How often do dogs defend their owners?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I always thought that the golden retriever I had growing up would lick a burglar with her tail wagging she was so friendly. Then one weekend the family went away and we had arranged for a friend of mine to dog sit. Some emergency came up so she sent her Dad to the house to let the dog out and feed her. He was lucky she was behind a gate, from what I hear she went on full attack mode when this strange man went into her house.

Don’t be fooled by the friendly ones.
My current dog likes to think she is protecting the house when the doorbell rings and she gruffs while hiding behind my legs.

22

My 90lb. golden retriever is always - ALWAYS - there to protect me from accidentally giving too much love or attention to another dog. She will boldly place her body between me and any other dog, lest I decide to ditch her for them. She has even gone so far as to knock me over to protect me from getting kisses from other dogs (she is not a kisser, herself). :wink:

One time, though, my roommate came home and parked his car in the driveway. She was standing on the couch, wagging her tail, waiting for him to come in. Only he was reading some mail in the car and did not come right in. This made her very upset and she started barking in her “OMG NO LOITERING IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE!!” voice. I think this is a good sign…

23

Night before last, around midnight, I was sitting in the office reading the Dope, of course, when I heard Noodles (who lives right outside the window of that room) start going nuts. This wasn’t barking like, “HEY! SQUIRREL!” it was more like “I’M EATING SOMEONE’S FACE OFF!”. I peeked out the window and saw a man in an orange hat sprinting down my driveway. He started out so near to the house that Noodles must have been all over him by the time he ran away. Of course I did the logcal thing and grabbed a flashlight and a butcher knife and ran loudly out the back door after the bastard… nobody messes with my dogs! Never caught him, I think he slunk into a neighbor’s yard and escaped over their fence. I’m pretty sure he was attempting to break into one of those front windows and in the darkness didn’t see the dog sleeping on the porch till it was too late. Noodles is my hero. Ghost is friendly once he gets to know you, but even regular strangers, such as the postman and the meter-readers are subjected to much barking, growling and hopping around. I had to have a radio-read meter installed because the new meter man was afraid of my dog. So my dogs defend me, or at least my property, on a regular basis.

When I was about 10 my mom’s best friend and her husband (Dan) owned a massive Rottweiler named Bullet who was a retired “rescue” dog. As in, a dog who rescued people rather than a dog who was rescued. She was very protective of her new parents, even against my mom and my brother and I. She never attacked anyone directly that I know of, but would stand right in front of you, stepping on your toes, while emitting a low, threatening growl. They would have to call her off us every time we visited. Even so, she got used to us and eventually included us in her pack. We went on vacation to the beach a summer later and took the dog. Dan and another guy were in the water wrestling a small distance away, having forgotten about the dog. Suddenly Bullet springs into action! She bounds across the beach, swims to the guys and separates them. Then, apparently under the impression that they were drowning, grabbed Dan by his head and dragged him to shore. (Dan isnt’ a small man, by the way. If I weigh 100 pounds he must weigh 350, and it’s all muscle. Big, scary looking dude.) Dan had to have 17 stitches in his head from her teeth. His wife was mad at the dog, but Dan refused to let her be punished or shunned. “She thought she was saving my life! She did exactly what she was supposed to!” He said. I had to agree.

When my stepdad owned a local tatoo parlor he employed the services of his Akita (called Zandy) and her constant companion Shadow, who was something like 90% wolf, as I understood. They would hang out on their dog beds by the front door of the office and sniff each customer as they came in. Sniffing for drugs? Probably they were actually sniffing for treats, if I had my guess. They saw so many strangers all day and were so people friendly that people underestimated their sharp teeth. Zandy once bit me right in the face, so I never underestimated them!

On the other end of the spectrum, we had a tiny dog named Fred who was a half chihuahua half terrier mix. He came up almost to my knees. He was very attached to my elderly great aunt, who was about 84 at the time. Anytime my friends would come over he would park himself under her armchair and wait for one of them to walk by her, and then he would jump out barking and snapping like crazy. Sadly, after my aunt went to the hospital for the final time, he would wander the house looking for her, whining. He would sleep right under her chair, getting up and checking it every so ofte to see if she was back. He ran away the day of her funeral, I guess he figured out that she was never coming home. My cousins and I canvassed the neighborhoood and called the pound, and there was no trace of him. We found out that he got hit by a car a few days later. sniff

24

I can’t find it on a search, but Scylla once told a story about his Irish wolfhound. The wolfhound had been a goofball the whole time Scylla had owned him - clumsy, goofy, friendly.

