Great Guard Dogs

[WingedFoal]

My son woke me up in the middle of the night with his restless tossing and turning (he sleeps in bed with me right now because he turns over his crib yet doesn't have a new bed yet, not to mention he's still nervous and clingy from the move), so I went to the kitchen to get him a cup of milk (always calms him down). Well, Tasmo and Bitty are asleep in the kitchen all curled up together, snoring like freight trains. Tasmo usually begins yapping ferociously at the mere sound of a butterfly flapping its wings (no joke), but he must have been TIRED!! I opened up the refrigerator (not even three feet from where they were sleeping), got the milk, poured it, then closed it again, and neither of them twitched or even skipped a beat snoring!!! I began making noises, banging around, just to see if they'd wake up, to no avail. They kept on snoring. So I gave up and went back to bed.

I'm really comforted now. It's great to know my dogs can get their beauty sleep at night while someone could break in and kill us all. Lord knows they need their beauty sleep , but good grief. Augh, and it doesn't help that it's just me and my son now, no man in the house, and in a new strange neighborhood.

[Pugdawg1]

ROFL That's funny... sleeping with one eye open, ready to pounce on that intruder at a second's notice, fearless, ever-alert, ready for action, on the ball, all senses poised and ready for action.

[Cassiepeia]

LOL Oh dear. It's funny, my sisters dog (silky terrier who lives with our mother currently) barks just like Tasmo. She'll go off at the drop of a hat... every time I talk to my mother on the phone I can hear dear Bexley barking at something in the background.
So one night my mother and stepfather get broken into. Guess who snored through the whole thing??
Yup, good ol' Bexley woke up the next morning, fully refreshed and ready to bark at anything that crossed her path (or her imagination for that matter). Completely unaware of the swearing and general disappointed looks her humans were giving her after they found out they'd been robbed during the night.
Aren't dogs just precious?!

Cass.

[Mutts4me]

well that's kinda funny but nerve racking @the time.

[sheltiepups]

Thats too funny... I'm not sure what my shelties would do.. Things get all mixed up at night, and see how there is someone always moving around it my house, I doubt they would notice

[LuvMyPups]

Well, all my three, Tori especially will growl in bark at noises in the night if they sound like they are in the apt. Even Riley will growl and scoot closure to me at night.....sometimes it can be frustrating if it just the wind or something. They aren't horrible though because Dan is usually awake at night but if he leaves or comes back it is all barks and growls but at least I feel safer....

[dollface]

LOl wish my boston's could be quiet at times, ya right one starts they all start. Have 4 of them going it can get pretty loud, I can hear them outside when I come up the walk barking cause they know Iam home....

Is your son old enough to sleep in a bed? My son when he started climbing out of his crib I just put his crib matress on the floor and he slept on that until I wasn't worried about him falling out of the bed, he was all over the place when he slept lol

[IceyBlueSibes]

LOL Try having a dog wake up from a dead sleep, while your in LaLa Land and just barks at the top of their lungs for no apparent reason. By this time, your on the floor in your underwear....

But I wouldn't dare have anyone walk in our house uninvited. Not only would Sarge and Lilly have a thing or two to say, but the other two have shown signs of protection before, and I doubt they would just sit there, or run and hide.

But don't you always wonder if they would actually do anything if someone DID break in?

My friend thinks her boxer wouldn't guard the house.. I told her he would. I said people have had GR and Labs be the nicest dogs and love everyone, and end up guarding their house to no end.

[Carrie]

You'd never know for sure, but... your dogs may have been subconciously aware of the noise you were making and to them, that was normal noise and they knew it was coming from you. BUT, if someone broke in and they could smell strange smells, hear stranger's footfalls etc....in their sleep, that could very well have roused them.

My GSD as well as my Lab never appeared to be protective. My GSD liked everyone, friendly strangers etc...hardly ever barked, was just like my Lab. LOL. With both of those dogs, however, there was one incident where something unnerving happened and they came unglued, gnashing teeth, vicious barking, growling at the door...that was when someone was out on the porch trying the door handle in the middle of the night.

