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Incompetent Guard Animal

 Incompetent Guard Animal
type
FeatureClass
 Incompetent Guard Animal
label
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal
page
IncompetentGuardAnimal
 Incompetent Guard Animal
comment
You pay for a clan of wild hyenas to prowl the gardens at night at your swanky crib to disembowl any intruder that tries getting in, only to see on the security cameras that they let the burglars in after a quick round of fetch and a belly-rub. Just can't find good help anymore, can you?
Often times the animal in question comes in one of two flavors. The first is that the animal tried being a vicious guard animal, but is physically incapable of accomplishing this, like a chihuahua or a Pomeranian or a pet rock. The second kind (the more popular kind because it is more hilarious) is often an animal that should be intimidating - like a rabid wolf-hybrid Doberman, a Bengal tiger or a Megalodon in the castle moat - but it doesn't have a vicious bone in its body. It'll purr, rub against the intruding person, lick their face, maybe even roll-over wanting a belly-rub. It is just the cutest thing ever and it has no right to be. Go Fetch may be used to demonstrate this.
Animal equivalent of The Guards Must Be Crazy and Police Are Useless. The Real Life version is Never Work with Children or Animals. See also All Animals Are Dogs and All Animals Are Domesticated. The Big Friendly Dog might be this, if it doesn't know when not to be friendly.
 Incompetent Guard Animal
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2023-07-26T07:43:36Z
 Incompetent Guard Animal
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2023-07-26T07:43:36Z
 Incompetent Guard Animal
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DBTropes
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_261c8d3f
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_261c8d3f
comment
The Simpsons:
In the episode "Homer the Vigilante", a cat burglar very easily keeps Santa's Little Helper at bay by offering it a sausage. Amusingly straight afterwards he uses the same trick to distract a sleepwalking Homer.
Usually subverted with Mr. Burns' terrifying hounds, though the episode "Dog of Death" shows The Runt at the End, Crippler. As Burns laments, Crippler was once as vicious a beast as all his other dogs, but having been around since Woodstock, time hasn't been kind to him.
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_2a8943c0
comment
Fang, Jagged Stone's pet crocodile from Miraculous Ladybug, behaves less like the swamp predator that he is and more like a pet dog, wagging his tail, panting with his tongue hanging out, having his belly scratched and so on. In "Pixelator", he consistently act like a lovable pet, so when the titular villain Pixelator breaks into Jagged's hotel room with the intent of kidnapping him, Jagged tries to have Fang attack him, only for the crocodile to roll over, wanting a belly-rub.
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 Miraculous Ladybug
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_2a926539
comment
El Gringo: The failure of the dog The Man adopts to help him in a fight (save for in the final scene) or warn him when someone is about to attack him or steal his money becomes a Running Gag.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_2a926539
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Incompetent Guard Animal / int_2a926539
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_34f616fc
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_34f616fc
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Throughout most of the Foghorn Leghorn shorts, Barnyard Dog is shown to be an almost counter productive guard dog. Almost always sleeping on the job, he tends to only pay attention to farmyard predators like Henery Hawk and "Bill" the Weasel when directing them towards his Arch-Enemy Foghorn, who trolls Barnyard ceaselessly for his idleness.