Then, one day, Scylla had taken a walk with him in the far reaches of his property. As they were out, the wolfhound took off to go sniff something, and while Scylla waited for him, a feral Rottweiler came up on him, growling. While Scylla was figuring out what to do, the wolfhound returned, saw the Rottweiler, and transformed from goofball to professional killing machine. Wolfhound knocked the Rottweiler down, put its jaws around the dogs neck, and bit down until Scylla heard the neck break.

Wolfhound waited a moment to be sure, released the dead Rottweiler, and went back to happy goofball.

25

Two stories:

I had a wolf hybrid once – the love of my life. He was a solid white artic timberwolf/malamute mix (about 98% wolf) and the sweetest teddybear of a beast ever made. Until I formally introduced him to people (meaning me holding his collar while saying “it’s ok, Tanke, this person is ok”) he would sit on my feet and bare his fangs and snarl. I have no doubt that if anyone had ever tried to do something to me they would not survive his defense of me. It broke my heart when he died. Funny enough, he would allow the neighborhood kids to snuggle on him, my daughter to ride his back, just about endured anything from a child, and never so much as snorted at them, but adults were not allowed near me until I told him they were ok.

I currently have a 5 lb long-haired Chihuahua. One day, when I went to put him out to do his business, there were two strays in my yard. Either of them out-weighed Chili by a good 20lbs, yet he chased them both down and snarled and threatened them away from me.

I think any dog that is well-treated and well-trained will defend their owner – these are just my two favourite stories.

26

They probably protect thier owners about as often as they dine on the corpe of thier deceased owners.

Just animals, after all.

27

I had two greyhounds that were completely mellow around people unless someone appeared at the front door that they didn’t recognize. Then they would let out this deep, rumbling growl that would make your hair stand on end. It was interesting, though, that as soon as one of us greeted the person in a friendly manner they would also switch into friendly mode. They could tell by body language and tone of voice who was friend and who was foe.

28

True, just animals, but also territorial pack hunting carnivores, and territorial pack hunting carnivores tend to have the instinct “protect the territory and packmates and drive off strangers”.

29

My terrific German Shepherd/black lab mix definitely considers herself part of my pack, and takes her duties seriously. Mind, the friendliest dog imaginable during almost all interactions. Heck, on walks she greets passersby by sitting–she knows humans quite idiotically consider sitting is ‘good’–and waiting to have her head patted. She’s disappointed by those who don’t.

And she’s friendly if reserved with people in the house. Once I introduce them to her she accepts them amiably. But there are Definite Limits.

A few years back I had a couple of (male) house guests for some months. (Stop smirking; just friends who needed a place to crash for a while.) She liked both of them. They’d pat her and she liked cadging treats from them. But they weren’t Pack.

She roamed around the house at will but always slept in my room, which they never entered, so it was our den exclusively. One night one of them got sick and the other approached to knock on my door to ask for help. Before he even got close my easy-going pooch whipped upright into a flat-out scary defender: legs stiff, head low, ears pinned straight back, teeth bared, fur raised in a stiff line straight down her back and uttering this low rumbling snarl. She, who very rarely barks, snapped out a series of sharp, snarling barks before he could even knock.

I was startled out of a dead sleep but she was instantly prepared for defense, even though she knew and liked these guys. They just weren’t Pack. Different rules. I grabbed her before he even had a chance to knock, and she was fine once she realized I was fine with what was going on. She immediately reverted to her amiable, reserved self. It’s humbling how much deep protective instinct constantly runs through her without me actively realizing it. Being adopted as pack by a dog means a lot, including the trust to accept my judgment calls.

30

Here’s the thread.

31

I have 2 beagles. When someone comes in the house the older one jumps on my lap. He stands watch until they leave. He growls when they come near me.

