Best Way To Respond To Intermittent Growling?

[Sundrop]

We adopted Finn last May, and he is a big sweet guy. He's pretty hard headed about certain things, and seems to "forget" things he has learned, but in the end, he's a goofy, sweet boy.

 

We have noticed that he can get a little growly when we go into his space - so we respect his space. He has never minded if we stand and pet/play - or if we sit near him, but about 25% of the time, he will growl (no snapping, biting, etc.) a little growl if we sit on his bed. So, we just don't do that. Our first boy was space aggressive, so we quickly learned to respect his space!

 

BUT - Finn will regularly plop himself down next to us when we are on the floor - mostly while we are petting our girl (who is currently dealing with osteasarcoma, so we are cuddling with her a lot). He will start cuddling up to us, and sometimes we respond, sometimes we do not. Again, maybe 10% of the times he does this, he will then growl.

 

It was a little surprising the first time he did this, as we'd had him for a couple of months and he seemed very interested in cuddling and being close to us (with or without our girl present). He often plops down on our feet when we are sitting and he is seeking attention - and even this has drawn a growl or two (sometimes when we ignore him, sometimes when we pet him).

 

So - should we just not let him sit/lie next to us at all? We don't want to scold him, as we know it is a warning that we should respect - but we aren't clear regarding the best way to deal with this. Not allow him to be close to us? Move him if he growls and he has come to us? What do you think? He actually growled a little at me two nights ago - I was lying down with our girl, he came behind me and laid down - not even touching me and no response from me - and within about 5 minutes he did a little growl - but also jumped up and walked away.

 

The growls have never escalated to anything else, no snapping, no biting or biting moves, etc. and it is normally just one low, quick growl. We've always learned quickly about space issues with our greys, but he's tough to figure out.

[DocsDoctor]

Could it be 'happy growling'? My old chap used to do this sometimes when he was being stroked and wanted to tell me how much he was enjoying it. Gave me quite a turn the first time but actually quite a few greyhounds do this, I believe. It was the equivalent to a cat purring, a lower and breathier sound than the growl he might make to e.g. warn a rude dog that it was getting too close. What is the rest of his body language trying to tell you at these times? Does he seem relaxed, or tense?

[racindog]

Could it be 'happy growling'? My old chap used to do this sometimes when he was being stroked and wanted to tell me how much he was enjoying it. Gave me quite a turn the first time but actually quite a few greyhounds do this, I believe. It was the equivalent to a cat purring, a lower and breathier sound than the growl he might make to e.g. warn a rude dog that it was getting too close. What is the rest of his body language trying to tell you at these times? Does he seem relaxed, or tense?

You are so right. Some dogs will "growl" much like talking. I know K9 Kota a German Shepherd police dog does this. It can be quite difficult to determine at first even for an experienced dog person. When his very experienced handler first got him they got off to an awful start because the handler thought Kota was actually growling. When it dawned on her that he wasn't that he was just one of those that often did it for communication purposes only their relationship soared. How high? I'll tell you how high. When he was apprehending a felon and fell through the floor and busted up his leg he still somehow managed to drag himself up a whole flight of steps in excruciating pain so he could go help his handler fight off a 2nd felon that she was engaged with and fighting. Needless to say the two are now a match made in heaven. He has a FB page if you want to read about him.

[GeorgeofNE]

My dog growls at me from time to time. I just say something to him like, "Really? Are you serious?" and then I ignore him. I don't think there is any aggression behind it. I think he, like me, occasionally gets grumpy. And I'm OK with that. No one is happy to see you 100% of the time!

[greysmom]

Couple thoughts

 

Dogs don't growl for no reason. There is a reason, but sometimes it's so subtle that humans don't see it. It could be he fell asleep or nodded off in the short time after he laid down next to you. It could be that you move your elbow petting your other dog. It could have been any little thing you did. The thing to remember is that growling isn't (necessarily) an aggressive thing. He's just communicating with you. Also, I believe, there are sometimes when a growl has just become a sort of habit for them, especially if they had some space issues in the first place.

 

You need to take the whole dog into account when considering how to react to a growl. Is he telling you something specific? What kind of a growl is it? Is he just making noise? Is he responding to a specific stimuli? What is the rest of his body language telling you? Depending on the answers you *might* choose to ignore it, or tell him to just be quiet. Or you might want to have him move away from you (we always teach our dogs a "scoot" command and an "off" command so that we can clear an area easily). If it's a serious, "I'm not happy" growl, it might be that he needs a time out in a quiet place to de-stress a bit.

 

FYI, if a space aggressive dog lays down next to me I always say their name or touch them in a safe spot to make sure they are awake/aware before making any movements. I also never do any large scale or fast movements (standing up, laying down) without letting them know first. You also need to know what triggers each one's space issues. One of my former-space-aggressives had issues with having his feet touched. He hated having his feet covered with balnkets or laid on in any way. The rest of his body was fine; it was only his feet that were touchy. Another one, it was her front half. You could touch or cover or move her back feet, but never her front feet or head.

 

The more you know your dog, the easier it is to pick an appropriate response. Even when that response is nothing.

 

ETA - Remember he's feeling the stress from his sisters medical issues too. Having that going on in the house affects all the inhabitants.

