Hi all,

We've had our Murphy for two months now; we rescued him from the shelter and don't know anything about his history (he's 2). He's never shown signs of abuse and is very friendly and loving with us. He lets us pick him up and hold him all the time, seems to love it in fact, and always rolls on his back for a tummy rubbing. (He's a 25 lb. border collie mix--maybe whippet and/or American pit bull terrier in there?)

The only time he had EVER growled at us was while chewing a rawhide bone that we gave him--we got a little too close and he felt threatened/protective. I know this is typical instinctual behavior and I'm not really alarmed by it. But then, yesterday afternoon, I was brushing my hair and he was sitting nearby, and suddenly, I heard him growl at me! Shocked, I went over and pet him, and he seemed perfectly fine.

Later last night, he was chewing on a stuffed toy bone and ripped it open, started eating the stuffing, etc. When my husband tried to take it away, he growled again. We were able to distract him with a little treat and get the bone away.

Murph gets up like clockwork at 6:30 or 7 a.m., and on the weekends, it's no different. He'll usually nudge our toes or yip/bark a little to wake us up on the weekends. But then--last night--we were awakened at 4:30 to hear him in our room, yipping/whining and nudging our toes and generally being a nuisance. He's never done this before on a weekday, or so early in the morning. The yipping/whining was interspersed with a low growling--this was a first. At first we reacted, telling him no, guiding him to his bed, but eventually we just ignored him, and after about 30 minutes, he went back to sleep. I know he didn't need to go out--he was just being a brat, so to speak; he wanted us to get up and be with him.

I have to admit I'm a little perturbed. I'm not afraid of him, really, but we've only had him for two months, so we don't know him completely yet. I don't want this behavior to get out of hand. Perhaps he's starting to think like an alpha? We don't let him on our bed or furniture, we make him sit, lay down, etc. for treats...what else can we do? I searched these boards and found some advice for eating a little something ourselves before feeding him his dinner...we're going to try that.

ANY advice would be welcome! I want to nip this in the bud!!