Is your dog a watch dog? :)

[Pam]

I was just thinking about this a minute or two before hubby got home. Of course when there is the very slim possibility that someone is about to "invade" our home, Ripley must let us know. He feels he is a watch dog and must alert us to any and all intruders into our home. Once he has seen them he is just fine and quiets himself down. :rolleyes: It's just that moment or two as the key goes into the door that he is "on duty." Bella, though interested in visitors, does not see the need to bark at them. Don't get me wrong. She will scurry up to the door, tail a-wagging, but very seldom does a peep cross her lips. How about you? Any watch dogs out there? Ripley wants to know! :D

[Amber]

Katie may be small, but she has a bark of a saint bernard (lol..J/K) But her barks are quit loud! When someone knocks on the door Katie will go crazy!! (Yap Yap Yap) or sometimes she will even growl. So I would have to say she is quit a protective pup!

[Dobiegirl24]

Honey would like to think that she is a watchdog. She alerts us to every single thing that goes in front of our house. And if they come onto the porch, cover your ears! LOL!

Pepper is a pretty good guard dog. He'll bark, and if the person comes inside he may or may not warm up to them. It depends on how I feel about the person and the body language signals I am giving him. If he can tell I like the person then he will usually warm up pretty quickly, but if I feel uncomfortable around the person it may take longer for him to warm up

[Foam]

Neither of them are when we have company, but when the people are outside, and Darlin can see them...oh boy! Lol :p

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Yep! When Molly hears or see's someone coming onto *HER* territory, she lets us know. ;) But, once they come inside the house, she's fine.
Daisy could care less if someone came to the door....she'd just want to shower them in kisses. :rolleyes:

[binka_nugget]

Oh boy! I think I may have the best alarm system on the block. Both of my boys warn us when someone's outside. Once someone is in the door, Kai runs away and hides behind me and Kaedyn likes to show them how happy he is by jumping on them.

[lovemyshiba]

I have 3 "warning dogs".
If a leaf blows outside, Riley barks at it, but if someone comes in, all he wants to do is kiss them.
Abbey doesn't so much bark at people outside, but she barks a lot at nothing.
Kito gets a really low gruff in his bark if someone is outside--he's not much of a barker, so when he barks like that something is definitley going on--it can be the garbage men taking our trash, but something is going on, to him.

Jada is very alert, but doesn't make any noise.

Riley has the best ears out of the 4--he is always the first to hear something, and he has the wussiest little bark!!:)

[Moose]

Moose.....a watchdog? Hm....sometimes. He likes to watch things going on outside, and barks if someone comes to the door or a person passes our house. Other than that, the second someone steps in the door, he's all over them....with kisses, that is. ;)

[micki76]

I have two terriers. Enough said. Aneko could care less and I think that's more about her age and deafness than about her breed. She does bark though, when Chester and Millie bark.

[stacwase]

My dogs actually alerted us to an intruder not too long ago! He was in our house and getting ready to come up the stairs, and Max & Jake kept him at bay. I was quite shocked because Jake is the one who alerted us by barking ferociously. Max was sleeping in our room and ran down to help out. Jake doesn't bark much, and is extremely friendly so we were quite impressed!

[RobiLee]

I think our Katie is starting to turn into a "watch dog". So far there has only been about 3 or 4 incidents. She rarely barks so when she started this it was quite a surprise for us. It is a distinctive kind of bark. It is a loud and deep sounding bark and is continual until she feels it is safe. Her fur stands straight up on her back and I must admit she looks very intimidating. When this happens I know that something is out of the norm and always go to check it out. The first time it happened my husband was working nights and I put Katie out to potty and she started barking and even gave a low scary growl. I turned on the backyard lights and didn't see anything. I think it was probably some kind of animal and she scared it away. I sure did make sure everything was locked up tight and Katie slept in bed with me that night. The last incident...she was outside and I heard that same bark and went to investigate and sure enough there was the cable guy with a ladder down in the corner of our neighbors yard climbing up the pole. She was standing close by the back door almost as if she was saying "Don't come near the house". When I said "Good girl, Katie...It's ok now", she was just fine and happy go lucky. I have to admit that right now I like this and it makes me feel safe and protected. I just want to make sure that she doesn't go any further with this behavior and get too aggressive. She never barks when someone comes to the door. As a matter of fact if you were to come to my door and I let you in she would be grabbing up her nearest toy and wiggling and waggling all over you and never leave you alone until you paid lots of attention to her.

