Poll: Has your dog ever growled at you?

Has your dog ever growled at you? Today when I tried to take Major's bone away from him, he let out this really mean growl..Should I be concerned??

Never. I refuse to own a large dog that I feel threatened by. Even my rainbow bridge dog, Rosco was never aggressive towards us. He was aggressive towards other children, that is why he had to be put down.

Sarah, my pomeranian has growled and has bitten me though. We're working on it and it is unacceptable. But I'm not overly concerned because she isn't physically capable of killing me.

Lacey does growl at well, everything. She is very vocal and is always making some kind of noise so in our situation we're not too concerned about it. She does get protective of her chewbones but will let Mandy take it but she doesn't want the cats near it. I guess you should try to teach Major not to do that. Maybe offer him a treat to let you take the bone away and then give it back to him. Let him know it's ok for you to take things from him. Maybe someone else could give you more advice on training him to do that.

I have never heard Samantha growl in a non-playful way (you know, that gutteral doggie noise they make when they're playing and having fun?) except for when Lila would push her too far last week. That is the ONLY time in two years, I have heard her growl nastily and show her teeth.

Arthur growled at me once.... ONCE... He's protective over his food if one of the other dogs get too close, and usually i don't pay attention to it cuz he never has a problem with me sticking my hand in his bowl. Then the other night, I went to pet him while he was chewing on a chewie and he growled at me. I picked him up, rolled him, took the chewie out of his mouth, got in his face and said "NO GROWL!" Since then, I've been able to take anything I wanted out of his mouth.

Just make sure that Major doesn't forget that you're top dog. Don't be afraid to roll him, to show YOUR dominance. Food agression can lead to other problems, so you don't want to let is escalate. :)

Hmm well Major didn't show his teeth, but I have a feeling he might have tried to snap if I DID take the bone away...I probably did the wrong thing, letting him have it, but it was the first time he'd done this (to me, I think he growled at my sister once) and I was so surprised, and a little sad.

i dont think that you should be concerned because your dog just wanted to keep the bone and she didn't want you to take it away. my dog does the same thing.:)

Puppies will do it on occasion. They're saying "This is MINE, and you can't have it." What they have to understand is it may be theirs, but YOU can take anytime you want to. If Major should get something that could harm him, and you need to take it away you need to not be afraid to do it.

I was watching animal cops the other day on Animal Planet and they had rescued this shep x, who had a collar embedded in his neck. Sweet , sweet dog. Until they fed him and did the agression test. They put the food down and used a rubber manaquin hand. He put holes in that hand! If it had been a human, they would have lost a finger or two. Because he was food aggressive, he was put down.

I know Major isn't THAT bad, but with something like that you need to be sure you nip it in the bud before it turns into something worse.

Bella will growl at me (and/or Ripley) when we play Tug-O-War with her. Every dog I have ever owned has growled while playing Tug-O-War. I guess they are trying to scare me into giving up. :rolleyes: Ripley will growl back at her when they are playing Tug-O-War and it sounds like they are both ferocious! Come to think of it, I don't think Ripley has ever growled at me, even in playing.

Ok, I'll try what you said if it happens again (which I'm sure it will since I let him get away with it) Hopefully he'll learn soon.

Have you ever worked with Major on the 'give' or 'leave it' command? They come in very handy, like another poster said if you HAVE to get something away from him, something that could harm him.

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Originally posted by Pam
Bella will growl at me (and/or Ripley) when we play Tug-O-War with her. Every dog I have ever owned has growled while playing Tug-O-War. I guess they are trying to scare me into giving up. :rolleyes: Ripley will growl back at her when they are playing Tug-O-War and it sounds like they are both ferocious! Come to think of it, I don't think Ripley has ever growled at me, even in playing.

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There is a difference between the play growl and the REAL thing. Arthur play growls all the time, and Anna is very vocal. But I know when they're playing, and if I'm dumb enough to stick my hand in the middle of a couple of wrestling rotties I'm asking for trouble! :)

I'm going to try working on leave it, but I haven't so far. If he has a blanket, (or mitt, or anything) I just hold on, say Drop It, and he will let go. But the rawhide peace was kind of small and I didn't want my hand to get to close, not knowing if I should or not.

Meeka has never growled at me or anyone or anything... (that I know of ) But if Major growled at you for trying to take his bone... Then it is not too serious. He was probably just protecting his toy just lik some dogs are protective of there food. But he most likely can be trained not to do that.:D

Duke and I play very rough and he growls viciously. I'm the only one that can play with his rawhide like that. He did show his teeth one time and I scolded him in a stern voice and took away the rawhide. It's fun. I play with him when I get home from work. He greets me with the rawhide in his mouth and then I try and take it away from him.

