Fearless Frank and the Midnight Intruders

by Martha
(Barrie, Ontario)

We are fortunate to own a beautiful 3 year old female Pyr. Her name is France, but we call her Frank. We live in a nice quiet neighbourhood with a fully fenced yard and a dog run.

My husband is a police officer and often works nights. We have 5 children and Frank takes her job as guardian very seriously. By day, she is a calm, lovable companion. She plays with the kids, goes for many walks, is friendly with everyone and is very affectionate and loving. But at night, especially when my husband is working; a transformation occurs.

When my husband leaves for work and we all kiss him goodbye, Frank comes to the door to see him off and the two of them have an "exchange". When the door closes behind my husband, Frank immediately starts her night shift as security guard.

One such evening, there was a party at one of the neighbouring houses behind us. As it got later and later, Frank grunted and growled and paced around from door to door, front to back. She looked like she was just plodding about at first, but I knew she was on high alert.

Suddenly around 1AM she started to bark and raced for the back sliding door. I followed her and stood there peering out into the darkness. Frank growled and then pounded the door with her giant paw and kept looking up at me. "Open the door! Come on! Open it! " was the message I was getting.

I opened the door a tiny crack just to see if I could hear anything, and that was enough for Frank. She pushed her way past me, and she was suddenly airborne. She was off the deck in one leap, missing the stairs completely and took off at a dead run for the back fence.

I have never seen her move like that or SOUND the way she did. All I could hear was a startled scream, then another and the constant ferocious barking. I raced out onto the deck and couldn't believe my eyes. Two young men were cowering against the fence while Frank furiously barked at them from about 2 feet away. Her lips were curled up and I could see the flash of teeth. One young man moved to his left and Frank countered the move, and came in a bit closer, her head down and her eyes blazing. She did not want either of these guys to move.

I yelled out "What are you doing?! Get out of here!" and as I did, I realized Frank was not going to let these guys move one inch, never mind climb back over the fence where they came from. I slowly approached the back fence where Frank held the two intruders at bay. I soon realized both guys were really drunk and quite terrified. One guy was sobbing. "Please lady...please call off your polar bear..please?" I almost laughed. I called Frank, but of course a Pyr in Protector Mode is going to ignore the "come" command.

Any apprehension I had about approaching the two guys was gone. Frank was doing a great job, and I had no fear as I got close and grabbed her collar. I felt so completely protected as I stood next to my barking, beautiful Pyr. "I will try to hold the dog so you two can climb back over the fence. Hurry. I don't know how long I can do it."

They scrambled up the fence and Frank looked at me like "Hey! What's going on?" As the second guy fell to the ground on the other side I wanted to call out something final, like "Don't ever come on our property again." but I knew Frank had already told them that and much more.

I let go of Frank's collar and she pranced around the perimeter of the yard, her magnificent tail and head held high in triumph. She had a good nights work! And we have never again had any late night intruders.