I think something that almost everyone wants in their own dog is to feel some sort of protection. Obviously with a 50 pound Newf at your side (who has a lot further to grow) you do feel some bit of safety with her around. We have also seen her protective side while camping because she barks at anything that happens to wander too close to our tent or is being too loud. Last night, we were on the couch watching some TV before going to bed and Ayla was already in her crate for bed time. She started one of her deep barks which is warning bark to us but could be intimidating to those who don’t know her. She just kept it up, not too insistent or wild, just a methodic barking towards the back of the house. So we let her out and she immediately approached the winter garden which looks out over the walking path that goes behind our house. We flipped on the lights but they don’t really reach far enough to see anything so we let her go outside. When we opened the door, we could hear people back on the path talking & apparently they had been lingering too long in Ayla’s opinion. So she was just making sure her presence was known in case they got any crazy ideas. She’s such a good watch dog and this experience in particular has reassured us that should something happen, even if she’s in the crate, she will be doing her best to alert us of the situation and defend her home.

We imagine this will only get worse in the new house. There she essentially will have a fortress to defend because there are only a few select entrances to the property and most of them do not have a visual advantage because of huge fences. But we’re certain that she will feel more comfortable protecting this place and we’re looking forward to seeing how she will react to random people walking by on the street outside.

So it is yet again morning here and we are coming to the conclusion that Ayla is not a morning dog. She never really has been and when she was younger, flat out refused to go for walks in the morning but we thought she was just trying to tell us it would be to far and more a laziness issue. But now it is starting to seem that she just relaxes a lot more during the mornings and then gets crazy only in the evenings when hubby and I are home together.

All day yesterday, she was absolutely perfect. So good, in fact, that we’re slowly starting to think that the worst of this current phase may have passed. She only went into one of her biting tangents before lunch (pretty normal when she starts getting hungry – I get pretty feisty too, I must say lol) and otherwise was just a sweetheart the whole time we were alone. So then the hubby comes home and things start out ok. He talks on the phone a little to a friend and things are still looking all good…then we go our evening walk and still things are fine. But then we get back after that and she gets fussy. It’s primarily me she seems to want to go for. Don’t know if this is because she wants hubbers all to herself or what. She still mouths him as well but she’s much more into grabbing at me. Anyway, we’re watching for something similar we do each day that she doesn’t like and just trying to figure her out in general. It could just have to do with him finally coming home and she’s excited about it or perhaps it’s overly exciting that both of us are together…pretty hard for us to figure out at the moment but all we can do is observe I guess and keep blocking the bites lol.

Normally we would probably just be getting back from a walk now but Ayla seems so lazy this morning that I will hold off on it until she starts to get antsy. It shouldn’t be too warm today so I think we can go out in the middle of the day if we need to. At the moment she is passed out behind the dining table, an absolute favorite place, so I can’t complain. Hope she stays like this all day again lol. At least I can get some things accomplished when she’s calm.