# Do you think that your friendly dog would protect you if you were in danger? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347 "2018-06-19T00:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/21 "2018-06-19T12:46:36Z")
Leet the Wonder Dog[sup]TM[/sup] would protect me, especially if I were attacked by the UPS delivery guy, or a passing squirrel. Unless it was during a thunderstorm, in which case I would be on my own. I don’t know how effective he would be. Lots (LOTS) of barking, probably some biting, but his role is to distract the threat while I attack from the other side. Maybe I am misunderestimating him. It did happen once, where a neighbor dog got loose and charged us while we were on my front step getting ready for Nice Walks, and Leet attacked and drove him off (and got in at least one good bite). The neighbor dog yelped and backed off, and then stood a few yards back barking at us. Leet stood between us snarling and barking and generally communicating “don’t you DARE threaten my human!” The neighbor showed up a few seconds later and made some noises about complaining that her dog had gotten bit. I growled back, in roughly the same tones as Leet, “keep your dog under control and off my property” and she left without further incident. Leet’s duties as House Dog are largely ceremonial, but he takes them seriously. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/22 "2018-06-19T12:46:59Z")
We have Dobes. They would _love_ an excuse to play with a mean old stranger. I’m not sure what they would actually do, but just the noises they make would scare the cheesly old shit out of anyone. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/23 "2018-06-19T12:51:40Z")
Our ‘pitbull’ type dog looks quite menacing. You’d have to be quite determined to mess with someone walking her if you didn’t know her. But she is instinctively so friendly to all humans I just don’t think she could bring herself to ‘defend’ as in trying to bite somebody. When we mock fight with each other at home she tries to get in the middle and push us apart with her front paws. I guess she might try that with a stranger attacking me. ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/24 "2018-06-19T12:53:40Z")
I have two “hunting” dogs - a male weimeraner / GSP and a female GSP / very mixed breed. The male is scary and will bark and attack anyone threatening… as long as they are safely behind a gate. He’s not so good when his own health is at risk. The female is quiet, doesn’t bark, but she’s the one who will attack when someone jumps over the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/25 "2018-06-19T13:08:02Z")
We have a Black lab and an [del]pit bull[/del] American Staffordshire Terrier, each about 85 pounds. They would maul a bear to protect my wife. Me? They would find a bear to maul me just so they could watch and clean up afterward. My three cats, however, those are my boys. Especially Chicken, the 17 pound rescue panther. I am his monkey, and he doesn’t like to share. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/26 "2018-06-19T13:59:02Z")
My boy Grady is a lover but also a killer. He’s got a lot of animal kills under his collar. He’s also freakishly obsessed with me - he’s basically staring at me all the time. I can see him leaping to my defense. My girl Morgan has more of a cat-like attitude. I can imagine her saying “ugh, that looks complicated for you. Good luck.” and slinking off to the nearest soft bed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/27 "2018-06-19T14:14:22Z")
I don’t have a dog myself, but my mom does, and I spend a lot of time with him. If anything threatened me, I’m confident that he’d fight it off, but not because he wanted to defend me, but simply because he likes fighting (despite our efforts to train him otherwise), and would welcome an opportunity to have permission to fight. The dog before that, absolutely not. He was absolutely devoted to Mom, but if anything remotely scary happened, he hid behind her. The dog before that one mostly seemed to regard us bipeds as inconveniences at best. He’d probably view a threat as an opportunity to escape while we were distracted. Only the first dog we had would, I think, have fought for the purpose of defending us. But he’d have done so reluctantly, and would be a lot happier if he could resolve the situation just by looking big and scary without having to actually do anything. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/28 "2018-06-19T14:19:23Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Don’t have a dog, but I KNOW our cats will protect us. Well, at least my wife and daughter. > When MilliCal was a toddler, Maggie regarded herself as her watcher and protector, like nana in _peter Pan_. One day MilliCal was petting a dog in our yard. Maggie was outside, and saw the dog as a major Threat (he wasn’t, but she didn’t know that) She immediately went into Guardian mode. Her back rose, her hair bristled up, her tail puffed out, her ears went back, and she launched herself at the dog with a deep-throated growl, clawing wildly with her right front paw at a dog ten times her weight. Scared the hell out of him, too. > > Years later, after we lost Maggie, we had Clarence, the one-eyed cat. He’d been attacked and worked over by something before we adopted him, and he was gentle as could be, but very unwilling to go outside. We had a midnight emergency, though, and I called 911 for my wife, Pepper Mill\*. The emergency tech came in to the bedroom to find our ordinarily gentle (but BIG – Clarence was a Maine Coon)cat standing defiantly between him and my wife, his hackles up and claws out. the tech wouldn’t go near my wife until I got Clarence off the bed. > > So, yeah, when the chips were down, at least two of our cats would fight to defend us against threats many times their size and weight. \*forgot to ad the footnote. Pepper mill, it turns out, was fine. No medical emergency, although it looked like one. And it gave Clarence a chance to show his True Colors. ---
**Author:** ![FloatyGimpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/floatygimpy/32/7750_2.png) [@FloatyGimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloatyGimpy)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/29 "2018-06-19T14:55:08Z")
My dog (German Shepherd) is not friendly to anyone other than her family. She would (and has) protected me from an aggressive person but she’s terrified of aggressive dogs. Even ones that just play aggressively send her running back home. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/30 "2018-06-19T15:51:01Z")
No. In fact he’d (a husky) probably give the criminal encouragement and be a personal mascot to my fate. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/31 "2018-06-19T16:11:08Z")
My dog would bark a lot, but otherwise would be useless. Unless I were attacked by a squirrel. He’d be all over that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/32 "2018-06-19T16:24:34Z")
