Times Your Animal Kept You Safe or Alerted You to a Risky Situation

susiestar

Roll With It
Following on Tired Mama's story about her dog keeping her from the area where a fake policeman attacked a girl, I wondered about this:

Have your animals ever steered you away from danger or kept you safe while others were in danger?

I grew up with a black lab/Irish setter mix. She was beautiful and the sweetest dog I ever met. She was very well socialized and would go up to pretty much anyone. We joked she was our "watch" dog. She would watch the robbers come in and she would watch the robbers go out! In her 14 years we only found 3 people she didn't like. One of my dad's cousins that we don't like, the idiot my aunt married and then divorced, and this guy.

I was walking to the post office about half a mile from my home with the dog and a friend one summer day. A man came out and commented on the dog, which was nothing unusual. The dog got between us and the man and growled softly at him. He tried to tell her she was a good girl and to be nice, but my dog wasn't letting him anywhere near us. A couple of months later I was out alone with the dog and the same thing happened again.

He got arrested for attacking a girl a little while after that. It was in the paper with his picture.

That is my story.

What types of things have your animals kept you safe from or let you know that someone or somewhere was not safe?
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
My dog saves me every day...

from the postman, the UPS guy, random Jehovah's Witnesses, the pizza guy...and miscellaneous doorbells on TV.
 

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RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
We have two small dogs (a yorkie and a morkie) but their bark sounds pretty threatening so when anyone comes to our front door they are aware that the house is being guarded!

They also bark at everyone when I take them for walks which I HATE because sometimes I'd like to visit with the neighbors!
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
When I was about 5 or 6, we had a lovable medium size mutt. My dad worked on a farm, and he had told me that there were migrating geese around the farm pond. So that morning, I rode on the back of the trailer with the feed for the cows while he pulled it with the tractor. While he was putting the feed out, I walked towards the pond.

All of a sudden, a bull starts to charge at me. I remember seeing my dad, standing on top of the trailer yelling and waving his arms, helpless because of the distance between us. Then our dog, Chubbie, runs and gets between me and the bull and starts barking and trying to attack the bull. It worked. My dad was able to get to me.

The next dog we had was Duchess. Very friendly dog. I was probably in middle school, and my dad had made me a pair of stilts. I was probably only 12 to 18 inches off the ground. Our neighbor who was a middle age man was teasing me and acting like he was going to push me over. It was the only time I remember my dog growing and baring her teeth. I believe if he didn't move away, he would have been bitten.

And a different type of dog story... When I was six, and my sister was twelve, she died in a car accident. Her dog was named Stinker. Every day when the school bus would stop by our house, he would be waiting for her to get off the bus. When the bus would drive off he would howl and howl. With in a week later, Stinker took off and never returned. I am sure he left and was hunting for her... The devotions and love of an animal is pure and unconditional.

Ksm
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
Icicle - the part-Maine-Coon that my niece kind of dumped on us in 2005 - is NOT a people person. Until I got pregnant with Rose. She followed me around, slept with me... The whole time I was pregnant. If she wasn't sleeping with me, she was in the nursery, in the crib, or in the pack n play, or the bassinet.

Rose arrived, and she immediately had a Guardian Kitty. She would sleep in the crib with Rose. Could not stop her, and she was always very careful to be away from Rose's face. As Rose got older, she let that child sit on her, hug her, anything. I still tell Rose that if Icicle ever scratches or bites her, she will get in trouble for provoking the cat.

But - this happened LAST NIGHT - Rose was in bed asleep. Icicle was wandering around upstairs, meowing. Constantly. For probably ten minutes. I went upstairs, and she got quiet, would walk a few steps, meow again. Led me down the hall to Rose's room. I couldn't see anything wrong. So I kissed Rose and went to leave, but Icicle was in the doorway and hissed at me. Then I realized that Rose's bedroom window was slightly open at the top - and it was raining inside. Rose never would have noticed... That window doesn't stay shut. Fortunately it's also nearly impossible to reach from outside!

