Guard the yard!

I have an invisible fence, and both dogs are pretty reliable with it now. They spend a lot of time outdoors, because they love to run around (I do keep a pretty close eye and ear on them, though, because dogs can always go through the property line if they see something exceptionally exciting, and besides, the invisible fence line doesn't keep other animals out). The downside to the invisible fence, however, is that innocent strangers sometimes come into the yard and suddenly find themselves with two rather large dogs charging at them.

The UPS guy came today, parked his truck in front of the house, and headed for my porch with an armful of packages. When he was midway up the yard, two furry gray missiles came charging around the corner of the house, barking furiously: Intruder alert!!! The poor guy froze up, looking panicked. I yelled out the window to the dogs, telling them to back off, and headed down the stairs to rescue the poor guy.

Of course the dogs weren't attacking viciously, just doing their duty by sounding off, and then charging up to him, waggling their butts and looking for pats (and quite possibly wondering if they could get away with grabbing the boxes from him, too). The problem with an Aussie, however, is that they have no tail, and thus people who are unfamiliar with them often don't seem to realize they're wagging. The people I meet often seem to have difficulty deciding if Hero's intentions are friendly or not.

Anyway, I called my missiles off, the UPS guy delivered his packages, and then he headed for his truck. Hero then did what he always does-- waited till the guy had almost reached the street, then charged after him, barking loudly and dramatically. He then came strutting back to me: I chased him off, Mom! Who's the watchdog? I'm the watchdog!

Hero does this same performance with the garbage man every week, too, welcoming him warmly onto the property, with only a token bark or two, and then pursuing him when the guy is leaving and is only a foot or two from the street. Hero apparently wants everyone to believe he's a mean, lean guarding machine, when in fact he's a friendly goofball who'd happily show a burglar where we keep the silver if he thought he might get a treat out of it.