Protective Dog

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.

I have had dogs get protective like this from time to time, but usually once corrected they don't do it again. On the other hand, my Jack Russell is protective of me. I have to watch when I meet people that I am not holding her or have her on my lap. If I am, she will growl and snap. If I put her on the ground, it stops that behavior. I am mindful of it and try not to contribute to her behavior.

I find your story to be cool and quite interesting. You mother must have yelled extremely loud for your dog to go ballistic. I realize your mother changed her tone afterwards so I am assuming she was startled by your dogs reaction. What did she say about your dogs reaction? I have had several dogs in my days but I have never had a dog that was protective over me. My dogs were very lazy and only good for playing--I hate to say that but it's true. Now that I am considering moving in with my boyfriend, I plan to get a dog that will protect us against anyone that comes at us in a threatening manner. I think I may need to get a dog like the one you have. I've never heard of that type of dog nor have I seen it. I will definitely do some research to find pictures and information. Where did you buy the dog?

The dog was protecting you but at the same time he was probably scared and thought that your Mum was shouting at him. Most dogs understand who is in charge and will be submissive to them but if push comes to shove and he thinks another "pack member" is in danger some dogs will stand their ground.

One of our dogs hate it when we play fight with the kids and will always try to get in the middle and stop us. He's never gone as far as growling or biting but he does grab hold of your arm sometimes as if he thinks you are really going to hurt them! It's good to know that he would protect them if they needed it.

MZ_Angie, I have never known a dog that wouldn't be protective when necessary. I had a Lab that was the sweetest, lazy dog. Loved everybody. But, come on our porch uninvited and she would tear into you if given the chance.

Louise, I think you may be right that the dog was scared or startled by the mother's voice. It may have been reacting to the volume and tenor of the voice rather than who was saying the words.