I have been doing a great deal of research lately on dog aggression and might be able to help, but I need some details.

1. How old is Max? Is he an older dog that is just recently started growling? Is he a young pup? It could very well be medical. If he is hurt somewhere he might be growling to say "don't touch me".

2. When he growls, what is he doing? What are you doing? If you are reaching for him to put on a lead - could he have an ear infection so that if you touch his head it hurts him?

3. If you have ruled out any medical reasons - I would put him on a "Nothing in Life is Free" program. He must do a required behavior for everything. Make him sit before you feed him. Make him sit before he goes outside. Make him wait before you take him out. Put him in a down/stay and leave him there for increasing amounts of time. Praise greatly then treat before you release him.

There is a great booklet by Patricia McConnell that my behaviorist recommended called "How To Be Leader Of The Pack ... And Have Your Dogs Love You For It". She talked about Body Blocking, which I have started using and has been helpful with both my dogs. I got it from Amazon.com.

I think a trip to the vet might be in order to rule out any medical causes. Growling might just be Max's way of telling you something hurts.