basically... no.. and anyone who tells you they are.. is.. in my opinion (and in Paco's).. a liar
This is Paco after the neighbor's dogs paid us a visit one night
wound mostly healed.. was on the back at the base of his neck
the attack happened at night.. emus sleep at night.. so he was just as vulnerable as a chicken or a duck. He was covered in blood.. had lost half his feathers.. it only took the dogs barely 2 minutes to do this damage to him. When I went outside to see what was going on he came running to me with a dog hanging off his neck. Had I been a minute late... he would have been a dead emu. As it was I was amazed he was alive the next morning. To the best of my knowledge.. the other emus didn't come to his rescue.. it was dark and they had all bedded down for the night. He was the only one that came running towards me for help.. the others were still down in the back where they bed down.
the dogs suffered 0 damage...
Now, had the dogs tried to come in during the day the emus would have tried to band together in an attempt to drive them off or kill them. They are very territorial when they can see what's going on.
so emus are good during the day.. but not at night. As juveniles or babies they are just as vulnerable to an attack as a chicken.. so they don't even work well as a daytime guardian until they are yearlings.. and at that age you would need several. A lone emu could be killed by a pack of dogs or coyotes .. but in a one on one fight (during the day).. the emu would probably come out ahead.
