She's no one's idea of an attack dog, but our Boston Terrier is great around kids, and her bark is a lot bigger than she is.

A few years ago, a couple kids bailed out and ran from a stolen car across the street from where I was working as a security officer. They ran through back yards, jumping fences--but they weren't hard to track. We just followed the sounds of barking dogs through the neighborhood.

One of them soon surrendered after a brief foot pursuit. The second one was eventually found hiding in a back yard storage shed--being held at bay by The World's Most Ferocious Boston Terrier.

The moral is, you don't always need a big dog. Ours, and other breeds of smaller dogs, are great around kids, and are just as protective of their masters as many of the bigger ones. Circumstances are always different, but I would recommend looking for a pet first, and a guard dog second.

Onward and upward,
airforce