In almost 13 years Angus has growled at me 2x's. Once I was just playing with him and his treat and he growled. Of course I immediately took it from him and gave him a good scolding (in other words I hurt his feelings:o ). And the other time I was trying to fix his blanket under him to cover the floor. Of course I scolded him and made him go outside for a little while.
Since then, he's never growled at me again.

Neither Roxey nor Huney has ever growled at me in a mean way.

If I were you I would definately teach him the "drop it" command.

Mickey will only growl when we play growl, but never directly AT me. He'll growl at the toys or at my hands.

How is Major with food in general? Does he show aggression, growl, give you "that look" if you or another animal approaches his bowl? I worked on this with Star since puppyhood, hand feeding her, then putting my hand in her bowl when she ate, lifting it and taking it away, making her sit then giving it back and so on. I worked hard too on the "leave it" command and if she ever accidentally bit my hand while playing rough, I'd pull my hand away, look upset and say loudly "ouch, NO BITE!" It worked great and to this day, she and Cody can eat together out of the smallest dish and she never will try and take Cody's bone, food etc. I'd try working hard with a rawhide, offering it to him, holding onto it, then taking it away, giving the "leave it" command. Make him sit then offer it again, take it away, and so on. Do it again and again and again. He'll get the idea. And do that with his other toys, his food, etc. He has to know that you can give it and you can take it away, anytime! You might also check out the "Nothing in Life is Free" dog behavior program. I hear people have great results with it! Maybe someone has a link; more info!

Found a link:)

NILF Training Program

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Originally posted by MariaM
Hmm well Major didn't show his teeth, but I have a feeling he might have tried to snap if I DID take the bone away...I probably did the wrong thing, letting him have it, but it was the first time he'd done this (to me, I think he growled at my sister once) and I was so surprised, and a little sad.

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What I do with Nova is I give her a Puperonie (dog treat) for her bone. Now she doesn't mind me takign her bones because it means she gets the treat.

Ashley

I don't think Major's growl was good AT ALL. Nor should it have been something he got away with.

Since day 1 with Kiara i've been taking things away from her, sticking my hand in her food bowl while she eats, putting my face in her food bowl, putting my face near hers while she chews her bone, touching her while she chews/eats....etc.

The same with Simba. The same with Nala. I don't let them get away with a single growl over a bone or with food. If they growl at Kiara while they're eating or chewing on something, it gets taken away from them. Growling aggressively is NOT accepted, especially not towards me, and especially especially not over food.

Now, Nala is still in the process of realizing, if I growl over this bone, I don't get the bone. She's done really good with Kiara within the couple days we've had her. A majority of the time, she just lets Kiara walk right up and steal it... she would have NEVER allowed this before.

The way I think of it, is what if it's a child, instead of me reaching for that bone. For one, it'd scare the childs, and the last thing we need is more people afraid of dogs. Another, it may not have been just a growl that time, it could have been a bite. Although, children also should know not to take things away from someone's dog.

I forget who said it, but there's a huge difference between a play growl and a "mean" growl. With my dogs I know the difference in their growls. They do growl while playing, which I'm fine with. But when they get "that tone" with me, it is not accepted.

Nala has never growled at me aggressively. Simba has, back when he had very bad ear problems and wasn't feeling well at all. While I cleaned his ears, he growled. It scared me because he's never gone something like that before. It wasn't accepted then, although I kind of let it slid more than I would now because he was in so much pain.

When Tommy was a bit younger one time, I was about to put the dogs to bed and he was curled up by the couch in the living room. I called him to go to bed, and he just laid there looking at me. I went over and reached for his collar and he jerked his head away suddenly and growled, but did not bare his teeth or snap. Then he immediately leaped to his feet and dropped into a play bow, and then ran crazily around the living room a couple times in his hyper playful way before barreling on down the hall and into his bed where he knew was what I wanted. I was puzzled by this, as his behavior did seem somewhat defiant, but then also like he wanted to make a game of it. I since learned it always makes him nervous when someone grabs for his collar, and as I know he had been abused before he came here, I'm guessing he may have been dragged around by the collar as a pup too, I know of a certainty by the time he was 6 months old and the owners were getting rid of him, he lived on the end of a chain.

Anyway, was the growl real? To me it seemed like the same kind of response as a dog who yawns when nervous or uncertain. He jumped into an "I'm playing what a fun game!" mode but then did run off to his bed too. Afterwards, I worked with him more on come, go to bed, stay and so on, focusing on rewarding him when he did what I wanted. He's quite eager to please and loves food and praise reward so it was pretty easy. He loves to find treasures and carry them in his mouth but through time I taught him he got praise and reward when he came to me with things and gave them to me, so now when he finds things, he almost always comes to me and gives it to me rather than going off to hide with it.

