When my brothers and I were kids, my older brother had a dog. He was a mutt - Lab, Dalmatian, Blue Heeler and who knows what else. He was a medium size dog. He would sleep on my brother's bed. One day, when I was playing with my brothers, in my brothers' bedroom (and our dog was with us), my mother came in to tell us we needed to do our chores.
But we kept on playing and ignored her, so then she said it in a loud voice and then, a voice that was kinda demanding and louder. At that point, my brother's dog got up and got between us and my mom and started growling and barking at her. My brother's dog was protecting us - even from my mom, who wasn't going to hit or hurt us, she was just upset and a kinda frustrated that we weren't getting up from playing, to do our chores.
My older brother started kinda laughing, but I was a little scared and so was my little brother. My mom was both startled and amazed at our dog. She had to back off. But she did appreciate that our dog would protect her children, even from herself.
And she did tell us later, when our dog wasn't in between her and us, that we still needed to do our chores. She just never raised her voice with us like that again, in the presence of my brother's dog.
I wonder if anyone else had the experience of your dog or your family dog protecting you.
