Right before Christmas, my mother finally gave in and decided to add a dog to our household. She picked up a beautiful golden lab from a local shelter after visiting with several of the dogs to see which was the best, and we all instantly fell in love with Buckwild, or "Buck" as we all call him. He's an incredibly sweet dog, and doesn't seem like the type to hurt a fly. We've had a cat for years, and although she seems to hate Buck and spends much of her time hissing at him and even taking swipes at him at times, Buck refuses to attack her. In fact, he either ignores her or retreats when she is attempting to attack him - he'd rather run than stay and hurt her, because he knows that we consider her a pet as well and that she belongs there.
However, with other dogs, Buck is extremely aggressive, but only when we are around. When he's out on his chain and another dog strays into our yard, Buck will wag his tail and play with the dog in a friendly, welcoming way. But the moment that any of my family walks outside, he begins growling at the other dog and chases them away. If the other dog gets near my family or I, he'll lunge out at them and attempt to bite them.
Also, the other day, Buck was tagging alongside me while I was refilling the cat's food bowl and cleaning her litter. She came up and began to hiss and take a swipe at Buck, who retreated behind me. As I usually do, I reached out to tap the cat's nose and tell her "No!" in an attempt to get her to realize that this behavior is completely unacceptable. For the first time in her life, she swiped out at me and scratched me, drawing blood. I yelped in surprise and pain, and suddenly Buck became aggressive. He didn't actually attack the cat, but he growled at her and chased her away - it actually almost looked like he was herding her away from me, and she retreated behind the couch.
So obviously Buck is incredibly protective of his owners, which is a good thing at times. But I can't have him attacking our cat (although he's usually fine with her) or any other dogs who stray into our yard. Are there any ways to teach him when it's appropriate to protect us and when it's not?