Another one, last February - Fido was acting weird and Bill got up to see what the problem was. The garage was on fire! Minor damage, but that pup saved our lives.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Amazing stories!! I so love animals.

My two little would be police dogs (see avator) are total clones of Lil's brave champion (Boston's are so cute....adorable baby you have there).

My little Yorkie/Bichon mix is truly not a hero, however she is very competent at jumping into our arms when she is frightened. She can do it in one leap. She is also good at fetching a teeny tennis ball. Our Chihuahua/shihzu mix is a champion of sleeping.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
I've had my bacon saved twice by two different German Shepherd dogs.

My husband and I were wakened to a gas filled apartment by a panicked cat who used his claws and teeth to waken us out of a stupor. We herded the cats out onto the fire escape with our heads pounding and my husband vomiting from the fumes.

Without that cat, we'd have not woken up ever again. Once our heads cleared, I ran back in and turned off the gas, and opened all the windows.

The cats, way back then, went out, and instead of wandering off, stood huddled around us until the gas company came out and found the source of the leak. (broken line in stove).

My HORSE charged and frightened off a drunken stablehand who accosted me at the open gate to her pasture after dark. She came on screaming and snapping, and had she not responded to my whistle, would've killed him, as he fell several times trying to get away from her.
950lbs of "Death's Pale Horse" bore down on him screaming, stomping, and snapping.

The GSDs were both protection trained, but the one important command in both of those situations was the "aus" (off) command, meaning to stop what you are doing, ie, let go.
 

pasajes4

Well-Known Member
My precious Shi Tzu wakes me up if my blood sugars drop when I am asleep. He is very brave and protective. If he thinks his people are getting attacked, he turns into a 500 pound Bull Mastiff.
 

Triedntrue

Well-Known Member
The same doberman i talked about before defended me from a landlord who tried to get a little too personal. He had me backed in the corner of a dining room and the dog who was locked in the kitchen went crazy but couldn't get to me. I got the landlord to go away by telling him i knew his fiance. After that the dog would not let him in the house. I had to let him in with dog growling and then said i am going in the living room with the dog (i could close it off) i suggest you don't try to come in.

Like i said before the dog was a sweety except with the landlord.

Funny story about him though i decided to take a late walk up a local street and was approaching a bar. A very drunk man came out of the bar took a look at my dog who was happily minding his own business said holy s*** and went back in the bar. Lol he was fierce looking.

Also when my husband and I were dating i had a love seat in the living room and the dog was in the kitchen. No way you could see from kitchen to living room but everytime my husband would lean over to kiss me there would be a single loud bark from the kitchen.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
LOL, Tighe, the GSD we had when I was a young teen, was my "chaperone".

My parents would let me have a boy in my bedroom so long as I took Tighe up with us. Tighe would park his 80lbs of hair and teeth between me and said male human and believe me, NOTHING happened. Not even much conversation as this huge, toothy dog turned his head from face to face if we tried to talk to each other.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Twice my dachshund has alerted me to important/dangerous and near catastrophic things
1. Left a pan on a lit stove. Forgot about it.
2. Left water on in kitchen sink and it started to over flow.

Both times she came and got me with a very loud almost screeching bark. She is not much of a barker to begin with. Super noticeable change. There was no mistaking this bark and body language. “Come and see this NOW!!!! URGENT!!!!”
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Animals are so amazing!!

Dogs often will surprise you. It often isn't the big dog who is the alpha, though big dogs can be very alpha. When I was in 2nd grade, I went to a friend's for Halloween weekend. Her older siblings were supposed to babysit us, as she was the youngest of 5, the others all teenagers. They went their own ways. Then her idiot brother and a friend decided to make noises in the basement to scare us. We called my parents in a panic after we barricaded the basement door.

