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Dan and Ann      When our girls were small (2-4 yrs old) we lived on a mountainside above a remote town and had a pair of Black Labs that were, from the same litter. They were named Dan & Ann (after the old story book pair of dogs the girls' Mom read to them, of course). Dan was a very large felow and Ann was no lightweight. They were very bright hounds, quick to learn and eager to please.
     The Labs would take daily walks with the girls. The girls fancied themselves as being great and brave wilderness explorers. We would watch this "Little People's Parade" from the house and see the Labs constantly running circles around the kids as the girls trekked all over the hills, picking flowers, throwing rocks and engrossing themselves in brand new adventures.
     Occasionally you'd see one of the Labs, usually Dan, jumping straight up and down like a big spring for several seconds and then grab up a sneaky-snake and shake it into pieces while the other Lab kept a tight circle leaning on the kids and kept the girls from going farther until the snake was taken care of. Then Dan and Ann would herd the girls away from the remains of the snake. Some we checked were rattlers and some were blowsnakes. After the snake was thouroughly trampled and dismembered, the Labs would continue circling the girls on thieir adventures until the kids got tired and headed back to the house.
     There was an air base about 30 miles West, as the crow flies over the mountain, and occasionally the chopper pilots would circle down their side of the mountain range then come up the canyon and run up the valley. As soon as the approaching choppers got within 3-4 miles, both dogs would push the kids down, stand over them and growl fiercely at the planes, Fangs, ears and tails all warning off the invaders. The kids always bellered and bitched the whole time they were on the ground and tried to push the dogs away or get up again, but there was no way those hounds would allow the kids to make first contact with those alien invaders! It was a real treat to watch, and when the kids got back home they always "tattled" on the dogs for pushing them down. It took a few times to make the kids understand that the dogs didn't know those particular planes were OK, and they were just protecting their little people, and to not discourage the dogs while they were doing their jobs. Finally the kids learned to just stay down and relax until the dogs were happy with their job of scaring off the helicopters. Funny, when only adults were out and a chopper came by, the Labs would give them a long look, check around to make sure the kids weren't there, then they'd go back to whatever they were doing before. Usually snoozing somewhere in dogville.
     Darn good and smart wilderness baby-sitters those dogs were!