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.