dog, border collie

Question
will my border collie protect me?

details:see i have a border collie female. i adopted her. it was actually accident i met her. see a year ago i begged my parents to get me a border collie. FOR A YEAR! they finally said yes but there weren't any male dogs. i got a white german shepherd instead. we were in houston at the time now brownsville, i found  her. i was looking supplies for a project, when we saw some dog. my mom said we could go look at the dogs. sio we went and i saw sophia (my border collie) and her brother, jake. i walked both dogs and liked sophia. i begged my mom and she said yes, after some time. we brought her home and yeah had her since.
info about sophia: she is friendly doesn't really growl only barks., and is sweet to me and my family.but there have been times when she's with me and then coco(my white german shepherd) came and he was stepping on my foot so i said OW! she snarled at him and bit at the nout (not too hard though) then came back. idk if it' s just playing or to protect me. she's a year old. and yeah sorry this is so long. i want to know if she would protect me, like if someone broke in or attacked me. she follows me around and listens to me. since day she did that. once someone was walking by and she flashed by (in our backyard) barking i went and told her to stop she did and was submissive. so yeah. i think she thinks of me as her master. do you think she would protect me? again sorry for it being so long. :)

Answer

Hi Lucy,

The incident of Sophia snapping at Coco sounds as though it was a protection response.  It's really hard to say if she would protect you from a person you didn't know, of if she's just dominating Coco.

You should tell Sophia "NO!" firmly whenever she snaps at Coco. Aggression could escalate quickly, and one of your dogs could get seriously hurt. You are the "alpha" (the one who's in charge) of your dog's "pack", or family group, and you need to be the one who lays down the law of what's acceptable, not Sophia. By allowing her to snap at Coco, Sophia learns that she's the one who's in charge, and that can lead to other aggressive situations. The moment Sophia backs down and listens to your "NO!" command, reward her with either affection or a small treat.  This will help reinforce your "pack" status of being the leader. Dogs are happier and calmer when they have strong and consistent leadership.... which should be you!

I hope I've been a help.
Best of luck,

Patti