Is Your Puppy’s Growling Driving You Crazy?
Monday, March 9th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed
It’s perfectly normal for a puppy or dog to growl when playing a game like tug of war. However, it’s also a sign of aggression and can be a sign the dog may bite – so be careful!
You should be aware if the growling is appropriate or inappropriate. If your puppy or dog is eating or chewing on a favorite toy and growls when you come near, that isn’t behavior you can tolerate. Your dog is being aggressive.
If the growling just starts out of the blue, you should take the puppy or dog to the vet to check if there is a medical cause.
Growling can be a warning that your dog is being dominant over you. So, the next thing you check is that you position yourself as the pack leader in your household. This is the foundation of solving many dog behavior problems.
To set yourself as the alpha dog, the NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) approach should be taken up. This means that before you give your dog anything, he must obey a command. This includes that you must not allow your dog to demand your attention. If you permit him to demand attention, you have lost dominance. Just ignore him when he demands attention. You choose when to give him attention. If he presses you even more you must not give in or all is lost.
With NILIF everyone who comes into contact with your dog needs to be consistent.
So, for example, you ask your dog to sit and wait patiently before you set his meal down or before you let it out of the house. It doesn’t count if your dog offers a behavior before you give the command.
Walk through the door before your dog when leaving the house. Eat a small biscuit before you set your dog’s meal down, so that he sees you eating first. You are only required to repeat this for a couple of weeks to set yourself as alpha dog.
Everyone in the household needs to engage in similar processes to position them higher in the hierarchy than your puppy or dog.
The pack leader goes to higher ground to sleep, so do not permit your dog to sleep on your bed if you want to be the dominant one.
You should do consistent training sessions with your puppy or dog. Make the training sessions short and fun. This will lay the foundation for a well behaved dog.
Read more about stopping your dog growling and other aggressive dog behavior.
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