Edited February 4, 2016 by greysmom

[Sundrop]

Thanks, all - we'll definitely try and see how is over the coming months. He's been like this since we got him - our girl has only been ill for about a month and a half - so I don't think it's in response to that. Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to our girl tomorrow...so Finn will be an only child until my heart heals enough to adopt again. Lots of time to work with him one-on-one, which I think he can only benefit from.

 

We'll pay attention to his triggers with this - I know a few times, we've been petting him and he falls asleep - so we just assumed it was sleep startle. Other times, though, he is wide awake - a couple times looking up at us, and not with the big "crazy eyes" (as well called them with our first boy, hah!). That's why the issue has been so confounding, it's not all the time - and it's when he comes into our space. He's kind of nudge like that.

[dante2zoe]

First, I am so sorry that you have to let your girl go. So, so hard.

 

Goose is a lot like Finn. He absolutely craves attention from me. He has his spot on my bed and if it is not available, he throws himself on the floor in the hall and sulks. Anyway, he is always growling at someone - dog or human - because they have invaded his personal air space. The size changes daily. There doesn't need to be any physical contact or even looking at him. He just growls and growls and snarks. 99% of the time, I tell him to shut it. I will also rub his back and he stops. If he becomes really ridiculous, he is told OFF and he retreats to another space. Not sure what his real issue is, but it is the way he is and I have gotten used to it. I don't know if it would be different if I initiated the contact because he has never given me an opportunity to go to him, lol.

 

He is my special flower.

[Sundrop]

We've been trying to pay more attention to see if we can observe a pattern - but he's kind of all over the place! DH swears that he only growls when you stop petting him and have your hand on him (like resting a hand on him while sitting next to him) - but I've had him do it while I am actively petting, so it might just be one trigger. I was sitting on the floor last night stretching a bit while watching tv and he plopped next to me, I was gently petting him, he put his head in my lap, was looking up at me and growled. Most times when he does this, he subsequently gets up and moves away. I didn't stop petting him, and he closed his eyes and went to sleep. Ended up waking up a couple minutes later and jumped up and moved - no growl, just didn't want to hang out anymore.

 

Poor guy is kind of turned upside down since losing his sister a few days ago. Not sure how he'll handle being an only child for a bit - but I'm using this time to work on some gentle, positive reinforcement training on a few small areas. He's very food motivated, so using lots of treats and ear-scritches and he's responding like gang-busters! I was thinking I might use a high-quality treat, sit next to him and feed it to him little by little, so he sees that being close is a positive. I don't want to make him uncomfortable, but he's just so wishy-washy.

 

I like the description of Goose above - Finn is also my special flower - haha!

[greysmom]

Are you absolutely sure he's growling and not a low groaning sound?? One of mine has a very low groaing vocalization she makes when she stretches or lays down and relaxes - a sigh with sound added that's like a growl but it's totally not.

[locket]

Are you absolutely sure he's growling and not a low groaning sound?? One of mine has a very low groaing vocalization she makes when she stretches or lays down and relaxes - a sigh with sound added that's like a growl but it's totally not.

Jack does that too! It sounds like an old man settling down on his favorite chair after a copious meal. ARRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrmmmmmmmm....

 

Usually when we close off the lights for the night and he makes himself comfy on his bed.

[Guest k9soul]

My boy Rudy is quirky about growling but he's much better than he used to be. For him a growl was his response to any feeling of discomfort or nervousness. Just last night he touched my arm with his nose and got a static shock, and he leaped up, went out into the hall where he growled a bit until I called him back in and gave him some attention.

 

He has this thing where he wants to be super close to people but also, at times, suddenly seems uncomfortable with how in his space someone is, even though he was the one that placed himself there! It's a lot less often now, but occasionally still happens. I just say "well move a bit then, over here" and tap a place a bit farther away. Either he will move then or he will decide he was fine and just lie his head down and relax. He's a quirky boy, but I've learned he's just very communicative and sensitive. That said, I generally only pet him when he's standing or if his head is up and he's fully alert. That way he is not nervous about being caught off guard or startled.

Edited February 9, 2016 by k9soul

[Sundrop]

My boy Rudy is quirky about growling but he's much better than he used to be. For him a growl was his response to any feeling of discomfort or nervousness. Just last night he touched my arm with his nose and got a static shock, and he leaped up, went out into the hall where he growled a bit until I called him back in and gave him some attention.

 

He has this thing where he wants to be super close to people but also, at times, suddenly seems uncomfortable with how in his space someone is, even though he was the one that placed himself there! It's a lot less often now, but occasionally still happens. I just say "well move a bit then, over here" and tap a place a bit farther away. Either he will move then or he will decide he was fine and just lie his head down and relax. He's a quirky boy, but I've learned he's just very communicative and sensitive. That said, I generally only pet him when he's standing or if his head is up and he's fully alert. That way he is not nervous about being caught off guard or startled.

 

This seems to fit Finn, I think. Normally, he will growl and then look a bit confused - most often he will then jump up and leave the situation - which makes me think it is a growl and not just one of those low groans. He has never snapped or made any kind of move, just a little growl. He growled at our girl a couple of times when she got "too close" to him - and he did growl at DH the other day when he grabbed a stolen slice of pizza from his mouth, lol. DH told him to "drop it!" which he immediately did, but then growled when DH went to pick it up (he stole it off my husband's plate when he got up to use the restroom).

 

We've only had him 8 months now, so he is really still figuring things out. We've really never had a dog like this before, it's always been very cut & dry. He's a quirky one!