Lyric, my Doberman and my vicious Chihuahuas (lol) just last night warned me of someone walking up by my house. He was running from window to window absolutely vicious. Scary! It turned out that it was my latest "boyfriend" snooping to find out if I had my new boyfriend here, which I did. We then saw his vehicle back out of my driveway, way down the hill. He had parked it and walked the rest of the way up the hill. My new boyfriend's son came by a little later and said that this guy had driven into his driveway, as though he were looking for me. This son lives close by his father's and old boyfriend doesn't quite know where new boyfriend lives I guess. Anyhow, I hope I'm not going to be stalked. Lyric knows and loves old boyfriend, so I doubt that he'd be any good at all, other than barking at someone outside.....until he knows who it is. I'm freaking out.

Sorry to shanghai this thread....but my point is (before all the rambling) that you never know. Your dogs may just suprise you someday.

[Ritz459]

ROFL!! That was funny.....lol
I have no doubt in my mind that Blackie would protect us if the time ever came. But Rose on the other hand.....lol Our dogs have a perfect system worked out. Rose barks at everything in her highpitched voice waking Blackie up. Then once Blackie is awake and sees that there is nothing to be worried about, he goes back to sleep, leaving Rose to bark some more. lol But if Rose is barking and Blackie thinks that it is something to worry about, he'll start barking too. So we ignore Rose barking, unless Blackie starts barking too. Then we go and see what they are barking at. lol

[WingedFoal]

Usually Tasmo acts horribly vicious if I make even the slightest noise in the night. He'll snarl and growl and bark in a huge-dog tone (and I don't see how such a scary noise comes out of that little dog, lol). So this was a new experience for me! My watchdog was falling down on his job!!

My son is old enough to sleep in a bed of his own, but does not understand that he needs to actually stay in it. He ends up with me by the end of the night when he sleeps on the mattress on the floor. My husband left for Kuwait in January, and it obviously scarred Phillip because he acted really strange afterwards and is still scared to have me out of his sight. Phillip couldn't quite comprehend why Daddy was getting on a bus, but at the moment it was okay since Daddy always comes home by nighttime, no matter what he leaves in. Then he never came home. He hasn't been quite the same since then, and I feel horrible for him. He freaks out when he hears my husband on the phone too. So, it's almost just easier to have him in bed with me to where he knows there's someone there. Otherwise, he'll wake up screaming bloody murder if there's no one there . I know I've got to break the habit soon, but ugh, there's still so much to deal with that this is not even a major problem. Okay well, sorry... That was kinda long.

[gaddylovesdogs]

They sound liek wonderful guards. You are very lucky (and safe) .

My girls are pretty good guards...Colby's Terrier instinct kicks in and she barks her head off, Tippy acts like a toughie.....but May isn't much of a guard dog, really. Sometimes she'll go out on the deck though, after the other two have done their guarding, and she'll be like, "Ok, gotta do it, gotta do it, gotta do it.....WOOF!....there, I did it!" and then she might do it once more . She barks sometimes when playing, too, but those are fainter. We always joke that we'll never be robbed or anything because we've got a whole pack of wolves living with us.

[gaddylovesdogs]

Ritz--the girls have a system too. Colby is the leader, lol. The stupid neighbors down the street have a completely untrained black Lab. It ran into the yard (Colby was tied up with a piece of clothesline, May was off-leash). Colby reached the end of the chain and started barking and growling at him, Tippy inside was barking. May was greeting him, LOL. I returned him to his owners. I can not tell you how much those idiots annoy me.

[PitBullie09]

Well I wish my little dogs were like that. Tink has the biggest.. loudest.. most annoying bark.. of all my dogs. She even beats Spot with the bark. My dogs are always alert... If any of them hear a sound.. There is going to be ALOT of noise.. lol

[Cassiepeia]

Yeah, before the break in, everyone who knew Bexley had no doubt in their mind that she would warn my mum and step dad that someone was near the house. She had woken them up (and still does now) on many occasions. Not that night though.
As sure as you are that your dogs will warn or defend your home... you can never be 100%. At least in my humble opinion.

Cass.