Robin :)

[Tonya]

Teddy barks like crazy but won't do anything. Dusty is just happy go lucky. Roxy is really smart about it. As long as the person enters the backyard though the sliding glass door (not the fence) or enters the backyard WITH me, she's sweet as can be. But, we did have the power company guy and the fencing guy cornered and held down by her recently. (Another smart thing, she won't bite.) They'd went back there without me being home. Everyone that knocks on my door is a guest, so she is nice to them.

[KYS]

Pepper has the biggest mouth of all three. lol
But all 3 are great when it comes to warning barking.

Sheba and Pepper accept all visitors, once they
are inside the house.
Rocky, barks the least, but I feel the most
safe with him by me.

[shais_mom]

Keegan may be one of the 'friendliest' breeds but she is definately my watchdog! If anyone is on the street walking by she is at the window growling and snarling and barking. She is pretty protective if she sees people at my neighbors also. She is vary wary around men usually. She doesn't like men with beards. I don't understand that at all b/c I have had her since she was 6 weeks old and she has never been mistreated by a man with or without a beard. But men that she knows like my family and neighbors and the vet SHE LOVES THEM!!!
I feel much better being away from home with her out of her crate at night, when I am at work and when I am asleep. She is super friendly to people but she definately protective over her momma and house. Even my parent's house (and cottage). I told my mom one time when she was over when something fell or a loud noise happened or something and Kylie (cat) headed for underneath the bed. I made a comment "boy am I glad that Kylie will protect me" and my mom said "I don't think you have to worry about that at all, Keegan will protect you." And I believe that too. I seriously think she would go after someone who was 'going after' me or trying to hurt me.
:)

[Pam]

Originally posted by RobiLee
As a matter of fact if you were to come to my door and I let you in she would be grabbing up her nearest toy and wiggling and waggling all over you and never leave you alone until you paid lots of attention to her.

:D That is what Ripley does once the "intruder" is in the house. :)In fact that is a behavior that he has just recently started and reminds me so much of my RB poodle Ashley. She just couldn't go to the door with an empty mouth! :D

I found out shortly after Ripley came to live with us that in his former home (wherever that was) they must have had a doorbell. We don't have one - just a knocker. One night while watching TV someone on the program rang the bell. Ripley looked over at my front door and barked. Of course Bella didn't even look up because she probably didn't realize what happens after a doorbell rings - visitors! :D

[Cookiebaker]

Rilla, our cockatiel, is our watch"bird"! She has a special whistle when a car pulls in our driveway, or someone walks up the front steps.

As for Malone, he lets us know someone is here by howling (not barking), but he's not very accurate. He'll startle us awake in the middle of the night if someone has come home at the neighbors across the street (which is quite a distance). He gets very excited over noises.

[robinh]

Max barks at everything and nothing. I think he likes to hear himself bark. He can usually get Molly and Kirby going, while Muffin runs to the closest human to hide.

Our watchdog is Carly. If she barks - go check it out! We know if she goes off it's serious. It might only be Dick coming home from work, but there is actually someone or something there.

[amoore]

My dogs, jojo and tiny barks and lets me know if someone drives up , or if they hear someone outside . I had a little Beagle schnauzer named snoopy ,that saved my life ,9yrs ago. Snoopy attacked an intruder that had a knife . The man left real quick , when snoopy came after him . It surprised me when she did that cause she always liked strangers or anyone she got around . I thought that she would just lick a burglar to death if there was ever one that broke into my home , but she showed me a different dog ! :)

[lbaker]

My guys don't have watches Ripley (they don't even have pockets :rolleyes: ) But yes, definately are cautious and alert when someone comes close to the house. My big 'ol Badger (remember Badger, Rip?) is the most mellow but even he has to make sure I'm comfortable if a stranger comes to the door. Especially if I'm home alone without my son or the boys. He & the others are in the same "alert mode" if it's just Jenny home. GOOD DOGS :D

[Pam]

Yes Ripley most certainly remembers Badger! :) He wanted me to tell all of the other doggies (and birdie!) here at PT that he is so happy he isn't the only one "on the job" keeping the house safe from intruders. Bella seems to only bark at critters in the yard, and often it is late at night or early in the morning. :o I am sure my neighbors enjoy knowing that there is a squirrel or chipmunk in our yard at 6:15 a.m. that Bella is protecting us from. :rolleyes:

[Logan]

Honey is my only watchdog, Pam. :) She protects me from those big, bad golfers, and the guys on the lawnmowers, cutting the golf course!! :D :D :D She doesn't seem so upset with them when they hit a bad shot and the golf ball ends up in our yard, though! That makes her happy! :)

[Smilla]

Lefty is part GSD and all watchdog, it seems. We're working on "No Speak" and he's doing fairly well with it, unless it's a delivery person and/or very loud truck. I'm sure he barks with abandon at anything he can see out the window when we're not at home, though!

