no basis 🤷‍♀️

I think some people here are getting the wrong idea about protective dogs. A lot of dogs will bark a lot at intruders etc. This is entirely desirable and very different from dogs all out attacking ie biting people.
Really you just need a dog with a loud bark to put people off OP. Maybe a largish one will help.

My older collie would. He’s a big lad and though he loves people would protect me if I was showing proper distress. He would start with increasingly aggressive noise and then I suspect resort to teeth but I would have to be showing real fear and distress and for him to see me being physically attacked.
My younger one is much small and shyer but I reckon she would give it a go. If they were both with me she would be in there having a nip and then scooting away as she’s really fast.
But neither would attack anyone for no reason.
I am, of course, speculating as it’s never happened.

I wouldn’t choose a dog on this basis though.
And I suspect some is down to personality and bond.

We had a border collie , the most gorgeous loving dog . Once on our way from the park he suddenly turned and growled at a man who was walking much too close to me ( I hadn’t realised he was there until then )
He also took against a man fixing our washing machine once ( there was about 4 people in there he just decided that one was bad news )
He never bit anyone but he would definitely try to protect us

Both my old rescue GSD and rescue Boxer x GSD have defended me on a couple of occasions. No background for the GSD as we found her half dead in a local park, so no idea if she had had some degree of protection training, but if you grabbed the back of her collar in a certain way she would rear up and go mad. She ahem ‘politely’ told a guy who was very drunk and being inappropriate towards me at a friend’s party to bugger off and he didn’t stop to think twice. She never used her teeth, but then she didn’t need to as she looked pretty intimidating even when she was perfectly calm and happy (old-style long-haired GSD and massive, especially for a female).

My Boxer x GSD once chased off a man who was actually trying to steal him and then did it again when someone (probably the same guy) broke into our house (the police thought a local dog fighting ring wanted him). When we got home he was sitting in the kitchen waiting for us. He’s shredded his feet on broken glass and splinters where they had kicked in the gate and smashed the back door. My neighbours said he ran over it all and chased them down the street. Our other dog (Whippet x Sheltie) just legged it and came home a couple of hours later.

Collie x Belgian Terv, yes, I think she would have done if necessary. She was very loving and affectionate, but also an independent thinker (which made for lots of, erm, fun training her). She was also really steady, but very concerned with keeping her family together on walks and constantly scanning around us. She completely ignored other dogs and people out and about, unless they broke her imaginary perimeter, then she would just quietly put herself between us and them and head them off. If someone came up to speak to me while I was walking her alone she would shift from my side and sit on my feet, putting herself calmly between me and them. Beautiful dog through and through. Never growled or barked at anyone in her life, but I do think she would have defended any one of her family members if push came to shove.

My two Lurchers were very different. One (the biggest one) was a complete wuss and would hide behind me, but the other, who was the most laid back and gentle dog in the world, was also really emotionally intelligent. If he sensed I was worried about someone when we were out walking his whole demeanour changed and he would subtly move between me and the other person. He never had cause to defend me, but I am sure he would have done had the situation called for it.

I now have a toy breed and I am pretty sure he would defend me. He hates it if anyone play-fights in the house and will put himself between the two people and bark to tell them off. Although he never does anything more physical than that, ie no teeth. I strongly suspect if someone was genuinely attacking me that he might actually be more serious about seeing them off though.

One of my doubts about getting a small breed dog after having large breeds for years was that I wouldn’t feel as safe walking them, but actually I think he would make such a racket if anyone tried anything that he’d probably be quite a good deterrent.

Regardless of what many people think unless your dog is a trained protection dog it will not protect you. It may bark but then run off

@Sitdowncupoftea That wasn't my experience.
That could happen, in many cases would. But it might not and some people including me have found themselves being protected by their dog. You say that like it's a fact when it's just one possiblity.

@PimpMyFridge define how your dog protected you.

Nope, he’d hide behind me.

The problem with choosing a protective dog with small children is the risk that they will see their roughhousing as a threat. You don’t want the dog picking a favourite family member and ‘protecting’ them from other giddy children.

