I’ve written many blogs about growling…no one ever wants to be growled at, right? “There will be no growling in my house,” says many k9 guardians. I’ve even heard “our house is a no growl zone.” Well, I for one think that if a dogs feels like they need to growl, then they should growl. Why? Read on.
Growl - to utter a deep guttural sound of anger or hostility:
to murmur or complain angrily; grumble.
to rumble:
I hope that I will communicate the growl so that you can clearly understand what a growl is and how to deal with it. A growl is a communication and it should and must always be taken seriously and listened to. That said there are many reasons for a growl; complaint, guarding, alert , grumpiness, a warning and even play. But a growl is a growl, a canine communication
Since Riggs joined our family I have learned more about growling; he is a very vocal boy and complains out loud. When he doesn’t like something he growls or curls his lips up an item. This growl is directed at the action or item that he does not like. It is very different than a threat growl in that it is a complaint and although it is not a threat, he is communicating that he does not like something. So his growl is information letting me know what I need to work on.
If a strange dog growls at you, STOP. Just stop whatever you are doing…reaching for, looking at, talking to or whatever, just stop. It is a warning and the fact that you know nothing about a strange dog, you may get bit within seconds.
A growl is a communication from a dog. Once uttered, it needs to be listened to and addressed. The actual growl is the messenger that is delivering the message. What lies behind the growl is what is important. If your dog growls then you need to look at why they growled. Most people just want to shush a growl. But by stopping your dog from growling you are taking away their ability to communicate to you. What if your dog hates when strange children come near them and you cannot tolerate their growling. You teach them that they are not allowed to growl when children come near; silencing their ability to “let you know.” When you take away your dogs ability to communicate; then you have a very dangerous situation on your hands. You have a dog that cannot tell or warn people that they do not want their child near them.
NEVER, EVER stop a dog from growling. If you do want to stop your dog from growling, address the cause of the growl. Many dogs growl when asked to get off of a human’s bed or to move over. This is a problem with the dog considering the bed to be their property. The easy solution to this is to not allow the dog free access to the bed. They must ask if they would like to come up and be given permission before doing so. They must also learn to get off when asked to do so.
Maybe your dog growls when someone comes near their bowl? If you stop the growl with discipline, you are essentially stopping your dog from communicating; leaving them no option but to go right to biting if they feel the need. Most dogs don’t want to bite, but they all have different levels of tolerance. By using behavior modification the way it should be used; you can turn a growling dog into a thing of the past. Even a food bowl guarder can be turned around by changing the meaning of people around their food bowl. I teach all of my puppies, client puppies and new dogs, people acceptance and even anticipation with food bowl proximity.
What you should do when your dog growls, is ask yourself “why?” Why is your dog growling? Once you understand why they are growling you can stop the growling by helping your dog to not feel like they have to growl. If you just stop the growl, you don’t actual fix anything while making things worse. So look at the cause and address that; once that is done the growling will no longer be needed.