32

Morris Frank, a blind man, brought the first Seeing Eye* dog to the United States in the early 20th century, and he and Buddy did the bulk of the work in getting guide dogs accepted in public places. In his book First Lady of the Seeing Eye, he tells the following story, which I love:

One summer night Morris was in bed, with Buddy on the floor beside him. Gradually he became aware of a scratching noise at the open window that he eventually realized sounded like someone outside cutting the screen. Then he heard Buddy get up and very quietly go to the window. Then a scream and running footsteps. He surmised that she had just gone to the window and presented her teeth for the intruder to find in the dark. Why waste all that energy raising a ruckus?

I crack up thinking of somebody reaching in to find a set of German Shepherd teeth, ready to rumble.

*It’s a trademark. Really.

33

My late Rottie (RIP- he was the best dog on the planet) was an absolute sweetheart love and I doubted he would ever really be protective. I was wrong.

One day I was sitting in my living room talking on the phone. The meter guy came and instead of opening the side door to the utility room, he opened the front door to my living room. I’m a jumpy person to begin with and I let out a startled shriek when the door flew open. That dog made a sound like none I’d ever heard in my life- it made my stomach fall. He was across the room and at that door in about 2 seconds and the guy slammed the door shut just in time. When I got him to settle down and went outside to see what was what, the meter guy was shaking like a leaf and just muttering over and over “I thought it was that door…that was the wrong door…” I think he had to go home and change underwear and pants, seriously.

I went back inside and Amos wouldn’t leave my side all day. I can only imagine what that guy saw coming at him- 120 lbs of Rottie with teeth bared making that SOUND. He sounded like a monster. I have no doubt that if he had come inside and remotely threatened me, that dog would have torn him limb from limb.

34

I meant the whole “eating of the dead owner after they stroke out in the kitchen and nobody finds them for a week” thing.

My sister swears her dogs won’t do this, but I know better. Her pack won’t leave nothin’ but a greasy spot. Think of the money they’ll save me!

35

This sounds like something a cat would do.

Great stories guys. I always thought dogs wouldn’t make useful defenders because they wouldn’t be able to identify an attack. But it seems like they make good use of the “better safe than sorry” system and just attack everything suspicious.

36

My mum’s Staffie does this - last time my husband and I visited, we were playfighting and he started tickling me till I screamed. Poppy, who adores Crusoe, came running up and started barking at him ferociously till he stopped.

37

Thanks for digging that up. I always love Scylla’s writings and always enjoy dog stories.

38

Bitz the Wondermutt, my half lab half rott mix, reads me like a book. If I’m nervous, cautious or apprehensive about someone approaching on the street, she parks her hip against my knee so she knows my position and makes this growl that would make Satan himself think twice. If I don’t have any concern about the person, she’s happy go lucky as can be.

The couple of times someone’s come into my house without me letting them (friends coming in through the garage, etc.) she bolts past me, gets between the two of us and emits the same growl while holding a nice wide stance that says quite clearly, “None shall pass.” Luckily, no one’s had the stupidity to see if she’s bluffing.

When she hears an untoward noise during the night, she will give one loud bark and race to the door/window/ source of the sound. I take the one loud bark to be, “Dad! Possible threat identified! Get up, get your gun and meet me. I’m taking point to investigate.” That happens maybe twice a year, and both times there have been suspicious, but ultimately harmless, persons stopped and talking on the walk in front of the house.

She takes her cues off me. When she IDs a possible threat and I tell her to stand down, she them becomes the happiest and most friendly dog in the world. Without being told everything’s okay, I have no doubt she’d defend me, my wife or our house without a second’s thought.

On the other hand Sydney, our English Bulldog, would, I think, sleep through anything less than a tank corps coming through the living room or, conversely, try to lick and snort an assailant to death.

39

Our Doberman puppy hasn’t really been tested yet, but she would very much like to play with every person she sees. If she’s restrained, she barks instead, and if she actually gets to jump on someone, sometimes their body parts accidentally get in her mouth. When I’m walking her and someone approaches, I have to restrain her with all my might (she’s nearly up to the point where she’ll be able to fly me like a kite).

So having a wild dog on a leash makes me feel pretty safe from other people, if not from Lil herself.

40

I know exactly the sound you’re talking about. My Rott mix has made it a few times. There is nothing in the world to make you feel safe like your dog directing THAT SOUND at something else.