YouTube appears to take particular delight in attacking a certain subject in as many ways as possible. In this case the subject is dogs and viewers are treated to categories such as 15 Dog Breeds for Seniors, 20 Best Breeds for Families, 25 Kindest Breeds (Do they help little old ladies across the street or hand out Milk Bones to homeless canines?), 12 Giant Breeds, 30 Non-Shedding Breeds, Most Powerful Breeds, 39 breeds ranked by IQ (it might help to rank owners too) 20 Best Protection Breeds, or 15 top Guardian Breeds. And so on.
If you’re well acquainted with Beardies, you’re probably looking at the last two mentioned categories and thinking “No way am I going to see Beardies mentioned here.” And you’re probably right. It brings to my mind a time, several decades ago, when my husband suddenly announced, “I think we should get a guard dog!” I reminded him we had about a dozen Beardies in residence and it was highly unlikely someone would break into our home unannounced. “Right,” he agreed, “but if a burglar managed to get into our domicile, the best we could do is hope he gets kissed to death.” I had to agree. And so began our search for a guardian breed. Eventually, on the advice of a breeder friend, we went to look at a litter of Briards, a breed highly recommended as natural guardians. But we didn’t return home with a puppy. Instead, we brought back the litter brother of the pups’ dam. Don’t ask! Carlo was a humongous, battle-scarred black male with a look that would have frightened Chuck Norris. After joining the family, he was riding shotgun one day in my van when I went shopping. As I exited the van, Carlo jumped onto the driver’s seat, hunched his shoulders and scowled out the windshield at passers-by. I noticed a man staring at him as I turned to lock the door.
“Ma’am,” he drawled, “You don’t have to lock that door. I can’t imagine anyone being darn fool enough to try to get in that van with him there.” But despite Carlo’s ominous appearance, my husband maintained that wasn’t enough.
Step Two in my husband’s plans for Carlo involved placing him with a highly respected protection work trainer. Andy had trained Bouviers and Dobes but this was his first time with a Briard and he was looking forward to the challenge. We left Carlo in his capable hands and crossed our fingers.
Months went by and finally Andy notified us we could pick Carlo up from his kennel and get a demonstration of what he had learned. So we piled into the van, my husband, our five-year-old son Kelly and our oldest Beardie, Hermione, the grande dam of our household. First, Andy put Carlo through the basics – sit, stand, down, stay, come and so on. Then came the finale. A frightening-looking individual in a padded suit burst out of a shack, wielding a club in a threatening manner and advancing on our group.
A black blur of fur leaped into action, streaking towards the attacker and hitting him with such force that he fell backwards and curled up protectively. With the danger averted, the irate canine gave one last shake of the man’s arm and then trotted back to our group. Carlo? No, it was Hermione. No one threatened my son while she was around. A confused Carlo was still sitting beside Andy, waiting for the command to attack. Stunned silence surrounded our group. Then Andy and Grant, my husband, stared at each other and in unison exclaimed, “We trained the wrong dog!”
So you’re not likely to find Beardies listed in one of You Tube’s categories for Protection or Guardian breeds. But that’s not to say they won’t step up when the occasion demands. Maybe they just like to work undercover.
— alice bixler, alice@bedlamkennels.com
