Do you think my dog would protect my family in an emergency?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I was looking at my sweet little dog today and wondering what she would do if someone tried to harm me or my family. I know you have no way of knowing the real answer, but from your experience, what do you think would happen?

She is a Pit Bull mix we got from a shelter 4 years ago when she was about 1 year old. She has never shown any aggression in any way, and the cat bullies her. She sleeps either in my bed or in my kids’ beds.

She like to wrestle with me and feigns biting and smacks with her paws. She growls ferociously and it scares people who have never seen it before when we do it.

The only thing she wants in life is for me to be happy with her. If she senses I am not happy with what she is doing she will be very skitish and move from place to place looking for my approval.

So - based on your in depth knowledge of my dog, how do you think she would react if someone were to break in and try to abduct my six year old? Imagine my sone is screaming bloody murder and putting up a fight. Do you think she would attack or not?

Do any of you have any anecdotes about an otherwise docile dog becoming ferocious to protect you or your family?

2

We adopted a dog from the pound. Indiana Bones, or Indy the wonder dog.
Little ball of fur when we got him, grew to a 85Lb love mutt. Not a mean bone in his body.
One day when our daughter was home alone a guy broke in.
Indy went berzerk.
My daughter said she had never seen him act like that either before or after. :eek:
Anyway she held his collar and told the guy to leave or she would let the dog loose.
He left.
Indy got steak that night. :smiley:
Good dog.

3

Well, he wasn’t my dog but Scylla has an excellent old post about such an incident.

4

I have to link to thisstory.

ETA: Oops. too late.

I don’t know what my three would do, but our sweet Lab once growled menacingly at a worker in our house that she didn’t know, and she’s usually overly friendly.

5

Pit bulls as a breed are not known to be very good guard dogs, despite their reputation. They were bred to be aggressive towards other animals, but a properly bred and socialized pit bull should be docile towards humans like yours is. That tends to make them more likely to be cooperative and friendly to strangers rather than standing up to them.

Sometimes the gentle dogs do surprise you though. My boyfriend used to have a golden retriever, another breed known to be everyone’s friend and not a good guard dog, but that golden did bark and act defensive one day when an unfamiliar friend of the family came into the house uninvited. Still, I wouldn’t count on a golden in general being a good guard dog.
It may sound funny but I used to have a toy poodle who had the heart of a lion. She would stand up to any stranger who came into our house and I am sure if an intruder had tried to come into the house she would have done her best to defend us even if not very effective at it. The poodle breed is known to be extremely protective of its people and the standard size ones are regarded as good guard dogs.

I’ve heard that pit bulls can do quite well with professional training like Schutzhund training, but I think the stigma against the breed would make a lot of people balk at the idea of “training them to attack” (even though I think there is a huge difference between responsible training by a professional and some thug trying to teach their dog to be mean to humans by mistreating it, which is what I blame for the majority of pitbull attacks).

6

It is certainly possible that she might well become protective. We have two dogs, a shar-pei/ german shepherd, and a pitbull boxer mix. The shepherd mix has only growled twice in her life. Both times protecting my wife from someone she also thought was sketchy. Otherwise she is an absolute wrinkly pile of mush. Out younger dog has never been tested, though I suspect that she would go to the wall for us if we were threatened. Like yours she also loves to play rough and vocalizes loudly. I have seen her demonstrate some fledgling protective behaviour when she suspects one of us is in trouble.

7

My lab mix is a sweet friendly dog who loves everyone and everything human and animal alike (except the mailman, who is apparently evil and Must Be Destroyed), but she’s really very protective. I’ve never seen her go after a human, but she patrols the doors quite vigilantly and makes sure people she’s not sure belong here know what a big fierce attack hound she is. And twice she’s gone after other dogs she thought were a threat to me.

The first was just a minor scuffle when we were out walking and another dog charged us growling, and it was something of a melee with her trying to get between me and the other dog, and me trying to get between them to kick the damn thing. The second incident, though, could have turned really ugly. My sister-in-law decided to bring her rat terrier to Thanksgiving unannounced, and just opened the door and let the damn thing charge right in. Strange dog, barreling through the door toward the room where her people are when she’s already got her big fierce guard dog mojo going–it’s a good thing the terrier had a big puffy parka on, because Dolly was determined that thing was going down. If it hadn’t been for that jacket, I really think she would have done some serious damage before I could get out of the kitchen and pull her off.

8

Der Trihs you suck. Now I have to go and hug my dogs.

9

This is not based on a serious incident, but I always figured even the sookiest dogs would aggressively protect their human “pack”. Why? When I was a kid and would play-fight with my brothers or my dad, my dogs always looked a bit nervous. If someone accidentally got hurt, they would growl and even come to protect the person. Even my meekest, cringingest dog was like that. The inner wolf seems to get released when someone in the pack is threatened.

10

Angel is asleep next to me. Now I have to hug her, too.

11

Based on the anecdotes, and my own experience, dogs have a sense about a situation that we don’t really understand. An otherwise totally passive dog may sense a situation that will set them off and then they will protect their (and your) turf.

That being said, the most you can hope for is that the dog will make a lot of noise. You have to respond to that accordingly. Expecting that the dog will actually protect you, if it hasn’t specifically been trained that way, is wishing and hoping. An intruder with any savvy will bring a piece of meat with them, toss it at the dog and that will placate the animal and shut it up. After the dog is done chowing down it will show the intruder where all the good stuff is because he is his new best friend.

In other words, a dog that knows his turf can act in ways that will protect it but relying on that reaction isn’t a very good security plan.

12

Nanny cams have captured several home burglaries. I recall one where the family dog relaxed peacefully in its bed while the robbery took place.

The owners weren’t there. Perhaps the dog would have acted differently if they had a person to defend?

