Black Dogs Options

Forgive me if this is the wrong forum to post this in, but I haven’t seen anything about it yet.
Throughout my childhood I often saw a large black dog following me or walking around my yard at night. It would come and go but was mainly present during times of high stress. Anytime I asked anyone I was with about it they told me they didn’t see anything and thought I was just imagining things.
I’ve tried looking it up online and collected a few folktales about them but most seem to imply that it is a death omen of sorts. Given that I’m a live after twenty some odd years of seeing it I rather think the folktales are off a bit but I’m unsure as to why its there and what if anything I should be doing about it.
It has shown up in a few pictures I’ve taken during rituals, even though no one saw it at the time. I thought it might be some sort of familiar except that it always feels vaguely threatening. Anyone have a similar experience or advice?

Forgive me if this is the wrong forum to post this in, but I haven’t seen anything about it yet.
Throughout my childhood I often saw a large black dog following me or walking around my yard at night. It would come and go but was mainly present during times of high stress. Anytime I asked anyone I was with about it they told me they didn’t see anything and thought I was just imagining things.

I saw this and just had to reply! I have recently been exploring the black dog manifestations because my father has told me that these were protectors in our family's case. He said that my grandfather had built the house in which they grew up with his own hands; and when he was done, he performed some type of ritual which involved killing a chicken (which became their first meal in the house as a family) and pouring out the blood at the four corners of the house. This resulted in the appearance of four big black dogs which, according to their neighbors, would stand guard as it were around the house at night.