Dogs

Ive never owned a dog expect once decades ago and only for a short time
Now my kids all have dogs.
I went for a couple of days to help my son who brought a second house in the mountains, he has two larger dogs, not huge but big enough.
One is Shepard mix and the other is mostly Lab, about the size of a medium lab
The Shepard is the dog my wife loves, affectionate, gentle but he can be protective
The Lab Mix is very docile and easy going
Yesterday I put the Lab outside on a gated patio deck, I had him tied as he'd give the chance jump off the deck....All of a sudden I heard a commotion with my two grandsons aged 10 and 11 yelling.....A neighbour has a large Lab, very friendly who wandered over onto the deck to say hello. Our Lab was skittish but wasnt aggressive, just nervous im guessing.
When my wife opened the door to see what the yelling was about, the Shep went by her in a flash and went after this Lab with a vengeance. Hair was standing up and he was was attacking this other dog. He is not a aggressive dog as far as I know but maybe he felt threatened and was protecting the boys......He had a leash on and my wife grabbed it trying to pull him off, I was able to chase the other neighbours lab away. Nobody got bite thank God and the neighbour ran over and appogised
My son and daughter in law weren't home, so this was really my first experience
The Lab mix my son has is a very good animal as is the Shepard mix but the Shepard mix as good as he is and does warm up to strangers is the one who is protective of the family
Hope you all have a great forth of July