Just Curious...

Tâmara Vaz

Experienced Member
Hello!
I was wondering if my dog would protect me in a real situation... Like barking, growling or biting for an agressive person. I concluded my dog would run away because she's fearfull.
But one day someone was yelling on me and she barked really angry about that to the person.(I became secretly happy about that!).
I searched on net about dogs protecting people without training
and just find sites saying this wouldn't happen.

So what do you think: Would your dog protect you in a real life dangerous situation?
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Yes, i do think most dogs would do what they could to protect their owners if the dog sensed the owner was being attacked.
I think a dog being fearful *might* make the dog MORE likely to be aggressive, not less likely.
Sometimes, fearful dogs even bite ppl who are not attacking anyone. It's called "fear aggression"



My dog has proven, he was very willing to do what he could when he spotted a stranger's face in our window. We never ever taught him to do that, and my dog does love strangers, but, somehow, my dog somehow KNEW this was wrong....this face in his window. Oh boy, did he EVER give a full on, most frightening display, whole lotta giant flashing teeth, snarling, lunging, growling,---------- my dog's most dramatic display even scared ME!!:eek:

If anyone in our home hits anyone, my dog jumps up on them and barks as loud as he can, right into their face. (Like, my stepson punching my guy's arm, any wrestling, my dog dislikes anything he perceives as fighting) My last dog was exact same way, if his bark didn't stop it, he'd add in a nip or a growl....til ppl stopped wrestling around or whatever.
We never ever 'correct' that, nor even tried to train that out of him.

I also think, the mere presence of a dog adds to our security. I'd bet, most criminals, if they can choose between attacking a person with a dog,------ or----- a person with no dog, i'd bet, most criminals would choose the dogless person to attack.

I think, even a small dog, barking away at someone at the door or window, adds to our security.
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
It depends on the dog. My Missy is very protective of me. She does not like yelling at all and will cower if someone yells or she thinks they're yelling at her.When I'm roughhousing with my brothers she will bark and jump at them once she bit(well more like nipped) my older brother(:(. If anyone hits me or points a fake gun(air soft, nerf) she will bark at them. When I had surgery she stood by my bedside and barked at anyone who came near. I'm am sure if anyone ever tried to harm me Missy would do her best to protect me.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
//But one day someone was yelling on me and she barked really angry about that to the person.(I became secretly happy about that!).//

this is a good sign, that your dog DOES HAVE that natural sense to both detect anger in humans, and to try to protect you.:D

//I searched on net about dogs protecting people without training
and just find sites saying this wouldn't happen.//

I think it is sort of natural thing. To test it out, have a pal yell at you and punch you in the arm. I bet your dog will jump up and bark loud at your pal. (so long as you do not think your dog would full on ATTACK this pal----actually, that is probably a dangerous idea, nevermind, you could end up paying medical bills for a dog bite..)

some of this may depend a bit on each individual dog's personality,
and some of this may depend on what we have taught our dogs....not sure, but seems true. My sisters two big dogs, (1 lab and 1 golden retr) bit each other when she was being attacked, "redirected aggression" which can happen sometimes, when there are multiple dogs....

I think most dogs would naturally do what they could, no training at all. I don't think training dogs to attack should be done except by top professionals who need such a dog, like police, etc.
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
It depends on the dog. My Missy is very protective of me. She does not like yelling at all and will cower if someone yells or she thinks they're yelling at her.When I'm roughhousing with my brothers she will bark and jump at them once she bit(well more like nipped) my older brother(:(. If anyone hits me or points a fake gun(air soft, nerf) she will bark at them. When I had surgery she stood by my bedside and barked at anyone who came near. I'm am sure if anyone ever tried to harm me Missy would do her best to protect me.
I do feel much more comfortable when I have Missy, she makes me feel safe. Even though she's not a big dog I feel that as long as she is with me people won't bother me if they have any brains.
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
If you google "Dog saves owner from attack"
or "Dog stops criminal"
or "Dogs stops mugger"
or "Dogs attacks robber" etc,
the internet is chockful of news stories on that, --------just ordinary house-pet dogs who protected their owners who were being attacked, mugged, robbed, etc.

http://www.aplacetolovedogs.com/2011/08/dog-saves-owner-from-attack/1486619895/


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dog-saves-owner-from-pervert-1011667.html


http://www.freewebs.com/southernbulldoggebreedersassn/alarmsvsdogs.htm#141875598

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2074411/Bulldog-saves-man-from-knife-wielding-robber.html

i could post 1,000s of such stories, those are just first ones on first page........none of those dogs had been "trained" to protect their human, they just did.


Slightly off topic, but, i also saw lots of stories of dogs who took on bears, mountain lions, etc, to protect their human, too. Not just criminals, but, dog took on big wild animals, too, to protect their human, although the dog was never "trained" to do so, the dog just did it.
 

