My Doodle Is A Bodyguard!

My huggable, lovable, goofball Doodle showed an amazing side today.

To backtrack: Penny gets along with just about every dog (and definitely every human) she encounters. She's had a Rottweiler roll over on his back for her, a German Shepard give her a Christmas present, and tolerated a wacky Boxer jumping all over her while she just stands there (and I swear she rolls her eyes).

There is one dog, however, she cannot abide. The grown son of our neighbors sometimes brings his Shepard mix, Roxy, over to stay for days at a time. Last year, Penny saw Roxy in the neighbor's driveway and growled at her. Which amazed me, because that was a first. The neighbor thought it was amusing because apparently Roxy had had no training and was a wild puppy. The neighbor thought it was great for Penny to "put Roxy in her place."

Fast forward a year later, to today. We are taking what is probably the last afternoon walk before the Arizona summer heat hits, and coming our way is the neighbor couple, walking Roxy. We stopped and talked for a few minutes, and the dogs were fine (sniffing each other's butts). Penny just stood there, and Roxy was admittedly much calmer than a year ago.

Roxy came over to me and I patted her head while talking to the neighbors. I guess Roxy liked it, because she thought it would be cool to stand on her hind legs to get closer to me. I'm convinced she wasn't being aggressive (just happy), but Penny sure thought so! Out of nowhere, Penny went after Roxy with a vengeance. Snarling, snapping, growling, and doing everything she could to get in between Roxy and me. We were all stunned. My neighbor said, "Wow! I didn't know Penny had it in her! She was trying to put herself between you and Roxy."

All ended calmly and we went our separate ways. But if I ever had any doubt that Penny would protect me in times of emergency, I was wrong!

I'm thinking of changing her name to "Bruiser." :-)