I’m pretty sure they would. No way to be sure, unless it happened, though. Just the sight of out 105 lb Husky Akita mix would scare most would be attackers. His bark is very scary! ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/33 "2018-06-19T17:22:31Z")
The first day home from the shelter with my new pointer/Doberman cross, Kate. I take her out to the back yard to go to the bathroom and the garbage man comes up the drive to get the trash (back in the day, before they had wheely bins and trucks that empty them). She took a growl and a leap and put herself between him and me. On the first day. There’s no doubt in my mind she would’ve gone for him if he’d made a move at me. He dropped the can and ran. Right now I have a doberman, two dobe mixes, a GSD and a cattle dog mix (maybe). The dobe and one of the mixes would definitely come to my aid. The GSD - probably. No clue about the cattle dog - she was just dumped near here a few months ago. She’s feisty, though. StG ---
**Author:** ![Mikemike2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikemike2/32/305_2.png) [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/34 "2018-06-19T17:31:06Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > She would come to my aid, but wouldn’t help in the slightest. Probably just yap annoyingly. _maybe_ nip at the strangers ankles, which would do any damage. Similar, at 9 pounds, a lot of noise from our dog, which might alert us, but the attack would be small. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/35 "2018-06-19T17:36:30Z")
Current dogs: Luna: Luna is a pit bull with no fear, no hatreds, and no enemies. I doubt it would occur to her that humans could be bad. She assumes everyone wants her head pressed against them for hugs. And she _adores_ children but is careful not to force herself on shy ones. She’s a keen judge of the attitudes of strange dogs, however, but still without enemies. While waiting for a nail grind, she was bitten on the shoulder by a snarling dog who stretched her loose skin out several inches but did not draw blood. Luna’s reaction was to sidestep away from him and stay out of his reach. She’s _ridiculously_ hard to provoke. Ginny: Ginny is a mix, probably pit bull and [feist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feist_(dog)). She’s ready for combat with squirrels, and suspicious of cats, and responds to dogs who bark at her. Although she loves almost every human she sees, she has growled at a human being before (inexplicably, our sweet elderly neighbor), so she might go for a human attacker after all. She’s only 34 pounds, but she’s quite strong, chews a lot, and might be able to hurt someone. Former family members: Simone: 35-pound pit bull from the street who loved all creatures, never evinced a predatory instinct, and just wanted everyone to be together (touching if possible). It’s not fathomable that Simone would have identified anyone as an enemy. When she was younger and I took her to the dog park, Simone used a gradual escalation of body language warnings to deter larger dogs from bullying her, evading and adopting a series of increasingly firm defensive postures, until they stood down. When she was older Simone was once bitten on the butt by another dog hard enough to require rushing to a vet for stitches – her response was to turn around and gaze mildly at the dog whose teeth were still sunken into her thigh, then try to follow that dog, blood running down her butt, when they were separated. Sadie: a sturdy pit bull / hound mix who passed a few years ago. Known affectionately as “the Mayor,” she insisted on greeting her constituents (every human in the community) on her walks and loved nothing more than to lean on a human. She adored my wife above all living things. But there was one time. It was cold enough that people would wrap scarves around their faces or wear [balaclavas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balaclava_(clothing)). A young man out jogging came around the bend, face covered, running directly toward Sadie and my wife. Sadie assessed him as a threat (almost certainly because his face was covered) and her response was immediate – she placed herself in his path, braced her front legs, and bared her fangs. She emitted the most terrifying sound I have ever heard a dog make – half a deep bark, half a tearing growl like a powerful machine ripping denim jeans in half. Clearly the young man stopped. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/36 "2018-06-19T17:38:20Z")
My big old man Bear (lab/husky mix) is afraid of nothing on this earth and has proven empirically that he WILL stop someone coming in the back yard unannounced and without permission. I think he’d probably fuck someone up if they were to attack me. Young heeler cross Shoga is fairly timid but has shown some pluck and willingness to try to hamstring someone she thinks might be a threat, so she might eventually grow into being a bit more protective. It’s a dilemma for me–I do love how easy she is to take around kids and crowds and dogs because she loves everyone, but I do love the peace of mind a stout dog with opinions regarding who can go where gives me. When Bear goes it’s going to be a struggle for me on whether to get another protective type or another goofy fun dog like Shoga. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/37 "2018-06-19T17:49:08Z")
I had a German Shorthair Pointer that jumped his fence for the first time in his life and attacked a man who was beating up a neighbor lady that he liked. The man had a serious injury to his arm and leg. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/38 "2018-06-19T17:51:36Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > My dog would bark a lot, but otherwise would be useless. > > Unless I were attacked by a squirrel. He’d be all over that. I was struggling to think of an answer to this question until I saw your response. This is exactly what my dog would do as well. Thank you for doing all the hard work of thinking of/typing out my response for me. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/39 "2018-06-19T18:00:25Z")
Unless it’s happened, I don’t think you can know for sure. I suspect that if I was in danger from a human he’d mostly just bark. If it was danger from an animal then he’d be more involved. I saw him learn as a puppy that he had to be more assertive if a cat was giving him trouble but I can’t imagine him doing that with a person. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347/40 "2018-06-19T18:37:22Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > I had a German Shorthair Pointer that jumped his fence for the first time in his life and attacked a man who was beating up a neighbor lady that he liked. The man had a serious injury to his arm and leg. That’s interesting because what drew me to write the OP was my daughter and I discussing this and she has a German Shorthair Pointer. She was undecided but I think that if he were to actually recognize a threat (he’s not too smart), he’d come to her rescue. If he sank his teeth into someone, it wouldn’t be pretty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-that-your-friendly-dog-would-protect-you-if-you-were-in-danger/816347.md?page=3)