[sadeyes2]

My doorbell sounded at about 10pm last night, both dogs went into bark mode especially Toby. By the time I opened the door no-one was there, but did see 2 guys walking down the street, but thought no more about it. Earlier tonight my doorbell rang and as usual the barking started. I closed the sitting room door and answered the outside door. It was the police investigating an assault and robbery which happened in a house further down my street last night. When questioned, I told them to come in. One then asked if I would lock my dogs away first so I locked them in the kitchen.

Well as I'm talking, Toby is howling bloody murder!! The guy then asks what kind of dogs is doing the howling. I say a basset, and the westie is the one who is whineing. He then asks about the other one with the deep ferocious bark I say 'yes that's the basset'. At this he starts laughing and said no wonder the guys shot off when they heard his bark,as they themselves thought it was a rottweiller!!!!!!

Now, I have heard that bassets make useless watchdogs, so I'm not sure if Toby is like this because he lives with a yappy westie, or if in fact they do make good watchdogs. Just interested to know how other bassets would behave.

 

[Kezzy&Snoops]

I wouldn't say they make useless watchdogs... Snoopy in particular is very sensitive at nights, the slightest noise outside and he's there...

We had people having a row outside our house just 10 minutes ago, yes, it's after midnight, and benji objected and started barking, all deep and scary sounding... they soon moved it along!

 

[Ed's best friend]

You are lucky! Louie would have laid on his back, awaiting a belly rub from the robber. He has no preferences! I don't think I have ever seen him bark at someone in caution...it is usually a bark with a wagging tail! :lol:

 

[Valerie and George]

George is a great WATCH dog, but when it comes to actual protective behavior, he's hopeless. He'll bark like fury and he does have a deep and threatening bark ... until someone actually comes in the door and then he's all wagging tail and hopeful they have treats or will at least pet him. We were walking in the park nearby, before Gigi came into our lives, and a man was following us. He even climbed a fence in order to peek between the bushes at us. I was scared spitless and tried and TRIED to get George to pick 'em up and put 'em down so we could get back out to the street where there were other people and he flat wouldn't MOVE and even wagged his tail at the man! Mind you, Gigi overdoes it -- she even growled at my FATHER, and I've never before seen a dog that didn't want to be friends with Dad -- but I'm guessing she definitely wouldn't wag her tail at a man who was following me and scaring me. In fact, if anyone was stupid enough to try to get to me through her, they'd wish they hadn't.

 

[Dozer-Digger]

My two can sound mean once in a while. If you don't see them first, you'd think they were bigger dogs. Although they may sound mean, they are very friendly.

Here's a few stories of their security guard duties.

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I tried to sneak up on them one night. I was real quiet coming in the back gate. I slowly opened the screen door, but hey heard my keys in the door. They came running up to the fence of their pen, it comes right up beside the back door. They didn't do their friendly bark either, it was a pretty mean bark with growling. I forgot to turn on the porch light, so they couldn't see me either. It sounded scary to me with them jumping up on the fence, it was like they were right in my face.

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My neighbor won't come near my backyard either, because he thinks they are mean dogs from all the play fighting they do. (See my "garden post" videos)

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The other night I found my old gorilla costume, I thought Digger was going to take me. If it wasn't for Dozer finally knowing it was me, I think Digger would have bit me. (not really, but I wasn't going to chance it)

 

[clarejon]

Toby sounds like a great guard dog.

Unfortunately Snoops is sooooo excited when someone is at the door. she sits there with her tail wagging so hard that she's moving aross the floor in a sit position!

she is however very wary in the evenings when its dark if she hears a noice outside in the back garden. she start barking and runs right to the top of the garden but her tail is still up and wagging. i think she just thinks it the local cat that's about rather than thinking its an intruder!

Snoop does have a low deep bark but we just dont get to hear it much as she's more of a talker than a barker. when she talks to us we laugh so hard and she does it all the more!

she tends to talk to us in the evenings when she is trying to remove us from 'her' sofa.

 

[bjsibba]

Sadie will bark when let out if she saw or heard something strange and might scare somebody off with her bark but other then that I don't think she would be very protective. We had new neighbors and shortly after they moved in I was awaken from the sound of them fighting. I got up and came out to the dinning room to see what was going on. I couldn’t see anything only hear them. It was sounding pretty bad and not knowing either of them very well I sat in the dinning room with the lights out and just listened to see if it sounded like their was anything more then verbal fighting going on. The wife was pregnant and if it sounded like there was any physical stuff going on I was going to call the police. Well Sadie came out of the bedroom and was walking through the kitchen towards the dinning room and when she came around the corner of the fridge and saw me sitting in the dark she had no idea it was me and jumped back so quick, she was barking but would not get close to me. I tried to quite her and tell her it was me but she wouldn't come near me or stop barking until I turned the light on so she could see me.

 

[Lightning&Stomps]

I think the bark is a powerful deterrent. I've had people come to my door who totally expected to see a rottweiller when I opened the door, only to see my two "little" boys. I'd much rather have a basset that sounded like a rottweiller than a rottweiller that sounded like a chihuahua. Like most of the other dogs on this board, other than their barking mine offer no further protection.

P.S. That was a spooky story. You're so lucky the guys went on down the road.

 

[José]

José seems to have a system in his own mind, where about every 100th person he dislikes/is afraid of.

Walking at the park, every so often there is some poor person who seems nice enough passing us or saying hi... he growls and backs up like he sees his mortal enemy! Then I have to embarrassingly explain he is actually quite overly friendly, that it is completely random, & don't take it personally. My poor retired neighbor (who used to have beagles) wants to greet José but is unfortunately on his "list."

My luck, a burgler would be licked to death!

 

[sadeyes2]

Thanks for the replies folks still laughing at some of them. The gorilla suit episode sounds hilarious.
Seems like Toby isn't the only one who barks when callers come. I don't try to stop him as it makes me sleep easy in bed at night. but like others have said, I doubt he would actually do anything if someone got in.