When your gaurdian dog protects you from your imaginary fears

[Nik]

I was working on cleaning out my closet this weekend. This might seem simple to those of you who are not super messy types that neglect organization for years at a time. I do the sanitary stuff. Dishes, cleaning toilets, mopping, sweeping, vacumming. But, organizing our stuff that accumulates is a little more difficult. So I have piles of clothes on the floor of my closet. I tackled this last weekend. And was digging through the stuff and organizing when I thought I heard something like a squeak. Immediately I panicked. My brain translated squeak to mean rat infestation in my clothing pile in my closet and my heart leaped up through my throat and tried to strangle me to death.

The dogs were in the kitchen napping as they do mid-day and I went fleeing to them. Husband was working on the weekend so it was me the dogs and the cat with the house to ourselves. Kahlua was passed out snoring and I let her be. She grumbles and whines and makes a big show if I wake her from a deep snoring sleep. I get it. I hate being woken up also.

Diesel was wide awake, alert and came straight to me doing the lean into me, dog hug, comfort thing.

"Come with me. I need you with me in the bedroom." And he followed me right on my heels and to the bedroom we went.

He sniffed around but didn't seem alarmed or alerted to anything and went to go lay down on the bed. But as I approached the piles I had senseless panic feelings. I do battle with anxiety at times. Diesel looked at me ran to my side. And just stayed glued to my side the rest of the day as I cleaned.

Later when Sean got home he reminded me that if there had been a rat in the house Diesel would have been in a frenzy. He doesn't tolerate intruders so I probably was just hearing things and scared myself for no reason. My rational brain says he is right.

In any case I still appreciated that Diesel stayed by my side to keep me calm. Sometimes our guardian breeds guard us from our own crazy heads.

Oh I also let BrrBeary (the resident cat who thinks he is a dog) in the bedroom (something I don't often do because he likes to claw up my clothes. BrrBeary also seemed completely uninterested in the closet and was happy to lounge on the bed being lazy.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Love it! Yes, when they are calm and not showing any alert-type behaviour, I can calm down, too, but when I'm calm and the dog is on high alert, I need to pay attention.

When she was a baby, just five months old, she started doing soft growls, and wouldn't settle, we were all in bed...early around 3 am. We couldn't see or hear what she knew, but she kept us up long enough and we kept looking, and eventually, we saw men sneaking between the cars, breaking into them. Cops called...dog is a hero!

When the coyotes were outside our fence...I couldn't see them (or smell them) but she was in a frenzy, protecting our property.

When a door-to-door salesman got aggressive and wouldn't leave my porch, I let her show herself and she told him in no uncertain terms, "back off." And he fled.

When my husband came home in the early morning hours with two inebriated friends and I was in bed, she dropped her head, took up an attack stance and wouldn't let them past the hallway...not even my husband. When the men retreated, she came to me, lay down on the bed, one paw across my legs, but her head was up, ears were forward...it took her a long time to calm down. I WILL NEVER TRUST THOSE TWO MEN...EVER!

Our Mastiffs are Gentle Giants, but they are a very powerful deterrent and a great early warning system. Even if they are just protecting us from unknown squeaks in our closets, like Nik's Diesel. He feels his mom's distress and makes her safe, so he's her hero.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

One more thing, neighbours ask me now when something goes down nearby, "Did your dog sense anything last night?" Usually it's no, but they all remember the time she saved their cars from being broken into. So the neighbourhood trusts her guardian instincts, too.

 

[Nik]

Yes I very much trust his instincts. I also love how in tune he is with me. He knows when I need his emotional support and is always right there. Kahlua is also very in tune with me and when I need an extra close snuggle she always scooches right up against me and leans in to me. I don't know how I got so lucky as to have such amazing companions.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Bailey on guard again! A neighbour accosted two bike thieves that went over her garden wall and Thank God, she's all right. The following night, Bailey went off like a five alarm fire...3:30 am...someone came over our garden wall (gate is double bolted) and smashed one of my giant sunflowers to the ground. Bailey sent him flying back up...using the waterfall as a ladder. Hey, it says on the gate, in big bold angry letters, "BEWARE OF DOG."

Good Puppy!

 

[Nik]

Bailey on guard again! A neighbour accosted two bike thieves that went over her garden wall and Thank God, she's all right. The following night, Bailey went off like a five alarm fire...3:30 am...someone came over our garden wall (gate is double bolted) and smashed one of my giant sunflowers to the ground. Bailey sent him flying back up...using the waterfall as a ladder. Hey, it says on the gate, in big bold angry letters, "BEWARE OF DOG."

Good Puppy!

What a good girl!!! You must be so proud.

Meanwhile we just caught up on Game of Thrones after getting back from our summer vacation and we reached the sad part in the last episode. Diesel and Kahlua both somehow sensed the sadness and jumped up with me. Diesel curled up on my feet and kahlua crawled up onto my chest and started covering me in kisses. I love how in tune these pups are.