Some of you may remember my prior post on not appreciating my ex’s, for lack of a better term, caveman moments nearly enough. (This post will make a lot more sense if you read the other.)

Yesterday my fiance was putting my trash out on the street (which he started just doing all on his own every week once we started dating, what a guy!) when my neighbor’s dog came rushing at him teeth barred and growling in the street. (I am afraid of this dog, it has fear aggression, and I will not let my kids near it.)

The dog’s owner, my neighbor’s unemployed 50+ year old grown daughter who is a con, identity thief, and self proclaimed hippy (who more accurately just has a drug problem) came after the dog, which of course was not listening to her. (She and I get along, we wave and smile and say hi, but I know better than to get involved.)

My fiance looked her dead in the eye and said calmly, “If that dog bites me, I will shoot it.”

In the past I might have been horrified, told him off for talking to the neighbor like that, or thought he was being a jerk. Instead I realized I have another caveman, and this time I am going to let him do what he thinks he needs to do.

When a man loves a woman, he thinks of her safety always. That was really going on there, not some macho “I am going to shoot your dog,” moment. He loves dogs. His own dog is the most beautiful, healthy animal you will ever see. But in the caveman part of his mind, he saw that dog as a threat not just to himself, but to the territory and people he now feels compelled to protect.

I am pretty sure in his one act of drawing a firm line in the sand, he got the word out to this gal and all of her social crowd, that they better steer clear of my house, because I have another crazy caveman, he’s got a gun, and he’s not afraid to do what he needs to do. He’d give his life for me or my kids in a heartbeat, that man, and now that I understand this about men, I can see this protective drive as an expression of his deep love and devotion, not some misogynistic moment.

I know it sounds crazy, but I actually swooned!