Growling at Dogs

Hi all,

Tash is nearly one and has always been very submissive with any dog she meets and always welcome to meet dogs. For the past few months she just doesn't seem bothered, more interested in playing ball, if we come across a dog who wants to say hello, she normally just lets them and moves on.

A couple of times though when on the lead, she has growled at them, that lovely terrifying staffy growl. Then the next dog she meets, absolutely fine.

Im thinking from the couple of ones she's warned off, its the jumpy jumpy ones that she tends to growl at.

Obviously I don't want this, so how do I stop her? At the moment I say no and pull the lead to make her move away.

Jules xx

I'd teach her the 'watch' command to be honest, or get her to sit when she growls rather than pulling on her lead. Pulling the lead is likely to make her want to have a go even more........"Hold me back!"

Whenever there is something I don't want Mia to respond to I use treats eg excited around certian dogs, I say 'whats this' 'walk nicely' she's more interested in the treat and goes passed without a problem

Same here I have taught Vinnie the watch me command with a treat from day one, so it defo helps when passing other dogs he doesnt take a blind bit of notice of them.

thanks folks will give it a go xx

She is growling because she isn't happy with the "jumpy" dogs and is telling them so, which she has every right to do. If our dogs are uncomfortable with something, we want them to growl to let us know they're not happy. I know you're not doing it, but if you were to give her into trouble for growling, she might no longer growl but she still feels them same way.

If you re doing the "WATCH ME" behaviour, use high value food rewards after she does it, but do allow her to look at the other dog first so she learns look at the dog, then look at Mum/Dad. If she is uncomfortable with certain types of dogs, it's not fair to ask her not to look at them, just imagine if you were scared of something and someone asked you to be close to it and not look at it, we would want to look at the scary thing so we can see what it's doing and where it is in relation to us.

If she looks and then looks away without reacting , reward her immediately (obviously you need to see the dog in advance and have the treat ready) , reward the positives and not chastise the negatives

thanks folks she's just come into season so maybe this had something to do with it, so will definitely try all of the above in about 4 weeks time. God I hate this time, getting done after this one

Jules

That could of had something to do with it, my mums dog behaves very strangely when she is in season! See how it goes and try the suggestions, keep us posted