Oh, you are being utilized by cynicism.
It’s likely enough. There ARE a lot of pet friendship stories. The dog saw the cat as something it had to protect, and did so. What’s amazing is that animals now often behave more nobly than people do!
Most dogs I know do not really care all that much for cats, and the most likely explanation is that the dog thought-processes were in reality more like the following:
Door opens.
Coyote smell -same as "SQUIRREL" reaction!
Attack! (Coyote)(s)
Well, it COULD have been a squirrel...
Some people, eh?
Odin is the enforcer for the whole house, inside and out.
Regardless of what is upsetting one of 'his' girls, whether it be an external threat or sibling rivalry, he charges in to stop it.
And Gypsy is the "uber mom" who sets him straight when he gets too rough with Djinni or Seven.
[and Halla, before]
Some dogs do this kind of thing naturally and habitually.
And it is a "pit type" dog.
Oddly enough;
The name Cynic derives from Ancient Greek κυνικός (kynikos), meaning "dog-like", and κύων (kyôn), meaning "dog" (genitive: kynos).
One explanation offered in ancient times for why the Cynics were called dogs was because the first Cynic, Antisthenes, taught in the Cynosarges gymnasium at Athens.
The word Cynosarges means the place of the white dog.
It seems certain, however, that the word dog was also thrown at the first Cynics as an insult for their shameless rejection of conventional manners, and their decision to live on the streets.
Diogenes, in particular, was referred to as the Dog, a distinction he seems to have revelled in, stating that "other dogs bite their enemies, I bite my friends to save them."
Ironic.
:)