Understanding & appreciating your dogs growl

[steve young]

Obey thy dog

I found this article interesting. Mylo has been growling at Sam and we were punishing him for growling. Really he's just communicating that he's not comfortable or he's scared. A dog that's doesn't growl can lash out without warning. So maybe step back and try to understand the situation from the dogs perspective.
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Steve Young
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Dogs: Sasha (10 yr Lurcher, male) and Mylo (1 yr Shepweiler, male)
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[Suzanne H]

I don't know that I agree with that. Depends on the situation. Otto has growled at humans twice in two and a half years.

He growled at me once when he was a juvenile. He was telling me he didn't want to move and was testing me. I grabbed his collar and moved him so fast his feet didn't touch the ground. If I hadn't, he'd have learned it was ok to tell me he didn't want to move...and it's not. He's never growled at me since.

He once growled at a special needs boy who approached him unexpectedly - he was on the lead and felt trapped. So now kids are told to ignore him and let him come to them which he will do after a while. I don't know if that's the right approach but he's not done it again.

If he growls at Rudi, he's telling Rudi to leave him or his bone alone and Rudi can work that out for himself. Our vet said, only intervene when you think it might require surgery.

[Lisa/Colin]

[kendal]

i think it depends on the situation, i have watched John in class and if a dog growls at him he will change his approacher avoid eye contact approach sideways let the dog sniff him first then praise the dog for allowing this.

to be honest i wouldn't want to back aways from any of my lot if they growl. and even at the kennels if there is a dog that is reacting to me or one of the others i will take note of what it is we are doing and try again using a different tact.

we get allot of dogs at the kennels that are a wee bit off for the first day or so, they are on there own there owner is nowhere to be seen there is all thees new smells other dogs barking. so some do growl at you, if you walked away from every dog that growled every time it growled at the kennels it would never get walked and would get frustrated and have pent up energy which could push them to aggression.

i agree they are trying to tell us something but i wouldn't say always back away. Innes is a pest to the girls and sometimes when they are trying to sleep and he is clambering over them on is annoying them in someway i don't mind them giving a little under the breath in fed up growl as it lets us know that he has gone to far. but if they ever growled at him during a game or over a treat i would have to correct that.


but i do agree if you have a nervous dog growling at you you need to take a step back and think what is it im doing that is making him uncomfortable, and what can i do different.
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