My Dad and Uncle could NOT get into the house. The German shepherd was FINE with them coming in. He barely woke up when they knocked. The poodle would have NONE of it. NO ONE was coming into his house at that point. That dog did not consider my friend to be above him in his pack, so she could not let anyone in his house!!! The poodle hated the son, so he wasn't coming in either. Finally one of the older sisters came home and made the poodle stand down.


Apple, your story about Rose and her Guardian Kitty is so sweet. J had one of those. The cat adored Wiz, but J was her baby. She is the one who woke me up the night Wiz tried to kill her. Freckles would NOT let me sleep until I followed her to J. That cat knew I would stop what was going on between "her" kids.

I had TOTALLY forgotten about that old poodle on that Halloween Night. This brought back that so funny memory. If my dad had been a burglar, or those boys had been, that dog would have eaten them and picked his teeth with their bones.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
[QUOTE="
Like i said before the dog was a sweety except with the landlord.

Funny story about him though i decided to take a late walk up a local street and was approaching a bar. A verydrunk man came out of the bar took a look at my dog who was happily minding his own business said holy s*** and went back in the bar. Lol he was fierce looking.

[/QUOTE]
That's funny as while GSDs got a healthy amount of respect in Germany, one walking quietly at heel on a loose leash usually didn't incite outright terror.

They did have to be muzzled to ride public transportation, and Hanni had to be muzzled at the open air markets as she stole fruit and veggies. You'd be walking along and suddenly hear "crunch-crunch-crunch" and there was your dog, eating a carrot and trying to be discreet.

Back in Chicago, people would see the silhouette of the head and ears on the street at night and cross the street to avoid her. I always found it amusing as Hanni and later Gryphon, until the brain tumor, was one of the safest dogs in the world, unless ordered to attack, or if you directly threatened me, my husband, the cats, or our property.

She was content to accept petting if released to do so, and Gryphon actually loved affection from people if given permission.
 

GoingNorth

Crazy Cat Lady
My precious Shi Tzu wakes me up if my blood sugars drop when I am asleep. He is very brave and protective. If he thinks his people are getting attacked, he turns into a 500 pound Bull Mastiff.

That's no joke. A friend of mine had a large Chihuahua (about 6lbs) that I wouldn't cross if he was in protective mode. He meant business, and considering that I have a knuckle that was put together by a hand surgeon after a bite from a 4lb Pomeranian, all respect to the little ones.

As regarding blood sugar. We had a female Maine Coon who could sense husband's blood counts and throw a fit when he needed a transfusion, and one of her sons who went on to become a seizure predicting cat, which he totally taught himself.
 

AppleCori

Well-Known Member
I have never had an animal save me from anything, as far as I know, though as Lil said, my dogs think they save me several times a day.

My mom’s dog was in the car with them a few years ago, and he started barking furiously at the side window. She looked over, and a semi truck was drifting over into their lane. They had to quickly drive off into the breakdown lane and honk to get the driver’s attention.

Another time, about a decade ago, she had fallen asleep on the couch with a cigarette and her dogs barked to wake her up. The cigarette was smoldering on the rug.
 

Lil

Well-Known Member
Our little man does think he's a bull mastiff; definite Napoleon Syndrome. He was always okay with dogs littler than he is, but bigger ones, he'd growl and try to get. He's worse if I'm walking him, better if Jabber is. I'm not sure how he is with smaller dogs now that he's blind...he's jumpier than before. The only dog he didn't try to lord it over was our dear departed Suzie. He groomed her like a puppy...or like she was queen of the castle. :) By the same token, she literally turned belly-up to everyone - I've seen her do it to teacup pups...except for Mac - OR - if he were in danger. Once a big Aussie jumped on Mac, he let out a squeal, and that sweet-tempered little girl hit the end of her leash growling and snapping! She was going to take that big dog apart!

I miss our girl.
 

Triedntrue

Well-Known Member
I had to put my 16 year old lab down last summer. I swear she was an empath she knew if i was sad or needed to cuddle but as far as protection she would just sit on my lap and look sad. She was the sweetest dog ever. I have to say i have had some truly great dogs.
 
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