First Coast Pet

Posts Tagged ‘stop your puppy growling’

Growling is normal for a puppy or dog, especially if you are playing tug of war with him. However, it’s also a sign of aggression and can be a sign the dog may attack – so be careful!

You should know if the growling is appropriate or inappropriate. If your puppy or dog is at a meal or has his favorite chew toy and growls when you come near, that isn’t acceptable behavior. It’s the sign of an aggressive dog.

If the growling begins unexpectedly with no obvious trigger, you should take the puppy or dog to the vet to to ascertain if there is a medical reason.

Growling can be a signal that your dog is trying to position himself as the alpha dog or pack leader. So, the next thing you need to make sure of is that you are positioning yourself as the pack leader in your home. This is the foundation of solving many dog behavior problems.

To set yourself as the alpha dog, you should adopt the approach of NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free). 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 allow him to demand attention, he has exerted dominance over you again. Just ignore him when he demands attention. You choose when to offer him attention. If he presses you even more you must not give in or all is lost.

With NILIF all in the house need to be consistent.

So, for example, you should ask your dog to sit quietly before you lay his food down or before take him out for a walk. Don’t allow your dog to pre-empt you by offering the behavior before you request it.

Make sure that when leaving the house, you walk through the door first. Eat a small biscuit before you set your dog’s meal down, so that he sees you eating first. You are only required to do this for two weeks to position  yourself as the leader of the pack.

All members of your family need to engage in this activity to set them higher in the hierarchy than your puppy or dog.

The leader of the pack makes his bed on higher ground, so do not permit your dog to rest on your bed if you want to be more dominant.

You should do consistent obedience training with your puppy or dog. Each training session should be short and fun. This will help in making your dog better behaved in general.

Read more about how to stop your dog growling and other aggressive dog behavior.