When I got my new rescue she growled every time she anywhere near out other dogs. But she would look like she was trying to play. I was nervous about this at first and so were my resident dogs. They were taken about too. Then on night my husband was playing with her and growling started, it goes more and more loud and CUTE. It was obvious from then on her growling was play. Now a few weeks later we crack up because she is such a vocal dog and the sweetest thing.
My Swissy NEVER plays growls!! The only time he growls is in warning and being a resource guarder we know exactly what he is saying. I have mixed feeling about correcting his growling. I get a lot of push back from many forum members on this subject. I understand it’s a warning and should be taken seriously and adhered to. I also understand that if you squash that behavior it may “not†get offered and instant a bite could occur with no warning. But this is when you need to know your dog. I want my Swissy to know there is no need for that behavior!! I understand the source of his “growling†and I work on that to eliminate growling. I am the only one he almost never growls at under these circumstances. But when he growls at my son I immediately step in. First, I distract the situation and give him a long NO……. ett ett. I want him to know I do not approve of that behavior (guarding) with my son. The growl is just a reaction to the cause. I find him looking to me often when he feels the need to guard to see what I am going to say or do, I then have the opportunity to intervene on his behalf, before the need to growl and have Cody step away and work a trade. If I didn’t tell him No and ett ett when he growled at Cody, I believe he would not look to me for direction as he does now and it would be a constant issue. I know instincts and dogs, but I truly believe you can teach right from wrong. River knows that guarding/growling at Cody is something I do not accept and therefore many times will just get up and move himself away. I know he would have in the past stayed, guarded and growled.
Now my DH has some really stupid idiotic friends. All of which we have told them 1,000 times!! Do NOT put your face in Rivers and pet and coo and be so direct and head on. But because he is friendly and comes to them looking for attention they all seem to want to grab his face and put theirs in his and ya know what, he growls at them. They all look at me like “what the heck?†All I was doing was petting him! In those situations I don’t ever stop him or tell him NO, I just call him to me and then put him away far from those idiots. I am always vigilant when my River is socializing with people just because he is one of those dogs who have quirks. He is protective when he is resting, if it’s on the sidewalk or a comfy bed he does not approve of any approach on him. No up and over the head greetings, no petting face to face does he tolerate and he is a resource guarder so when people are stupid and can’t listen to me I would like to smack them!! But in our home, with our family I am not as lenient with the behavior I let him know that he must be more tolerant of our family. And my family knows that they are to be more tolerant and respectful of his quirks and not press him but instead try to avoid the situations we know he doesn’t like. Fortunately, he has never tried to bite and only attempted a snap one time. He has wonderful bite inhabitation and demonstrates it often with our other dogs and us in play, so I pray that it is our saving grace should an accident ever happen. Just as an FYI, he is very dog friendly and things that would make him growl on humans go ignored with many canines. I don’t understand that completely but it is interesting.
