Had an Old English Mastiff as a kid. He got up to 220 lbs. and stood just under 30 in. He was a big boy; even took a hunk of flesh out of my armpit when I was a kid—complete accident.
The howl is very chilling, but when you can sleep soundly knowing there’s a very large, very protective dog in the house with you. I never worried about burglars with Pee Wee on the prowl.
I’m reminded of the old joke:
A burglar breaks into a house, and is about to start grabbing valuables when he hears an inhuman voice say “Jesus is watching you”. He looks around, but sees no one. He turns back to his work, and hears the voice again: “Jesus is watching you”. He starts to get nervous, and glances around again, but again sees nothing. He again is about to bag up the goods, and again hears the voice. This time, he can tell where in the room it came from, and realizes that it came from a birdcage. He goes over to the cage, and sees that inside is a large parrot. On the outside of the cage is a small plaque with the name “Moses” on it. The burglar comments “what kind of people would name a parrot Moses?” To which the parrot replies “The same kind of people who would name a mastiff Jesus”.