Good story.
All my dogs have been rescue dogs. It is odd but though they have had good homes in the past once adopted and cared for with love, they will transfer their loyalty and love to you.
My Leo and Marisol are the most loving and gentle dogs one could wish for. All they want is to be rubbed and loved. If I or my wife were in danger for a few seconds they would be confused and after those few seconds they would be 80 and 95 pounds of terror against a bad guy.
My best dog Greta, now sadly past was wonderful. If a stranger came to my home she would stand between my wife and the stranger. Once my wife said it was okay she would run up to the stranger to be petted. If it was just me she would not do this. She would just lay on the porch and watch and kinda said, “if you need help just say something.”
Dogs are smart. My Greta knew my wife needed more protection than me. She was a wonderful dog. She even liked my cats.
She was friends with the UPS man and would hop in the truck when he made a delivery. One day it was a different driver and I came out to find a terrified driver with my German Shepard whimpering and confused. It was like, “you are the UPS driver and you are supposed to pet me.”