Growling

[SignoVincis]

Hey! I'm back and if some of you remember me, I did keep the pup, its a girl and her name is Leia.

And thank you so much for your kind answers.

 

Things have been going smoothly I think, she's sleeps in her crate at night, doesn't whine, bark or cry.

She's nippy as hell and I'm trying to teach her out of it like I did with my GSD, but she's more stuborn than the GSD was.

 

My problem now is the growling, she started growling after a couple times of playing some tug of war, I stopped, and after a few tries, she kept growling so I just stopped all tug and hid the rope.

Problem is, she assumes everything is a tug of war, she grabs my clothes, I grab the clothes: she growls.

She grabs my snickers, I pull back: Growling and doesn't let go.

 

I know she's only a pup but my GSD only growled at my once or twice and learned that it was not a good thing to do, but Leia just grabs everythings and as soon as I also grab that thing: Growling.

I don't want to be creating some bad behavior that will turn into her growing up and star seriously growling and attacking me.

 

Thank you in advance.

[ShellyF]

We taught ours to stand so as soon as we get that growling and tugging at clothes we say ‘stand’ and of course he does because he already is standing but more importantly he stops in his tracks - especially if we at the same time stand bolt upright with arms folded. 

We then redirect by saying ‘let’s get a toy’ or something similar. 

[jami74]

Do you think she's tugging because it's a fun game that she's trying to initiate with you rather than because she's being possessive about stuff?

Mine loves tug as well, which means if he has something in his mouth that he's not meant to have and I try to take it he immediately leans back on it. I read somewhere that they can't let go if they are tugging so to get it back we need to avoid that tug stance, after that we stopped trying to take things from him and instead we ask him to give them to us. We started by giving him a command when we were paying fetch with a ball to put it in our hand instead of dropping it at our feet, obviously here the reward is that the ball gets thrown again. Then we used that command if he had something in his mouth we didn't want him to have. He does get rewarded well with if he gives me something I ask for. It is hard in the beginning to not say "Oh no what have you got, you naughty dog?" and try to snatch it back, instead you have to be happy and pleased and say in an excited voice "Ooh what have you got? [command for giving it to you]" and when she does, lots of praise/treat/playtime.

We practiced a little bit with tea-towels, I 'accidently' drop it on the floor, he picks it up and puts it back into my hand, I praise him lots and we go get a treat. Sometimes he now brings things straight to me without being asked. Occasionally if I'm tired or busy I forget to ask him to give it to me and will go to grab it, if I do that he'll think the game is on. I think when someone tries to take something from you the default is to hold on to it tighter so I try to always remember to ask nicely for it back.

We have one toy for tug. If he seems to be trying to get tuggy with something (trying to put something in my hand but not let it go) then I get the tug toy and we play with it for a bit. Nothing else is for tug.

Our boy growls when playing sometimes but it doesn't feel threatening, I think there is a difference between being vocal when playing, and showing you threatening behaviour. If we touch his nose when playing tug he gives a little growl, we're trying to put a command to it but it hasn't quite worked yet. I haven't ever felt threatened though when he has something in his mouth and I'm trying to get it out, if I did that would be another matter. His tug growl is part of the game, we all get excited and growl and laugh together.

If he had something I wanted and I thought he'd threaten me if I tried to take it from him then I would remove him from the thing (eg by calling him away and offering something else) rather than trying to take the thing from him. I read something ages ago about not taking a bone away from the dog but taking the dog away from the bone. Saying that, I regularly give him nice things then take them away after a few minutes to smear some peanut butter on it or add a bit of sausage or something before returning it.

 

[Flora & Molly]

We've taught our dogs not to tug at things, because none of us enjoy the game (except the dog maybe). Perhaps it is a good idea to put a command for the tugging game so the dog knows when she is allowed to. Or stop the tugging game if you don't want any growling and try to teach a quieter game of tug when she is a bit older.

To stop our dogs from tugging I would grab whatever they were holding (if I wanted it back) and at the same time hold on to their collar to stop the tugging. I'd ask the dog to "let go" and firmly hold on to what they were holding, without budging an inch. The dog will eventually let go and everytime you do this it will be a little bit quicker until she let's go immediately (even without the command). After letting go the dog is of course praised or given something in return. 

[D'Elle]

Growling during tug play is playing and there's nothing wrong with that. There is no evidence that playing tug with a puppy causes them to be growly or bitey or anything else that is bad.

If she is grabbing your clothes and so on she is initiating play and the growling is, again, playing. That doesn't mean you should allow it, of course, but don't let it bother you that much because it is only baby behavior.  Work on training a "leave it" command into the pup. Work on this away from the kinds of things she grabs like clothes. When she does grab your clothes, just gently and firmly say "uh-uh", not angry, no emotion, and put her into her crate for a few minutes, again gently but firmly and with no scolding or emotion. Let her out again without saying anything to her. As soon as she goes back to grabbing, pop her back into the crate again. She is grabbing to get attention, to get you to tug. If she gets the opposite of what she wants she will stop doing it. But it is very important that you do this calmly and quietly and do not yell or act angry or make a big deal of it. Treat it just as action and natural consequence. DO NOT pull back when she grabs something you don't want her to grab. By doing that, you are telling her that it is a game of tug and so she is going into growly-play-tug mode.  You are inadvertently training her to see everything as a tug toy.

Simply take her jaws off, gently, and into the crate she goes. And work on training her the "leave-it" command. Work on that for a few minutes about twice a day every day. But not while she is grabbing things. Don't stop playing tug with her if she loves it. But make it clear to her that this is a tug toy and that is not. Don't leave the tug toy lying around. Only you can get it out and initiate a game of tug. If you take this game away from her completely you may find it harder to train her out of grabbing clothes, because she is trying to get you to tug. And by pulling back you have rewarded her with what she sees as a game of tug. If you choose the time and place and toy to tug with and she gets that enjoyment, and you simply remove her from interaction when she grabs something else, she will get the message. Be patient. It will take whatever time it takes.

[urge to herd]

My boy grabbed a rotisserie chicken carcass out in the parking lot of a Costco. I got it out of his jaws and he gave me a couple serious 'this is MY prey, human!' growls in the process. Didn't sound anything like his play growls.

Body language is something to observe as well ~ is the dog moving fluidly, maybe bouncing around? Probly a play growl. Is the dog stiff, unwilling to move? Probly a serious growl.

You've gotten great advice above, I'd also add to pay more attention to any vocalizations other than growls and see what you can learn by observing body language as well.

Ruth & Gibbs

[D'Elle]

Very good point, Ruth, and thanks for making it. 

[GentleLake]

What D'Elle & Ruth said.

The serious protective-of-his-prey growl that Ruth refers to is also accompanied by different facial expressions than dogs who are playing. Eyes may be narrowed with a hard stare, brow wrinkled, ears forward and/or lips curled. Hackles may be raised and tail held stiffly.

When my dogs are playing tug, their eyes are soft and rounded, face is smooth, no hackles and tail is held loosely and wagging. It's very easy for me to tell the difference even without anyone making a sound (and not all aggressive dogs growl -- some, often the most dangerous ones, are deadly silent).

These differences are how dogs tell each other what their intent is. They attempt to tell us humans in the same ways but too often we don't bother to learn their body language. It's a really important skill for anyone who int4eracts with dogs to learn.