Has your dog ever protected you?

Dogs don't bark to protect you - they bark to alert the pack that their is an intruder. He was calling you to protect him. Could mean he was not well socialized, but it could also easily mean that he saw someone who he's never really seen before moving around the house when it was dark, quiet and the pack was asleep. As a result, he wanted to let people know about the 'intruder'.

As for whether my dog has ever protected me? Not protected me - but whenever I'm ill in bed, he lies on top of me to keep me warm and look after me.

The dog wasn't "protecting" anything. The dog was a nervous mess that was barking so you would come and save it from the monster before it pooped itself.

I have had my dog physically get between me and other people who were acting in threatening ways. You know what I did? I CORRECTED the behavior because I DO NOT want a dog that thinks HE has to protect ME and will go off and bite someone innocent.

The only dog that should ever show "protective" behavior is a fully trained personal protecting dog when commanded to do so.

That was NOT your dog protecting you! That's a typical example of a fearful dog who's not been well socialized.

100% ABSOLUTELY TOTALLY agree with 4Her4Life...

If any of my dogs attempted to jump in front of me they'd be left in no doubt that it was a wrong move.

The WHOLE FUNDAMENTAL relationship is wrong if a dog does this. My dogs look to me to protect them and not the other way round. They are pets and not trained to the high level necessary to show protection.

Your dog was not protecting you dear.

The dog was nervous and was looking for YOU to protect IT.

You do have a lot to learn about dog behaviour.

Also a "Confident" dog would not threaten an owners accepted visitors for no reason.

That wasn't protection, that was fear. And NO my dog would never protect me, he wasn't bred or trained for it.