Sometimes he'll suddenly bark and it's so loud I'll nearly jump out of my seat!

[Christiansmommy]

Dale doesnt bark much at people (just things out of the ordinary)... Unless he is outside and sees them coming near his fenced in yard :) When people come in the house, he is very friendly with them...jumpy, but friendly. However, the other day, it was cold outside, so my hubby had his wool hat on and a big coat. He entered the house through the back door, which we very rarely do...and Dale was alone in the house, in the kitchen...so when Rob entered with this big hat and coat on...Dale barked his head off and his fur puffed up and everything!! He thought Rob was an intruder. Rob said that if he hadn't known Dale, he would have been intimidated. I think Rob scared him though, b/c soon after, he had a piddled on the floor...silly puppy!!! :)

Robyn

[GrShepherd]

of course my dogs are watchdogs and they can pri-otect me, if it needs.....

[ParNone]

Well my backyard will always be safe from cats and other critters,
with Murph and Maddie on the job and from human intruders
with Oz. Oz even barks at me, when I first come through
the fence, so nobody's going in my backyard unannounced.

Murph and Maddie on the other hand only concern themselves
with critters. My sister needed to get in my house, when I
wasn't going to be home, so I left her a key, hidden on the
patio. Murph and Maddie were sleeping on the patio and
didn't even budge, with her rummaging around looking for
the key and then letting herself into the house.

Inside the house, Murph would sleep through a tornado ripping
the roof off the house, so doubt a burgular breaking and entering
would be enough to wake him from the dead. Maddie use
to be a pretty good watchdog. When she barked it meant
something. She's a pretty heavy sleeper too, now that she's
getting up in years, so she's not very reliable anymore either.

Oz is pretty good though. He doesn't bark, but he lets me know
when something's up. My mom came to visit and she has a key.
I was in the back bedroom with the door shut, watching TV
with Murph and Maddie and Oz. Mom just let herself in. I had
no idea she was in the house, but all of a sudden Oz's body
posture got very alert, then he ran to the bedroom door, then
back to me. He did this a couple of times, until I finally decided
to see what was up. Murph and Maddie slept through the
whole thing.

All 3 are very good about not barking, just to be barking in the
house. So normal everyday noises, like people passing by or
the door bell ringing doesn't set them off. So if they were to
bark or in Oz's case have a behavior change, I pay attention.

Par...

[micki76]

Originally posted by ParNone
Murph and Maddie on the other hand only concern themselves
with critters. My sister needed to get in my house, when I
wasn't going to be home, so I left her a key, hidden on the
patio. Murph and Maddie were sleeping on the patio and
didn't even budge, with her rummaging around looking for
the key and then letting herself into the house.


My Westie used to sleep though the maintenance people coming in our apartment. I was home one day and the maintenance man came in and Stolly was asleep in the recliner (one of his favorite places to sleep). I told Jim not to worry about him, that he wasn’t too mean ;) and he said that whenever he cam in to fix anything Stolly usually didn’t move from the recliner and only occasionally even lifted his head to look at him! Some watch dog he was!

[wolfsoul]

Leather is both a watch AND guard dog. She's the best there is! :D

Timber is an okay watch dog...But she has the wimpiest bark. She sounds like she's dieing sometimes lol. And as soon as someone walks up to the gate she jumps all over them and showers them with kisses. :o Except when it's my dad. For some reason she's really afraid of him. She has been since she was a puppy, and she never even really sees him. She runs away from him and barks. And she's never that way with anyone else.

[lizbud]

Buddy was an awesome watch dog. Salespeople knocking on the front door would often be seen walking on down the street
before I could even get to answer the knock. He had a very loud
deep bark. Smokey never barks. He does growl at some things
outside the widow that look suspicious to him, but a watch dog
he isn't. :D