Barking/growling

Hello everyone

Just after some advice on the following.....

When Benson is playing with his toys he barks and growls at them, however he does the same when he wants to play with other dogs or people, he gets excited and playful and thinks barking and growling is ok but it scares people.

Whats the best way to stop it?? As i want to stop it now as his only 13 weeks old. I know his just playing but other people dont!

Sorry if this topic keeps coming up.

Suki will still do this on occasion. Have him sit and be quiet before letting him play. This will take some time and patience but does work. Having him sit and wait on meals, walks and other things will be usefull as well.

You can also teach the quiet command.

When he does it to toys say NO and it will let him know growling is not allowed.

It's not normally before he plays it's usually half way through playing

zoe2004 wrote:Hello everyone

Just after some advice on the following.....

When Benson is playing with his toys he barks and growls at them, however he does the same when he wants to play with other dogs or people, he gets excited and playful and thinks barking and growling is ok but it scares people.

Whats the best way to stop it?? As i want to stop it now as his only 13 weeks old. I know his just playing but other people dont!

Sorry if this topic keeps coming up.

Every dog is different and often need different ways of solving what looks to us as the same or similar problems.

Your puppy is a baby and is learning what works and what doesn't, if he is trying to play with a sensible adult dog let the dog teach him, if the dog doesn't, and many don't, and looks like he is getting stressed step in and stop your pup,preferably by distracting him.

As to other people being frightened of a 13 week old pup barking and growling, tough, your pup is just being a noisy toddler, if they can't cope with that it is their problem not yours.

Enjoy you pup's puppyhood, it will soon be gone and ignore people who don't understand dogs.

jstaff wrote:Suki will still do this on occasion. Have him sit and be quiet before letting him play. This will take some time and patience but does work. Having him sit and wait on meals, walks and other things will be usefull as well.

You can also teach the quiet command.

I agree with this.

Cyril baby wrote:
As to other people being frightened of a 13 week old pup barking and growling, tough, your pup is just being a noisy toddler, if they can't cope with that it is their problem not yours.

Enjoy you pup's puppyhood, it will soon be gone and ignore people who don't understand dogs.

Agree with this as well!

The problem I have when telling someone to make their dog wait for food, toys etc. is nobody says how long to wait for. It is a good idea to teach a dog to wait but not to keep them waiting for more than 30 seconds, that is a long time to a dog.

This is a big problem when we give advice on the internet, on once forum I used to be on we often got new members asking for help would say they had "corrected" their dog but not what they meant by "Corrected". This can mean anything from saying "No" to a really good beating, yes there are people who think they should do that to their dog when told to "correct" their dog.

Cyril baby wrote:The problem I have when telling someone to make their dog wait for food, toys etc. is nobody says how long to wait for. It is a good idea to teach a dog to wait but not to keep them waiting for more than 30 seconds, that is a long time to a dog.

I generally say to wait for a couple of seconds only - that's enough as far as I'm concerned. Have to admit that I might sometimes forget to put the length of time in the post, though!

Cyril baby wrote:The problem I have when telling someone to make their dog wait for food, toys etc. is nobody says how long to wait for. It is a good idea to teach a dog to wait but not to keep them waiting for more than 30 seconds, that is a long time to a dog.

This is a big problem when we give advice on the internet, on once forum I used to be on we often got new members asking for help would say they had "corrected" their dog but not what they meant by "Corrected". This can mean anything from saying "No" to a really good beating, yes there are people who think they should do that to their dog when told to "correct" their dog.

Very good point. We only make her wait for 10-15 seconds and have built up to that over time.

personally if my puppy was growling at toys ect give him a firm NO and take the toy off him.
Try to teach him to sit to make that dominant role over your puppy. you need to be the boss an have your puppy/dog to respect you as a leader.
if you can get him to sit then when he growls take the toy off him get him to sit, then reward him with the toy. that shows the dog your the boss and that growling wont achieve much.

good luck