Henri showed his innate protectiveness of children this weekend

[henri]

Henri is our 4 year old bullmastiff about 120 pounds, he has a little brother Gunther, a one year old ~100 pound rottweiler. Our friend came over this weekend with her 6 or 7 year old child for a visit. Gunther exhibited some distrust/anxiety of the child and started barking at her at which point Henri stood up, got between Gunther and the child and pushed Gunther to the ground. About a half hour later the child was playing and got a little active at which point Gunther again barked at her, this time Henri, who was in another room, trotted in and again immediately pushed Gunther to the ground. It really seemed that Henri was trying to tell/teach Gunther not to act aggressively towards the child. It worked, later in the evening our little visitor and both dogs were happily playing with dolls (under careful observation)! I have never before seen Henri act like this, though I have read that the breed is able to assess a situation and respond appropriately.

Has anyone else observed this type of behavior from a bullmastiff that has never had "protection" training?

 

[cinnamon roll]

Wow what a great thread! Can't wait to see the responses.

Way too go Henri!!! What a good big brother.

I have never owned a BM, but have owned dobes,rotts for 20+ yrs. Our Rotts who were not raised with kids and not PPD trained like our dobes were, they were EXTREMELY protective of any and all children.

 

[DennasMom]

Awesome!!

I can only hope Denna (EM) has a similar instinct... she loves everybody and is occasionally around our friends' kids (we don't have any) - but so far, I've never noticed her stepping in to protect them from anything...

Our Rott/GSD/Pryn mutt was a good protector, but I don't remember any real stories like this with him, either (that was pre-kids for most all our friends... or just babies that didn't get to interact with the big guy at all).

 

[Amero]

I saw my 9.5 month old BM do this last week. he was out front with my GF's kid who got too close to a crazy pomeranian. He pushed right in front of the toddler and interposed himself in-between the dog and the toddler. first time I've seen him be protective. He will also enter a room if he hears fussing or crying and checks it out.

 

[henri]

Amero,
It sounds like your puppy is a lot like Henri. He doesn't get aggressive towards Gunther, he usually just puts his big body in a position so that he controls the situation. This time though he pushed Gunther to the floor and then clamly walked away. I find it facinating to see the breed's traits in action, I've never had a dog like Henri before!