My old dog was like that when he was young. He seemed to relax after he was 2yrs old. We noticed at 5 months old. My sister was 8yrs old & was walking him in the campground we were camping at. 2 adult men asked to pet him & they couldn't get anywhere near them. Max went nuts, snarling, barking & snapping. My sister is a little slow & I guess Max somehow knew that & went into big brother mode.

Then from there he got worse, but he was NEVER scolded, as he never pulled to try to hurt someone & he warned quite early. I remember trying to walk him in the park & if someone was walking in our direction, he would stop dead & start to snarl. If they kept coming, he started to bark & if they still came (duh, its not like they could go anywhere else) he would so an agressive kind of snap, with snarling & barking.

After dad moved out when Max was 2yr old, he went into father mode in the house. Whice was good, as our town was quite bad. One night Mom & I we're playing cards in the kitchen & like usual Max was in the kitchen doorway snoozing. Someone knocked on our outside door (its the porch door, then there is a screen door on the house & then the house door). Max barked, normal. We got up & opened the first door (well I did, mom was behind the door). I asked what he wanted, he was going on about something about a Burger King order (which I knew they didn't do delivery). Max was quiet as he had no reason to bark, as we were talking to someone & he couldn't see them. Then they guy tried to open the outside door (it was locked), then he tried to push on it a little hard. I barked at him to get lost or I'll set the dog on him. He ignored me & due to my voice change Max was getting angry, as his breething was deep, snorting & his fur went up. I yelled at him & grabbed Max's collar to get him riled up. I opened the door & let Max go. Max went nuts! I think the guy pi$$ed himself! Max ripped down the blinds, tore up the carpet, scratched the paint off the window ledge & door. He ripped a few pieces of wood from around the windows out & scratched the windows. I was scared of Max & so was the guy as he ran to his car & sped off.

Later on we found out that guy was breaking into homes, stealing stuff & hurting the owners.

Not once did Max ever go too far. Not even when he attacked my dad (its a long story, Max didn't know it was dad). I only had to yell stop once & Max stopped (dad was fine, didn't have a scratch, only a partial disslocated arm).