The thing I love about having an IW... people don't know the breed cause it's not very common. So it's annoying that I can't walk down the street without everyone stopping me to ask questions, but I can answer however I want. I don't want to give the breed a bad name at all, but I go for walks with my sister at night and lots of times it will be men going "Hey, cool dog. What kind is it? Can I pat him?" and a million other questions. From across the street I will answer their questions honestly about the breed, and I make sure to up-play their protectiveness of their family. No, you can't pat him cause you're a stranger and he will bite. "they mean dogs?" they ask. No, I tell them. They are very sweet, but very protective and this one has been trained well to protect me. It's dark and I don't know you... he has been trained to attack on command, but because of the setting I cannot be sure he won't bite you anyway.
That usually settles it. I always say what a wonderful breed IW's are and that they make great family dogs. But because he is so big, and so un-usual...he works well to scare off people who need scaring!
Vicki