I had a boss once who was notorious for shooting from the hip.  Not literally, but none of us were completely sure about that.  If you wanted a knee-jerk reaction, he was your guy.  He was military, Marine actually.  He kept a WWII-era helmet with lettering on his bookshelf that read, “Ready, Fire, Aim.”

Lewis could have been his mascot.  A recent big-guy episode proved to me that this former boss and Lewis might have been separated at birth.  A couple of weeks ago, we had out-of-town family visiting for a few days.  True to form, when they arrived, Lewis performed his innate guardian duties and started barking loud enough that dead people in the next county could hear.

Nothing surprising there.  As I’ve written before, Lewis barks at everything from joggers to stray paper plates.  But that initial security posture with the family soon gave way to his usual hobbies of “What are you eating, give me some,” and sleeping…wherever he decides to plant his big white butt.  The surprise came the next morning when the family guests came downstairs.  And you guessed it, Tubby Boy fired up his vocal cords and serenaded everyone in the house with his version of “Ye gods, there is someone else in my space!”  Somehow Lewis had forgotten them from the day before.  Or did he?

After extensive consideration (ok, for a fleeting second) I have come to the conclusion that Lewis didn’t exactly forget.  He was checking off his safety list.  Wait, what?  St. Pyrenees carry a genetically coded safety list in their head.  That’s why they bark at paper plates and flying plastic bags.  They possess generations of DNA designed to protect.  He was barking first and asking questions later.  Ready, fire, aim.

The neighbors notwithstanding, that’s why I take a fair amount of comfort in his over abundance of barking, because I know that anyone in their right mind wouldn’t dare cross his line, because this 140-pound guardian sounds like he would be in your shorts in a nanosecond.  Those of us who know the real Lewis know better.  He’s a big old teddy bear, but his DNA coding works.

So fair warning to all the flying plastic bags out there (and overnight guests)…ready, bark, aim!