When push came to shove???

[Lisa Carroll]

Would my goldendoodle protect my girls?  My husband and I were talking about this last night - we both looked at each other and said, Ummmm, I don't know!

 

When we decided to get another dog (we have't had one in a while) I wanted a dog that was protective and friendly towards everyone (100% trustworthy w/my kids).  Well, that was hard to find especially with my little one allergic to dog dander.

 

So, we purchased Dunkin, and he is by far the most wonderful, happy, out-going dog I've ever known. Loves the children soooo much, he acts like them (oh, and so spoiled too).

 

So, the question is;  would he stand up to someone or something to protect them?  Do they have that instinct?  What if a stranger tried to come into our yard (just an ex; we have an 8 ft fence around our yard)  would he greet them with friendlyness or be stand-offish (if that's a word, lol)? 

 

Thank you again - Lisa

[Adina P]

I'm not sure there is a way to guarantee 'protection' worthy behavior without a dog being trained for that...esp not a retriever mix.  For the most part I don't expect anything but 'barking' if someone is at the door.  They might warn me but it is my job to protect them for the most part (unless of course they were trained otherwise).  

[F, Calla & Luca]

My two bark, especially Calla when someone passes the yard. She on rare occasions will bark at someone who comes in, at least momentarily. Luca greets everyone with enthusiasm. But I've never been in a situation where I'm yellling at someone or they seem threatening. So I sometimes wonder how my dogs would react in such a situation. I think they might pick up on my distress. But protect me, I kind of doubt it. Let's hope the bad guys don't realize that or better yet that there are none.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I do think if someone was actually trying to harm me, and I was screaming and fighting, my Doods would react.  I think they would get very nervous and excited....and I can see them barking and jumping at the "bad guy".  I'm not really sure if they would bite though.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Our dogs would definitely bark and Vern's bark is so fierce, I doubt anyone would be dumb enough to continue into our house. I believe Vern would be protective. He is much more selective than Fudge is about who he likes in the house.

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas barks a lot if someone comes to the door or if something just surprises him, but I don't know if he'd do much more than that.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Hmmmm.... I don't really know at all.  I can relay this story about a dog we had when I was growing up.  He was a Samoyed who was friendly to everyone at all times.  Once though a strange man came to our door and when we didn't answer, he tried to get in.  Our dog, Stormy, stood in the front hall on alert with a low growl coming out.  The man couldn't get in and left, but I have no doubt that Stormy would have 'attacked' the man in some fashion. This was totally out of character for this dog and never happened again, but it made me realize that sometimes our dogs surprise us with the depth of their love and devotion.

[Lisa Carroll]

Nice story.  Thank you.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

I'm not sure - animals have good instincts so if I were screaming - they might bite.  As a child,  the neighbor kid was playing with my sister and our dog decided that he was getting too rough - chomp!!!!   That dog was a collie.  Our last Lab - Bogart (RIP) was a pure black, huge dog - the sweetest, most gentle thing you ever saw.  People would switch sides of the street when they saw him coming - lol, he was protection when none was needed - lol.  Lets all hope that we never have to find out if our doodles would have what it would take! 

[Lisa Carroll]

Yes, I hope that never happens!

[Michael Gurley]

I didn't think that Sunny would do anything more than bark at strangers and possibly jump all over them with affection, but recently my brother got pretty angry and was throwing a bit of an adult temper tantrum. When Sunny judged that he had taken his anger a little too close to me, she growled at him and stood right in front of me, guarding me. I'm pretty sure that if he had gotten any closer, she would have barked menacingly and gotten him to back off.

 

Sunny ALWAYS plays with my brother, and she loves him. I think that she felt a change in his attitude, and maybe a little fear coming from me. She definitely picked up on some sort of change though, and she changed from being an energetic, playful, care-free dog to a guard dog with a purpose!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I haven't been in a situation where I have felt threatened with Peri yet.  But with Taquito (pre-Peri), I was walking once and a man that looked kind of like a bum...possibly dangerous (I was nervous, let's put it that way)....approached us. Tacky got in between us and started growling and barking. Now what could a chihuahua do?  Not much, but the man turned around.  I should add that Tacky is a lover not a fighter and greets all humans with a smile (usually). So I do trust his judgment. I would like to think Peri is intuitive enough to know she needs to protect me. 

Oh rambling on...sorry...but a month ago, DH was out of town. I had set the alarm, which makes me feel pretty safe. About 10:15pm, I was in bed with both dogs reading. I heard something VERY faint and within 2 seconds BOTH were off the bed growling and barking differently than normal. I think they were on heightened alert without daddy home.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I wonder this so often! Darwin has never shown a protective instinct, so I would guess he wouldn't. He doesn't even bark when people are at the door, just wags his tail and waits for me to open the door. Although, the other day a rude neighbor came over and after having a tense discussion for a few minutes, Darwin did this low, throaty woof at him that really surprised me. He's never done that before.