Anneke

Honored Member
Most dogs will stand between you and an attacker. How long he/she will stay there, well, that depends on the dogs character. But when a dogs "pack" gets in danger, most dogs will defend their family.

I know Cooper will attack anyone with the "wrong" intentions. He has proven this on several occasions. Not dangerous situations, but more like when I let the dogs out late at night and someone comes cycling or walking by, they will bark. Or when they are drunk and are having problems with going in a straight line:D Cooper will go stand between me and this person and he will jump up at them, to keep them away. I reall don't know how far he'd go, because I always call hem off. But if someone were out to hurt me, I'm sure he would bite, because I would NOT call him off;)
Don't know about Jinx though.
 

sara

Moderator
Staff member
Oliver has proven several times that he would. Once he flew across me at the open window of my truck when a drunk approached the window and scared me, and once when a friend pretended to hit me (he was in the truck, parked in front of a restaurant window, we were in the restaurant... he tried to get through the windshield of my truck) Yes Ollie is fear aggressive, but he's also protective. Not a great combo, imo, but I have no concerns when walking him at night :p
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
Sara's post about how safe she feels in the dark with Ollie along, reminds me,
my dog, although he adores humans now, just loves everybody,
well, my dog is highly suspicious of unknown humans in the dark. Well, so long as he sees the human coming, he is pretty good, for instance, walking from a distance, buddy gets used to idea someone is there in the dark...

but,
the sudden appearance of an unknown human very close by us, in the dark, sets him off...bark bark bark, or even growls, he's even lunged once or twice about a sudden unexpected human in the dark.

til i tell him it's okay, (if i do tell him that). Not in the daytime though, not much at all. In the daytime, Buddy does not mind suddenly finding strangers close to us much of a problem. He might wag his tail to see them, probably. (if they were to hit me, well, Buddy would leap up and bark, for starters).

Only at night time, Buddy is very very suspicious of suddenly appearing strangers in the dark.:cautious:
 

tigerlily46514

Honored Member
my old dog, Toby, was a "cop wanna be" of sorts, and seemed to much enjoy breaking up fights. He was very nonpartisan among various family members, generally, when he broke up wrestling matches out of control between the two stepsons------whichever son was on the bottom, or seemed to be losing, Toby would bite/nip the OTHER son!! Toby seemed to watch, decide which son is causing the problem/being the aggressor, and nip THAT son!!:ROFLMAO:

This dog was not allowed to watch the football games in the yard...:rolleyes: He was otherwise, a very friendly dog, loved everyone, but did not think humans should jump on each other.

This dog also once bit my daughter's boyfriend who tickled my daughter til she screamed, well, Toby wasn't having that, and ran over and nipped that boy.

I always found Toby's decisions about WHO to nip, amongst family wrestling matches or tickle sessions, etc, to be correct!:ROFLMAO: However, i do think, between an upset family member and a stranger, even if i was the one 'winning' i think Toby would join in on MY side of the fight, but, he never got the chance to prove that one.
 

Dlilly

Honored Member
It depends on the dog. My Missy is very protective of me. She does not like yelling at all and will cower if someone yells or she thinks they're yelling at her.When I'm roughhousing with my brothers she will bark and jump at them once she bit(well more like nipped) my older brother(:(. If anyone hits me or points a fake gun(air soft, nerf) she will bark at them. When I had surgery she stood by my bedside and barked at anyone who came near. I'm am sure if anyone ever tried to harm me Missy would do her best to protect me.
When my brothers bring their friends over, they can't play around Shiloh. She will nip at their heels. Shiloh will do the same thing as Missy when my brothers play with Guns. :/

If someone tried to attack me, I know Shiloh would protect me. She is pretty scary looking, so hopefully no idiots will try to kill me or anything while I'm walking her. :p
 

Dlilly

Honored Member
My dad used to play with Shiloh where he would be "hitting" me, I would be screaming for her help, and Shiloh would come rescue me. Now we know that was an awful idea...

My brothers would also chase her around the house with their little guns. Another bad game.

Shiloh isn't too bad with people. She lived in the suburbs all her life until we moved to the country 3 years ago. She started to act aggressive/ fearful towards people. I think it was because we rarely got visitors! Now she is like her old self again. I let some kids pet her a few days ago. I was so proud!
 

southerngirl

Honored Member
My dad used to play with Shiloh where he would be "hitting" me, I would be screaming for her help, and Shiloh would come rescue me. Now we know that was an awful idea...
I used to do that with Missy I would scream "help me" and Missy would come to my rescue now I see the results. Every time I rough house she goes crazy. It was a big mistake and gets annoying at times.
 
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