What is the difference between a family protector and a pp dog? To me, there is no difference...either is a dog TRAINED to stop a threat and release on command. If you are talking about an alarm dog, any barking animal can do it. But protector, involves engagement and stopping on command. From your description, your dog is a nice pet. As we know, most pets are not worked beyond normal activities. Unfortunately most of them are couch potatoes (not saying yours is one, because from the description you seem an active owner). Too many people use the "family protector" loosely, usually describing a family pet that shows threat display under certain situations. That is NOT a family protector, but a pet that SEEMS to have some defense drive. This is far from a real family protector. Regards