I think people forget that as
@Clint says they are wolves and have been domesticated by ourselves but like ourselves there are those that just aren't who we think they should be.Instinct.
If I be totally honest we had a Golden Labrador (Rex) in 1981 which was the most adorable friend a man could have, though sadly it got stolen by the army,which happened frequently with pedigree dogs then due to their qualities.
In February 1983 we had moved home and one day the Rex was spotted by my older brother in the back of an army land rover which was traveling at around 20 mph on a country road.
He just knew the dog and whistled which took the poor soldier by surprise as the dog bolted out of it's handler's grasp from the back of the vehicle and run towards my brother who then run the other direction with the dog in tow,but guess what?
The jeep didn't stop it just kept going....
Labradors are an extremely loyal pet and this one had stopped a Kerry blue from attacking my brother and had ended up with a tuft of hair raised along the centre of it's spine caused by a wound inflicted by the Kerry blue that day which was impossible to see but there was a bond that went deep.
The same family member/pet/friend/dog laid down on the grass and let my younger brother and friends grab him by the ears,sit on his back whilst sat on the ground and use him like a racing car and then turn over and let my brother fall gently on the grass so he could go ward off a black Labrador from the estate who was not as nice.
Rex also had a disappearing act after a while which worried us but was at a set time everyday which we all thought strange.
One day the local farmer comes knocking on our door enquiring about Rex????
We knew the farmer was having troubles with dogs from the estate and we thought it was Rex.
You have a golden lab Christie?
Yes I do my father said:
Where is he?
Why?
I haven't seen him in a few days and I'm worried he may have taken the meat I left for the other dogs.
He's here.
Where?
Where he lay down after he came from the vet who said he was dying and he could put him down or we could take him home.
The poor man broke down in years as the same dear friend of our family was also his who escorted him in the mornings when we thought he was missing and knew him as we played on his land with Rex.
Same friend helped him with his walk around his farm in the mornings looking after his sheep and we didn't know.
We had dogs and great dogs afterwards but I could never put my own family through that heartbreak hence we have had rabbits and hamsters,but one day maybe.