I'd agree that working with Major on leave it, drop it, give it, etc. would probably be a good thing and would curb any possessive aggression that might develop. I do feel that when a dog shows defiance it is best not to get angry and disciplinary as this can spark a battle of dominance. Withdrawing attention and goodies and then rewarding them to him when he behaves properly is probably going to get the best results. Good luck. :)

Bitsy has never growled at anything. Buster shows his teeth to the cats if he's having mommy time and one of the cats try to hoard in, but he gets scolded. We laugh more then anything because he is missing some teeth (including both k9's), and he looks so funny. Charlie on the other hand hates his nails clipped and will growl when we are clipping them. If he's being bad we use a muzzle. If he's good while we're clipping them then he gets a biscuit, if he's bad he gets the muzzle on (which he hates) and no biscuit. He knows now and usually behaves well.

Cody has the same collar issues as Tommy, Jess:( She becomes terrified if anyone suddenly goes to grab her collar without her being aware, even for a benign reason. She flips her head back and mouths your hand. She was abused, as Tommy and I'm sure she relates a collar grab with harsh discipline:(

Disney will growl when you try to take her rawhide bone away from her but only in play. She thinks it is part of playing if you say "I'm gonna get it" she will growl but not snap or bite. Other than that the only other time she has growled is at one of the cats if they bother her in her bed.

Sandra that does sound like Tommy. I've tried to work with him on it, associating placing a hand on his collar is nothing to worry about. He hasn't ever shown true aggression but he will still jerk his head and get a fearful look in his eyes. :(

Snowy has only growled in that mean way twice; when a huge dog tried to attack her and after her first trip the the groomer. (Horrible groomer, we haven't taken her back there since, she had cuts from her that we found later) Other then that she is either barking at people on the street or sleeping.

-Chrissy

Kay, you and I have very similar views on the whole growling thing. I was the one who said there's a big difference between the play and the mean growl.

Someone said they didn't want a big dog they were afraid of, and the only way you won't be afraid of a dog when they're 100 lbs is if you curb bad behaviour when they're 20 lbs. I know a lot of people who would never get into a rotti's face the way I get into Arthur and Anna's sometimes when they start getting too rough. When they get to be 100+ lbs they'll know without a doubt who's boss.

The only reason I don't say or do anything when Arthur growls at Charlie when he's eating is because if he didn't Charlie would bully him and eat his food. I've rolled Charlie several times for being a bully and stealing the other dogs' food, but my poor baby has a learning disability, and can barely manage basic commands. *sigh* :rolleyes: As long as Bella and myself can stick our hands in his food, in his mouth etc I can't blame him for telling Charlie to back off when he goes to steal his food.

You got some great tips! Kai has never growled at me. Even in the car ride home, the day we got him, I immediately started working on being alpha. I won't accept it from my dogs. Play growls I don't mind. Any aggressive responses I work on immediately.

Kaedyn did growl at me though. In fact, he attempted to bite me. He was dominant when we got him so I had to work a lot with him. He growled when we asked him to down (he even did it in front of the trainer at obedience classes). He then bit me when I made the mistake of towering over him and asking him to down. But everytime he did it, I made sure he knew it wasn't tolerated. He was immediately put on NILIF and got better within the first 2 weeks. After the 6 weeks of obedience, he was completely different (to the family). He's still fear aggressive so he actually lunges at people but we're working on that. Around the family though, he doesn't give the slightest growl anymore.

Kodie only growls at me is when he is playing,otherwise it's a playful growl.he's never been aggressive at all!

Ok, thanks everyone, I will try some of the things you've been telling me. I already am on the NILIF thing.

I'm still teaching Major "drop it". He won't sit, have something in his mouth, and drop it. I have to hold on and then say it, but at least he's got that down so far.

I've never seen Major give me "that look". I pet him while he eats sometimes. Another animal hasn't ever approached his bowl while he was eating. I think he'd just eat quicker though. Oh, and before I give him his food, I ALWAYS make him give me his both paws (I'm trying to teach him Sit Pretty...so far not working lol) and then shake, other, and down and sit. Then he gets his food.

I'm pretty sure the growl was real, it sounded pretty mean.

Thanks everyone, from what you've all said, I have some better images in my mind of what to work on/do when it happens, etc.

I agree, you got some good advice.

Major isn't very old, is he? I think since he is young, this thing can ne nipped right now, and if your consistant, let him know it is NEVER acceptable to growl at you that way, hopefully it will not happen again.

My cousin Jack has 2 pitbulls, the female is about 65 pounds and the male is about 100+, him and his wife Kim are "married with dogs", the dogs are their children, and it would NOT be acceptable for a child to not let you take something, or yell at you, so it's not acceptable for a dog. They still get in the pittie's faces, or they get a lecture and then put into a room or put outside!!

I also like the NILIF idea, I am working on some of those things with Jasper, just so he is more appreciative(sp) and I have more controll.

I picked yes, because it wasn't multiple choice.

Piddle has growled at me, he growls when we play, but he also growls if Im bugging him, but never much.