@Sitdowncupoftea I'm pretty much convinced my dog would have protected me that day with the 2 men. And the night my ex DH was ranting at me, my dog laid his head on me facing ex DH and quietly snarled and bared his teeth, was enough to make ex DH shut tfu and go to sleep. My dog ❤️

Collie.

I was 15 and walking my collie in a park at dusk, he was off lead at the other side of the field. A noticed man approaching, no one else around, I was instantly terrified, a gut reaction - I changed direction and the man followed - he was only a few meters away when my dog, out of no where, totally silently with his ears back, hair up, attacked the man from behind him. The man shouted, kicked out toward my dog but made no contact, and then my dog put himself between us and only then started growling - the man ran off.

My dog must have bitten him as there was torn clothing.

This was a dog that was SO docile, so calm and never before (and never again) showed any sign of aggression.

So definitely a collie!!

'define' 🙄
Alright, I'll tell you what she did. She's a bog standard lab sized mongrel.
First time, I was walking her last walk of the day, she was off the lead sniffing all the evening sniffs, there was no one there as far as I knew, but a man had come up behind me, it was a quiet field but I hadn't heard him, so he must have been careful not to be heard.
I heard a snarl from behind and whipped round as he was knocked flat by my dog who then stood across his chest snarling in his face. The man was within an arms length of me and there was a big stick near his hand on the track which I had just walked on and the stick hadn't been there, so presume he had had it in his hand.

There was another occasion also but I'm tired and can't be arsed typing that one out

I used to think my Rottie would defend me if I was in danger, being a breed with protective instincts and all.

Then I went out one day and left a window open. Out of dogs reach. My friend for some unknown reason decided to climb in the window and surprise me when I got home. Not realising the dog was in the house and hadn’t met my friend before.

By the time I got home friend was sat on the couch with the dog on his knee having a cuddle. So clearly my dog would happily let someone break into the house. Cheers!

Typical Rottie in my experience Mad-wife 123!

@Madwife123 😂
My heart would’ve stopped beating though if I climbed through a window and saw a Rottweiler staring at me 💀

@RonniePickering His did! He had forgotten we got the dog, he was a rescue so fully grown adult and not a puppy, and by the time he realised he was too far through to get back out and said he was expecting to get bitten. But he did say it was a terrifying couple of minutes until the dog came over tail wagging and licked him. 🤣

There was a really good program on this I watched. it showed people's perspective on how they thought their dog would protect them if they were attacked. A hidden camera was placed. No untrained dog protected their owner. Yes dogs barked , growled jumped up but once the owner was pinned down the dogs flight instinct kicked in and every dog ran. A friend of mine is a dog trainer he legally trains dogs for this purpose. Unless a dog is trained to actually take another human down in the attack scenario it won't. That's because our dogs are pets not bred for the purpose of protection or attack scenarios. Any dog that bites a person risks Prosecution hence why many of us are responsible owners and don't encourage this behaviour.
My dogs bark , and alert that's instinct. If a man or woman were to grab me and physically attack me and hurt me would he jump up take them down , stand his ground latch on and attack that person-No.
If that person in an attack scenario were to then hit the dog an untrained dog would run that again because he is not trained not to. personally there are too many aggressive dogs and people that are untrained that make a piss poor attempt to home train a protection dog with dire consequences like what has been so much in the news. After reading this thread I question the mentality of some owners. Professionally trained dogs are taught to attack on a one word command also taught to go for a specific place. Look at the police as an example. If your dogs are behaving in that manner just because its a man and its dark I suggest you stay in doors because one day they will bite the wrong person or a child that runs up unannounced. Look at the news with xl bullies as an example and learn. The dogs my friend retrains some have come from rescues where owners have thought it was big and clever to own a dog that would " protect" them. Many dogs destined to be PTS. Quite pathetic really when they have bit a family members nose off because they were playing but the dog didn't know it was only play as the dimwit owner encouraged it.