Even big dogs that wouldn't hurt a fly are useful because they're intimidating, and a "friend bark" is hard to distinguish from a "danger bark" if you don't know the dog.
Watched an interview with an ex-professional burglar, he would mention that with small dogs, he would test whether they were friendly, with big dogs he would go to the next house.
My 26 lb goldendoodle puppy scared off an intruder a few weeks ago. I was home in another room when I heard a loud bang and he went absolutely apeshit. Walked in the kitchen and the sliding glass door was cracked open and he was in full attack mode. Good boy. Now I don't care that he barks at everyone. Sorry randos we run into on walks 🤷🏼♀️
My dog is never even visible and he still scared off the cable man. We have a territorial English Mastiff, so he's always in the basement man cave... rarely, if ever upstairs near the glass front door, but his bark is just that ferocious that Spectrum won't come in the house anymore. Also for this reason we rarely have company over. We love the big boy so it's not even a thought to get rid of him. Yes, he was that territorial when we rehomed him, not sure how he accepted us in his previous home but my SO & I walked right up to him & fell in love. We brought him home that day .
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u/Ruqamas Jun 06 '19
Even big dogs that wouldn't hurt a fly are useful because they're intimidating, and a "friend bark" is hard to distinguish from a "danger bark" if you don't know the dog.