Jack is the protective type too. He is not only protective but jealous!
He gets jealous if me, my husband or our daughter is showing any type of attention to the cats. He will start barking. My hubby and I were playing a few days ago - hubby was play spanking me and Jack started barking at him. When my hubby and I kiss, Jack will start barking and try to get in front of us. He'll put his paw on my face like he's saying "you can't kiss him, only me!" Too funny. Jack will also wake up out of a dead sleep if he hears anything and starts barking like a maniac to warn us. It was bad last week when we had our first real amount of snow. The snow plows came out and he was up all night barking every time he heard them go down the street or in the driveway. It was kind of funny (although I was dead tired last Monday at work - lol) and I am happy to report that the big bad snow plows did not harm us in any way.
I'm sure it was Jack's barking in the middle of the night that kept them away.
LOL