As I lay in bed this morning I can hear the tell tale sounds of footsteps behind my back fence. My husband was up first and let Jessie out; she is doing her run around and the sound of her ID tag is obviously stirring some interest from behind. The dog who is behind my fence is one of the boxer girls that went after Luke about a year ago. Not friendly in the least. My protective Mother instinct is kicked into gear and I listen. The dogs have never cover over the fence, yet.

Protective instinct is strong in many of us and I for one am like a Mother Grizzly should you happen to cross one of my family members and that includes my dogs. When my guys were all young I was protective, always watching to see who was coming but now I'm on overdrive. One wrong bump could be all that it takes to break a leg or worse.

We have had several incidents over the years that sort of make you very cautious. A charging and or raging dog is no fun for anyone and we've had to deal with a few. The first was a dog that ran out of an open garage door as we walked by; it latched onto my Airedale and shook her like a rag doll. Another was a dog who continually charged us coming out of her garage door as we walked by; this dog was eventually euthanized due to biting several people. There was the dog that went after Tilley just a few weeks ago. A 4 month old puppy that went charged after Jessie; it was twice her size and grabbed hold of her neck and wouldn't let go. There have been others but these are the few that come to mind earlier this morning.

All it takes is one incident like any of these to pop you into protection mode. It is always good to be aware of your surroundings; including when you are out with your dog. You can much better deal with an issue when you know it's coming versus being startled by it. It's our job to protect our dogs; I take my job seriously so the sounds of our not friendly neighbor taking interest in Jessie's tags has me up and at it and out to check on the perimeter.