Poll: Has your dog ever growled at you?

[MariaM]

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??

[Tonya]

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.

[chocolatepuppy]

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.

[Samantha Puppy]

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.

[heinz57_79]

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.

[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.

[dog'n'goatgal21]

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.

[heinz57_79]

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.

[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. 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.

[MariaM]

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.

[chocolatepuppy]

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.

[heinz57_79]

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. 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.

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!

[MariaM]

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.

[swimma253]

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.

[dukedogsmom]

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.