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3729373e
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Detroit: Become Human: When Connor breaks into Hank's house (to help Hank, who was passed out on the floor) a huge Saint Bernard named Sumo confronts him, growling—but a few calm words from Connor are enough to befriend him. Slightly later, as Connor drags Hank into the bathroom to sober him up, and Hank protests:
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3729373e
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 Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
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Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3729373e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3adfb1ba
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House of Mouse: In the short "Pluto vs. the Watchdog", Mickey tries to test Pluto's watchdog abilities by pretending to be a burglar, but he's only interested in playing with him, prompting him to buy another dog. Little does he know that the new dog is actually working with Pete to help rob the house, but Pluto ends up foiling both of them.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3adfb1ba
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3f8a321d
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3f8a321d
comment
In the "Family Dog" episode of Amazing Stories, the dog fails to stop burglars twice; the first time because he had eaten too much, the second because he overslept. His owner takes him to be trained to be a more vicious guard dog, and the third time he succeeds in chasing away the burglars. In fact, it works too well, as the dog has followed them to their hideout, and when it attacks a cop who came to arrest them, they decide to use him as an accomplice in their crimes. Eventually, the dog turns on the burglars and he returns home... where it attacks his master after he gets locked out of the house and has to sneak in through a window.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_3f8a321d
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_67220532
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_67220532
comment
On one episode of It Takes a Thief (2005), a homeowner trained his own guard dog. The dog was vicious, but the design of the house, combined with incomplete training, meant Jon was able to trick the dog outside and lock the dog on the back patio while he robbed the house. This was subverted on the return visit, where the patio had been redesigned to not allow the dog to be trapped outside, and the dog himself had received professional training.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_67220532
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 It Takes a Thief (2005)
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Incompetent Guard Animal / int_67220532
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_6b7ddb6d
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_6b7ddb6d
comment
The infamous "Kennel From Hell" match between Al Snow and Big Bossman from the 1999 Unforgiven pay-per-view had "angry guard dogs" in the space which separated the Hell in a Cell and the Steel Cage. The problem was that the dogs (four rottweilers) generally acted like overgrown puppies. They completely ignored the wrestling match and instead were urinating, defecating, barking at each other and even mating.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_6b7ddb6d
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_6b7ddb6d
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 Al Snow (Wrestling)
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Incompetent Guard Animal / int_6b7ddb6d
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_880cfa15
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_880cfa15
comment
Invoked in Hogan's Heroes with the dogs of Stalag 13, which were secretly trained by the Heroes' French member Le Beau to disregard their comings and goings (one of their secret tunnel entrances is even beneath the dogs' kennel) and bark on their command whenever it was necessary to the Heroes' scams to pretend to be captured "trying to escape".
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_8ad6e76f
comment
Subverted in Carpe Jugulum: Nanny Ogg suspects that Scraps, the Mix-and-Match Dog will be this, because he's got the jaws of Rottweiler, but the brain of a spaniel. Igor assures her that he will deal with intruders effectively by either drowning them in slobber or beating them to death while wagging his tails.
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_98b9912e
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In the Goofy cartoon "Man's Best Friend", Goofy goes out for the evening and leaves his dog to guard the house. That night, a burglar breaks in, has a shoot out with police, and gets arrested, all without the dog waking up. But when Goofy returns, his own dog growls at him and chases him up a tree.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_98b9912e
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_d5164c46
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_d5164c46
comment
Justified in Hades. Cerberus, guard dog of the Underworld, blocks the exit of the Temple of Styx, but Zagreus can easily bribe him with a snack. After all, Zagreus is the Prince of the Underworld and Cerberus is his pet; Cerberus may be a Big Friendly Dog to him, but not to a stranger. Zagreus also implies that if anyone tried to pet Cerberus without knowing to only pet the left head, he'll snap at them.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_d5164c46
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_e49340b
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_e49340b
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Invoked in The Prisoner of Limnos when Penric twice uses his sorcerer's version of a shaman's geas to convince guard dogs that he's actually their best friend. The first time is with the huge mastiffs guarding the Xarre estate, and the second time is with fluffy little dogs of the Lady's order on Limnos who are trained to sniff out males.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_e49340b
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_e49340b
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_eef69f10
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_eef69f10
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The fact that the guard dog was seemingly incompetent (it did nothing when a criminal drugged the stableboy and stole a prize racehorse) in the Sherlock Holmes story "Silver Blaze" was an important clue - the criminal was someone the dog was someone the dog was trained to not consider an intruder.
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_eef69f10
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 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_f2da188a
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Incompetent Guard Animal / int_f2da188a
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In The Batman episode "The Laughing Cats", the Joker, having recently acquired his hyenas, sets them on Catwoman. Selina instantly befriends them while lecturing the Joker that Hyaenidae are more closely related to felines than canines.
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The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Incompetent Guard Animal
processingCategory2
Animal Tropes
 Incompetent Guard Animal
processingCategory2
Comedy Tropes
 Incompetent Guard Animal
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Index Failure
 Incompetent Guard Animal
processingCategory2
Insecurity System
 Incompetent Guard Animal
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Pet and Animal Companion Tropes
 Incompetent Guard Animal
processingCategory2
Stupidity Tropes
 Life of Pets (Fanfic) / int_2f0bc75e
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 El Gringo / int_2f0bc75e
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone / int_2f0bc75e
type
Incompetent Guard Animal
 Mannequin / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Summer Rental / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Federation of the Hub / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Dog Signal (Manga) / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Hogan's Heroes / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 It Takes a Thief (2005) / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Family Dog / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Foghorn Leghorn / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Goofy / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 House of Mouse / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal
 Young Justice - Revival Series / int_2f0bc75e
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Incompetent Guard Animal