Melinda Proffer, a breeder in Marble Hill, Mo., recalls a trip to the airport when she got to see her 3-year-old Boerboel Anna deliver that message.

Anna couldn't go into the building, so Proffers son Dustin sat on a bench with her outside the terminal. While his mother was inside, a man tried to approach Dustin -- unsuccessfully -- to ask about Anna.

I came back to a standoff, Proffer says. Anna had climbed up on the bench next to Dustin, put a paw between his legs, and was leaning on him, hackles up, using her body to shield him from the stranger. She had the man locked in a dead-eye stare that had stopped him in his tracks about 10 feet away. She didn't release until she made eye contact with me and got the OK.

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