I really didn't think Molly had any protective instinct at all but lately at night she is in and out of the dog door (driving us nuts).  We lock her in at night but the last two nights she has been raising holy h---.   Last night we looked around but did not see anything.  This morning about $500 worth of koi are missing.  I don't pay that much for them but I have had them for 5-10 years and to replace them would be over $100 each.  Guess we have a raccoon again.  What makes me really mad is the only take a couple bites out of each fish and then leaves them in the ground cover to be discovered later.  A few years back we trapped 7 raccoons in 5 days and we are in the MIDDLE of suburbia.  I guess we will believe Molly if she is barking tonight.

My crew will let me know if anything at all is amiss outside, including critters wandering around, and they're considerably more serious about it during the rare times my husband isn't around. After being proven wrong serveral times I don't second guess them any more.

Our Rocky is very guardy and protective about his yard and our house. There is NO ONE SNEAKING around without us knowing about it. I don't even need a door bell any more as Rocky alerts me before someone gets to our door. I have trained Rocky to get back and sit while I answer the door and believe me that training was greatly needed. Nothing has been stolen out of our yard since we have owned Rocky. Not even a halloween pumpkin.

My next door neighbor's house was Raccoon Central this summer and I never had so much as a pawprint.  Not that I'd really want Chelsea (Terminatrix though she is)  to mix it up with a full-sized raccoon--but I guess the raccoons felt the same way.