Yes a few years ago I was charged with first degree murder but got off on diminished capacity thanks to a brilliant closing argument by my rottweiler.
My afghan hound was the sweetest dog you could meet. His name was Siddhartha, and he was truly a pacifist. Squirrels could come next to him and eat from his food bowl. then one day, the neighbor’s dog, a vicious white german shepherd (who’d already bitten two people, and had another neighbor scared to work in her flower beds) broke loose from his house. He headed straight for my infant nephew, who was strapped in his stroller ready for a walk. Sid held that shepherd off and took a few bad bites. It took the shepherd’s owner beating him over the head with a stick to get him to release. There were a few other incidences where he just felt someone was “off” and would growl and insert himself between me and them. there was no visible peril, but he certainly felt I was in danger.
StG
Oh, and it’s amazing how two dobermans will keep the Jehovah’s Witnesses from trying to convert me.
StG
My dog barked in a deep throated way when someone walked by in the hall of our condo building once.
Reference here: Voltaire | Alice in Bunnyland | Flickr
I was quite impressed, given the circumstances.
Not a dangerous position per se, but when my daughter was a toddler, we had a new deck put on our house. Every moment of the day, wherever the workmen were, our German Shepard Dog was somewhere between them and her.
No threat, but I am convinced that, if there were, he would have taken action.
Many years ago we were traveling and staying a some nameless roadside motel. I took my Rottweiler out for a little walk. She seemed a little unsettled–I didn’t see anyone around at all. Suddenly she stiffened, put her head down, and came around in front of me, her body broadsided against mine. A single guy emerged out of the darkness. He looked at me, then at her, then did an about face and disappeared into the night. She never barked at him or growled–just stared at him with her head down. To this day, I truly believed he would have done something to me had it not been for my precious girl. RIP, Margaux!
Hmm, and some silly researcher says afghans are the dumbest of them all.
Many years ago I owned a shepard-husky mix male named “What”. I used to ride my bike to the local schoolyard up the road and throw a Frisbee for him.
When he was about 11 months old we were on our way to the school when two strays (German Shepherd and large Mutt) saw him and came running after him. He was about 50 feet behind me and didn’t see them. I called out to him and he finally noticed that they were bearing down on him about 20 feet behind him.
He yelped and cried and came running toward me. I could tell that the two strays weren’t concerned about me at all and planned on chewing up What.
I hopped off my bike and put it in front of me, preparing to pick it up and try to use it as a weapon against the strays.
What, crying an yelping all the way, ran around the bike and got behind me. I assumed he would run as soon as the two strays got to me and I started to pick the bike up.
But the next thing I knew, What had circled around me and was charging the two dogs while snarling viciously.
The Shepherd baled out immediately but the mutt was instantly knocked down and had What’s teeth across his windpipe. The mutt wisely went motionless and whimpered. What let out a low growl.
I said in a soft voice,“Let him go”, and What let go, turned around, and trotted over to me as the mutt took off.
Afterward I was shook up but for What it was another fun day catching the Frisbee.
I never could figure out why he did that. Was he suddenly brave with me there to back him up or did his instinct to protect suddenly negate his fear?
Man, that is one scary-looking guard dog, all right.
My cats run and hide when a stranger comes in the house, except for Sophie, who might conceivably protect me by tripping an advancing perp in her eagerness to be adored.
I had a Quarter Horse, Nick, who would ugly away other horses when they approached me in the paddock – does that count? – though that was more his being possessive of his humare, I think. 
Oh, but I just remembered! One day I was talking with a man, a newcomer to the barn, as we stood at the fence, with Nick on the other side being admired, when suddenly my normally sweet gelding pinned his ears and snaked his head, teeth bared, at the guy. Probably jealousy rather than lifesaving, but definitely protective of me in his own odd way. He never did that when I was near him with a person familiar to him.
I grew up in San Jose at the base of the East Hills, and we had a number of large trees in the backyard, so it wasn’t uncommon to see possum or raccoons wandering the yard. When I was a teenager/early 20s and still living at home, I liked to soak in the hot tub late at night, before going to bed. The family dog, Maggie - a shepard/lab mix - would always assume the same position, between the tub and the trees, with her back turned to me, and continually scan the miniature forest for any sign of critters that might come to get me. She was such a cool dog.
My sister (one-time Doper, Laina) lived in a low-rent apartment complex with her dog Kiki. Kiki was a 30lb. hairy orange dog with pointed ears and an upright tail. Sis had found him living in some bushes a year earlier.
When sis moved in, the units each had a small area around their backdoors fenced in with 6’ high pickets. Eventually though, the apartment managers removed the fencing, probably for insurance reasons.
Within a week of the removal, sis walked into her kitchen to find a man standing in the back doorway. He’d opened the door and was looking in.
Sis says that for some reason she wasn’t scared but was enraged, and started yelling for him to “Get the hell out!”
