Growling

My dad told me that Loki was humping his bed again, and when he went over to the cage, Loki growled at him. He's adamant it was 'aggressive' growling and not play-growling. I wasn't there so I don't know, but I suppose it could be possessive. I had a huge argument with my parents because they were going on about how he needs neutering because of it, or how he's definitely going to bite someone one day, etc. Poor Loki's getting a bad reputation and it's upsetting . I tried explaining to them that dogs can't speak, so they growl when they're playing, scared, annoyed, etc., and that it doesn't mean they're going to bite, it's just a warning that lets us know there's a problem we have to deal with. But they don't listen. To put it bluntly, they think I'm an idiot and they know everything about dog training and everything I do is wrong no matter what facts I have to back it up. So I don't really care what they think or say about it. Still, I'm not sure how to deal with it if it is possessiveness. I'm not sure how to get rid of being possessive over objects as opposed to food. I'm not even sure it is that, I went near him and took the bed off him and he was fine, then just gave it back to him.

Any advice would be helpful though, because regardless of my parents' overreaction and making it sound like he's going to start biting people for no reason, it still is a worry. I'm not too worried though, we went from him growling over toys and bones to dropping toys willingly and being able to drop bones with a treat, so we can overcome it.

Tbh I'd say you are most likely right with the possessive. But also the over excitement he was probably feeling at the time most likely made it sound a lot worse than normal.

For example when my Mum and Dad come round Logan runs and get's his ball and bounces towards my Dad and makes an unholy roar. But it is just an over excited play growl. However, it probably does sound a bit...aggressive.

I take everything they say with a grain of salt because they're the kind of people that think puppies playing or biting is aggressive I was just wondering how to deal with it. It's weird how attached he gets to things, first it was his monkey teddy, now it's his bed, but nothing else. Hopefully I can deal with it like I did the other possessiveness. We're having a rough phase at the moment in the adolescent's life

My parents are the same lol. When I take them for a walk and we see a person approaching they'll be like "pull him in, pull him in!" and Logan just walks past the person and doesn't even look at them.

Albeit, I guess they are just looking out for everyone's best interest at heart.

i have had romeo growl at me for reasons i could never understand, but i never took it as agressive. its mostly when he's excited. i'm guessing you'll never know what actually went down. but i would trust in your dog

Ah, I do trust him. He's so friendly, happy, loving. Every time he's ever hurt anyone it's been because he's so excited he doesn't remember his teeth hurt. But I also know he used to be possessive, so I know it's possible that it could be that. I'm not going to get too worried unless it happens again, then I can deal with it. Just wanted to vent really, it's like he does one bad thing and all of a sudden it means he's going to end up biting people

Honestly, and sorry to say this but it may be your parents that are the problem. Im not saying that in a derogatery manner so please dont get me wrong on it.
the reason I say it is that your dog respects you and I suspect your calmness and sence of authority allows you to take the possensions from him. I think your parents may be a lil aprehensive which the dog will pick up on and use to his advantage. its a natural thing, "i want it" "you want it" "you look scared to take it" "i'll keep it then and warn you off"
its as simple as that.
Also Growling is only one method of communication and to understand it you also need to understand body language which will tell you much more about the dog. a good example is dogs playing, my two sound like hell hounds but they are having fun. If i recorded it and played it back without people seeing the dogs themselves they would be shocked.

Id suggest you work on training your parents as much as the dog, and I know thats not going to be easy to do mate so good luck. maybee find there fav treat and reward them when they do a good job