Would my setter defend me?

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Hello at all.
I´m not sure if we already had this discussion. Anyway, there`s one thing I would like to tell you/ask you.
When our doorbell rings, Vito doesn`t bark, he never did. Annie, our other dog did bark. She passed away a few months ago... Though it was annoying sometimes especially when she barked for no real reason, we do miss her alerting. Not only this, of course!
Vito is usually behind a glass door when we open the door. He`s curious and would love to welcome everyone. I don`t want that. One example: Our postmen (and women) usually have biscuits with them so they can "corrupt" dogs. Annie would rather have starved than ever taking cookies from strangers, But Vito would love such gifts, but I actually don`t want my dog to welcome each and everyone and taking biscuits.
What do you think: Would my setter defend me if anybody would attack me? Would he just feel when something`s wrong because of his instincts?
Would you allow your dog to take the postmen`s cookies?

Vito is such a sweetheart, i just can´t imagine he could become mean or defensive, though I had one experience where he became so, it was when any old man was suddenly talking to me when I took Vito for a walk and it was already dark. We passed that man when I heard his very dark voice. He was just asking something but I was so scared. Vito seemed to feel that somehow and he started to bark like he never did before. The man smiled and said this would be a very good dog and walked by. It was not ironic!
Do you think Vito would feel if situations are dangerous generally?

[Susan Stone]

Hi Christine,

I am finding this a very interesting discussion but for some reason also feel we are doing our dogs injustice. On one hand we expect our dogs to be friendly, confident, open, welcoming, soft, playful, etc etc etc showing no aggression whatsoever and on the other hand we expect a dog to be protective of us. To my mind this does not make sense. I try to get my dogs to understand I am the leader of the pack and will take the lead in all situations. I expect them to rely on me. I would not want it any other way. This means that they should look to me in the case of any situation that upsets them, as long as I remain quiet and at ease, then that is the behaviour I would wish my dog to show. If however I panik, get stressed. start shouting - well, normally my dogs would react in a similar fashion.

In my opinion what is often termed 'protective' behaviour normally stems from a feeling of insecurity the dog himself is feeling. He is frightened and is showing what is corerctly termed 'fear aggression'. Quite often this type of fear aggression has been suported unknowingly by the owner. Usually a shy pup will seem to overcome it's timidness until it becomes adult, then suddenly what was earlier termed 'shyness' suddenly develops into a problem of being overly 'protective' - meaning it is scared or intimidated by something and has learnt that this kind of reaction will make the 'scary thing' go away. These dogs are not usually being protective in our sense of the word (protecting the owner out of altruistic reasons) - no they are frightened for their own lives.

Another kind of behaviour stems from what is termed territorial aggression, where a dog will bark at intruders or passers by simply 'to make them go away'. This is a behaviour which we apreciate up to a certain level, providing we can still control it... it tends to get out of hand if the dog concerned is either fearful (see above) or has been allowed to become the dominant dog in the pack. In my opinion an acceptable level of territorial behaviour is shown by those dogs that accept they may give a couple of wuffs but settle down as the pack leader (ourselves) takes the matter in hand.
Territorial behaviour is not shown by puppies, only by adults. I would discourage a puppy from barking at passers by ie would try to countercondition it. This kind of behaviour in a puppy is likely to become an nuisance very quickly.

The situation we are worried about, where for example our house is broken into, will not not affected by correctly training the dog to look to us for guidance. Any unusual situation will still cause the dog to bark, hereby deterring intruders.

I don't want to upset anyones impressions of the trustworthy and protective loyal friend but I feel we should try to understand the behaviour our dog is shwoing without trying to interpret it to suit out own feelings...

One last note, then I will stop:-))
I am often surprised when people (proudly!) say 'Oh, he's so jealous, he wont let any other dog near me.' What is the dog really doing? Protecting you as if he owns you, much like he would protect his bone. I'd rather not be my dog's bone...