Deadly Protection begins with a man (Sam Groom) obtaining a guard dog for protection of his family only to have it go berserk and kill his young daughter. Quincy (Jack Klugman) conducts the autopsy on the girl and investigates further to determine how this tragic event occurred and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. When he visits the training kennel where the dog was obtained from, he sees that the dogs are taught well and properly taken care of which leads to further questions as to how this happened. When another dog at the kennel suddenly goes berserk and dies shortly thereafter, the owner, Mike Snyder (Jim Antonio), realizes that the dog in question is not the one he raised and trained but a nearly identical substitute which had been abused and malnourished by an unreputable trainer.
This is a fairly decent episode which does feature an investigation of sorts as well as a crime, but just not in the manner that we are used to on Quincy. I have to admit that I was on the wrong track with how this story was going to go based on something that the father does in the opening scenes which I won't give away (judge for yourself), but alas it was nothing that sinister and the crimes ended up being of a different nature. I actually think that the story could have been a stronger one had they also included a plot line like the one I just suggested, but as is it still ends up being an interesting story. There are also some funny moments where Quincy adopts a dog from the shelter and tries to hide him in the lab from Dr. Asten (John S. Ragin) until he can find someone to take care of the pup which are quite enjoyable as well.
Overall this is a rather unique late Season 7 episode which could have been stepped up a notch with a murder plot twist thrown in, but still remains entertaining and is worth watching.