This may be another thread altogether, but...
My house dogs have free reign at night. (there are outside dogs too) They sleep in one of two bedrooms with kids. They are ultra alert and aware for anything out of place and imediately attempt to confront anything not right. I love my dogs, but they arent people or kids. I wont risk my life or the lives of my wife and children by putting myself in harms way to pull the dogs to safety. They are working animals that have a solid place in my heart, but if something happens to me, whos lookin out for my wife and kids?
All that said, if there is a threat in the house, I'll have to confront it just to gather my family into one place.
Dogs are the first line of defense, and not the last. My philosophy is "Behind the Gun", get everyone behind the gun, whatever it takes. My dogs do the same thing without being told, they just get there first, and hold. I've seen them do it, bark and hold, and dont let anyone pass.
So dogs sound the alarm, wife calls 911, I gather up the chillins and use whatever force is necessary to acomplish that and defend them. Do we go through this every time the dogs bark? Nope. But they have different barks. If the dogs arent interested in a noise, neither am I.