13

I think my pit mix would defend me if I were to be attacked by a squirrel. Beyond that, I am doubtful.

14

Certainly. All dogs have some innate level of territoriality, but individual personality coupled with training is what will define any given dog. Nearly all dogs are protective of their pack members. A much smaller percentage is protective over stuff that isn’t theirs.

15

I’ve tried to pretend to attack various people I knew and their dogs always sit by and are indifferent. I really think the dog senses between fear of his owner and if his owner is just pretending, like in these cases.

If the owner isn’t showing fear the dog takes his cue from that.

My neighbor’s dogs which I take care of when they’re out of town, are also very friendly unless you are a mail carrier. So I guess the key is never be a mailman when you’re attacking somene :slight_smile:

16

Wow, Scylla’s story was beautiful. My parents’ bullboxer is also lovable clown. Weezy loves playing, running circles, demanding we run around with him and play fetch by nuzzling his head under an arm while you’re on the couch. In the 3 years we’ve owned him (he was a victim of the recession, found alongside the highway) he’s only been all business exactly twice.

Once in the middle of the night he woke my parents. Barking his fool head off, he climbed on top of the bed and barked down on them. Mom gets up, follows him to the window, where the shade is halfway up, like always, so he can survey his several acre domain, which is all enclosed in fencing. The neighborhood and our neighbors otherwise have 3/4 acre lots.

Right below the window on the patio is a woman screaming for…her dog? Her husband? She’s drunk or out of her mind. And she’s on Weezy’s territory, downright pissing him off. She must have opened the gate to even get in! Mom calls out and asks her to leave the property, and she does so immediately. His tail stays up and he watches her leave the property, then slowly retreats to his couch and flops down asleep. He got a big T-bone that night.

Another time my mom and a neighbor are having a small yard sale. Weezy and his BFF, the neighbor’s 90 pound European doberman and playing and chasing each other. Weezy stops dead in his tracks, puts himself between mom and the neighbor and starts growling. Mom and neighbor try to hush him, and are clueless as to what he’s upset about. Moments later, a creepy and dirty looking guy appears walking down the street. Now the doberman’s joined in the growling session, right alongside Weezy. As the guy approachs, my mom is apologetic to the approaching guy. Wordlessly he draws a knife, motions to the dogs, and says “I would like to cut them into pieces”. Turns out he’s some loser who flipped out and made bizarre threats to customers while he was waiting tables at a nearby restaurant. He was fired, and his legal status here is unclear. Since he’s undocumented and never provided a permanent address, they weren’t able to report it. Weezy enjoyed a strip steak that night.

That said, I think if he were in the house alone and someone broke in…he would simply indicate where the treats are stashed. I think he’s loyal to us, his actual family, but not to the house or possessions. You have a pitbull mix, who probably would defend the family, but not the house. Sounds like you have a very sweet dog!

17

My female lab has always been protective and cautious of new people. She’s almost white and the color seems to make people forget she’s supposed to be the ubiquitous “I love everyone” dog. Her bark is a wonderful deterrent at night.

The Cathoula freaking loves everyone. But he looks like a serious protective dog. During the streak of 100 degree days I was walking them alone at 10 or 11 at night without a care in the world. 150 pounds of dogflesh is too much risk for a mugging.

Little dogs seem like they are more protective though.

18

It’s not their job - Their job is to warn me, so that I can take appropriate action. OTOH, both of my dogs have taken protective action IRT my 12-year old daughter when neither my wife or I were around, so I know that it’s in their makeup to protect family if they feel family isn’t up to the job - They’ve proven it. Much to my chagrin, in a couple instances; The neighbors are now real careful about talking to my kids when my wife or I are not around.

OTOH, that’s part of the reason I have dogs - my 12-year old looks a well-developed 16, and there have been home invasions. But the whole neighborhood knows that our house in one not to be messed with. I’m big and rather scary, and the dogs are on duty, keeping me aware of what’s going on.

19

This is my dog to a T. I’m not sure if she’d defend the house or not, but she once defended me from a zombie monkey.

She was still a young pup (about 7 months) and I was a playing a video game with zombies. She didn’t really understand what TV was yet and a zombie monkey jumped at the screen to attack my character. It growled and Maya leaped between the TV and me and starting barking at the digital monkey.

I was very proud and await the zombie apocalypse. I know I’ll be safe.

20

As a generalization, pit bulls (and presumably this extends to mixes) are very people-friendly dogs. I’ve read that pit bull breeders keep other kinds of dogs to protect the pit bulls, who would happily get into a stranger’s car.

They are generally less territorial than the guarding breeds. I’ve also read that “a pit bull owns only the ground he’s standing on.”

Our own two, an American Pit Bull Terrier and an American Staffordshire/<some kind of hound> mix are typically obsessed with meeting strangers; they assume everyone they see is going to be their Very Best Friend.

But once or twice we’ve seen different reactions. Each time, it was someone hurrying toward us with covered face (hood pulled down or ski mask in winter. Then Sadie (the mix) stepped into an intercept position between the approaching stranger and her own family, and on some occasions bared her teeth menacingly and raised her hackles. Simone, the APBT, has not been as decisive, but she takes her cue from Sadie and goes into a combat-ready stance, tail flagging, chest thrown out, neck arched tensely.

It seems to be very much associated with conditions where the dogs cannot see the person’s expression and the person is approaching. Otherwise they don’t react negatively to people at all.

Attacking a threat isn’t the only possible response, either. I read a great tale online about a woman and her daughter who confronted a home invader who was armed with a knife; their pit bull got between the woman and the intruder, made a savage threat face, then backed against her own family, shoving the woman and her daughter backward with her butt, out the door and away to safety, instead of attacking. The dog had no urge whatever to defend the home, but absolute dedication to getting the family out unharmed.