Wiggles sometimes growls if you disturb her when shes sleeping, I never let her get away with it though, my mom just leaves her along when she growls, which IMO isn't going to help.

Jasper, however, has never growled at anyone, he only growls at his toys sometimes when hes playing. I can take anything from him, I have taken bones, treats, toys, stuffie EYEBALLS..etc..etc..etc out of his mouth, children can take things from him, strangers can take things from him...etc.

none of my dogs have ever growled at me.

Claire and Rebel both have only growled while playing a tug type game nothing aggressive at all though. I don't tolerate it either, if they ever do growl they will be scolded. I always make sure they know I'm boss, if I want the toy, the toy is mine, if I want their leg, it's mine too.

I've seen alot of stuff in my 7 months at the animal hospital, handling strangers dogs, b/c that's basically what I do, I don't want to get bit, but sometimes I never know.... :( That's what I don't like about my job, actually I hate it, I don't plan to be there much longer. That's one of the best reasons to try out what you think you want to do, you may not like it like you thought you would. I mean, I love the animals but there are those times when I get waaay too stressed and they are enough to get me out of it eventualy. Ok, that turned into a rant..... lol!!! Sorry!

With Major you might try, while he's still small, picking him up and looking in his eyes, while saying, "NO!" Once the dog looks away, even for a brief second, it means they have submitted to you. This imprints on the dog that you are in control. When they are bigger, much bigger, they still think you are capable of this sort of control, and they will heed you. I understand that tigers are trained in this fashion!

Sheba has growled a couple of times at me when she
was young.

I hand fed her as a pup and stuck my head in her dog
bowl. (not recomemding that training method)
When Shebs got older and I gave her a special
treat she did growl on two different occasions.
(I did nip it in the bud and that was that.)

Now that she is old, she will give a low warning growl on
rare occassions when she is not feeling well and I want to clip her nails or I help lift her up. I just ignore her because of
her age. But even that is very rare.

Big doofess Rocky to my knowledge has never growled at me.

You got some good advice from others. :D

Ok, so I have some questions. After your replies, a took a biscuit and starting training Major "leave it" I got to the point where I could put the biscuit on his paw, and he would just stare there for...about 5-10 seconds. After that he got a little restless, so I tried to reward him before that point. He did pretty good, I think, considering it was his first time.

Then, later I gave him the rawhide peice he growled at before. When I got to close to him, he growled, so I turned him on his back, said NO! and stuck my hand in his mouth. He was holding onto the peice so I just kind of pulled until I got it. I repeated NO! and then went inside.

Then, about 5 minutes ago, I gave him the peice again. He tried running away from me , but I put him on the cable so he couldn't. Then, whenever I got to close, he turned his head really fast so I couldn't get it. Finally, he layed down and started chewing. I took the peice and said "drop it" and he just lied there looking at me. Then I said "shake" and he did, so I gave it back to him. I kept taking it from him, sometimes he was a little reluctant, but he didn't growl during this little thing. Finally I just took it away from him (but gave him a peice of food) and threw it away because it was getting too small.

Haha, ok forgot my questions. Anything to add to what I did? Did I do it right this time?
Is give it the same as drop it?

I think so, I just always used the word give.

You're on the right track! Sounds like he's getting the idea that when you say drop it, or give it or leave it you MEAN it. That's the main thing. With you taking it away when it growls, he'll start getting the point that if he growls, the chewie goes away. If he's good, he gets it back. Just keep working on him. I wish training my mutts were that easy. LoL I have to coral mine by themselves in order to do anything. :)

Most of my dog "play growl" a lot, especially when playing tug of war.

But, as for real growling .... well, a couple of them have issues, that's for sure.

Twister has a major fear-aggression problem. The slightest discipline, even just giving her "the look", and she is bearing those teeth. It's been a long road, but she's improving, to some degree. When I first got her, she bit all the way through my hand!

Basil was a terribly dominant dog when I got him. In fact, he was taken to animal control to be euthanized for aggression. He was, though, simply a dominant, unneutered male terrier who had belonged to very quiet, timid people who feared him. NOT a good combination. He growled and snarled and barked at everyone when I got him. It was 95% bluff, but would definately be intimidating to someone who didn't know terriers. He is MUCH better now .. almost like a normal dog. ;)

All of my dog were rescues, with past home ranging from zero discipline to horrible abuse, though ... so they have more issues than your typical family pet. All the nice typical family pets, I found homes for ... I got stuck with the rejects. :)

Neither of my girls have growled at any of us in the family. I have done the same as KayAnn and have always taken their food and bones and gotten my face right down there. both girls learned very early on to "drop it" and "leave it". I highly reccommend teaching this with Major. Best of luck!

I also try to go by the Nothing in life is free program. I can't seem to get that through Alden and Brandon's head though..lol