The guy was unfazed and continued standing there, looking around the room.
…until Kiki heard the ruckus, came racing in and added his barking and snarling. Then the man backed out the door and walked away.
So, now and then I’ll mention to a friend or sibling that Kiki saved Laina’s life. But who really knows?
Sure. Our dog valiantly protected our home against our realtor, who was trying to show the place so we could sell it. Real helpful.
Seriously, though, once when we were out camping he sat up the whole night, just looking around. I don’t know if he expected strange people or wild animals but he stood guard at the foot of the pickup (we were asleep in the bed), watching, for the whole night. I suspected at the time that there were coyotes in the area but since I didn’t hear them, I wonder if it wasn’t a cougar.
This I think is the one you mean; from 2001.
My sister had a dog, one of the two smartest dogs I’ve ever met, who was a great guardian. He looked the part too, a big ol’ german shepherd. My sis and I were walking down her street once after dark with Bear when a car pulled up to the curb next to us. We didn’t think anything of it, but Bear sure did - he got between us and the car and growled very seriously. The guys shut those car doors immediately and waited for us to pass.
The same dog also alerted my sister when her oldest child, then about 2 months old, stopped breathing in his crib. Bear whined and agitated Lassie-style until my sis went to check and found the baby not breathing. CPR was administered (not by the dog) and the baby was taken to the hospital in an ambulance; all turned out just fine. The baby is now a 22-year old Marine.
RIP Bear, we all miss you.
A friend’s neighbor has two Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Once when the neighbors were out, two people broke into their house through a windwo. The dogs let them in. However, they wouldn’t let them leave.
My Lab mix, Peanut, was a year old when our youngest son was born. He’s always been good with the other kids but immediately adopted this new little one as his own. No friends, relatives or strangers could pick up wee Joey Kerrbaby without him standing in the middle growling. We would talk him out of this stance but he would lie there staring at the person holding him the entire time, and jump up if they made any sudden moves.
Fast forward several years and we’re having a get-together at our house with some of the kids’ friends and their mom. The dad arrived later and decided it would be funny to try scaring the kids, as they hadn’t seen him arrive. Peanut saw this and didn’t find it amusing at all. I had to physically remove Peanut from this guy’s shirt and put him in the house; he would not let it go.
Peanut also defended our neighbors’ border collie from this nasty Jack Russell in the neighborhood. This dog is like his best friend in the world; they’re so cute together.
On the other paw, our Chihuahua hides under the couch and barks whenever my teenage soon walks into the room. It’s like, dude, either hide and be quiet or come out and bark like a man, err, dog.
At the parking area for a trailhead, my wife and I and our Husky mix had just gotten out of the truck when a canoe with four legs came trotting down the trail towards us. The dog saw the four legs, smelled the strange mixed oders of canoe and human, had a “WTF?” moment, and wouldn’t let the two young men bring their canoe into the parking area. They stayed on the trail while I shortened the dog’s lead so she couldn’t get near them. Once they took the canoe down off their heads, she was fine. I mentioned this to our vet, and that was the first time I’d heard the phrase “reactive aggressive” describing our dog.
I’ve had similar situations.
Two JWs approached our home and I stuck my head out and said “Thanks but we’re not interested.”
Smilingly ignoring me, one of the JWs continued up the stairs toward our front porch.
Elwood, our brindle mastiff, who had been sunning himself at the top of the steps, turned his head and quietly watched our visitors.
The JW guy put his foot on the first step.
Elwood lifted his lip, and made just the slightest, softest growl.
The JW retreated.
Elwood was always ready to rumble, and probably did save us from potential break-ins.
Rest in peace, big guy.
We used to go camping by the river Rhine most weekends as a kid. Sometimes other families joined them. One had a German shepherd called Jim. I begged to be allowed to take him for a walk, and was told I could go along the river path with him.
I went off and walked quite a way, till the path came into a truck stop. We were making our way between the parked trucks when a man came up to us, speaking a language I didn’t understand, and put his hand on my shoulder. In a millisecond Jim was up on the man growling and slavering into his face. He ran off and I grabbed the lead shorter and ran back to the campsite where I said I didn’t want to walk Jim any more and was castigated for being lazy and not sticking to any decision I made. I was very worried that I’d get into trouble for allowing Jim to be aggressive with strangers as we’d had it drilled into us that in Germany, dogs that bite get put down. I was terrified that Jim would be put down because I hadn’t controlled him properly.
It never occurred to me what the guy was probably after and what Jim had protected me from until I was in my late teens.
One afternoon coming home it was unusual that the dog didn’t run out to meet us. On entering the house I heard a low growl coming from outside the back door. I went around outside to see what was up with the dog. Cronnie (RIP) had detained a would be intruder - the guy was actually shaking as my small dog bared his teeth and blocked the exit.