8 mth Lab growling

[Deerslayer99]

Does anyone know why a dog will all of a sudden start growling.....he hasn't been shown any anger towards him or abuse......he can be playing or just laying there getting rubbed and bang he switches and this deep down growl starts echoing out of him....to be honest it scares the out of me.....he never tries to nip but that growl is concerning to me....any ideas how to stop it or why it is happening......thanks

[grizzlygreig]

Possibly he is testing the waters to see if he can move up in the family pecking order?... Just a thought. Like a teenager wanting a go at the old man!... I would pin him into submission and let him know whose the boss... I am no expert but that's my opinion.

[yellow dog]

I recommend flipping him over on his back and holding him down until he submits. No need to hurt him but it shows who's the boss. I have had to do this a few times over the years with some of my dogs.

[welsh]

I would pin him into submission and let him know whose the boss...

I recommend flipping him over on his back and holding him down until he submits.

This is not the best way to handle the situation.

Dogs may growl for any number of reasons. Dogs even growl while playing. It is something they do to communicate and it does not necessarily indicate that they are trying to move up in the pecking order -- it is not even necessarily aggressive. Indeed, the notion that a dog will try to take over as pack leader is an invention of human psychology, which has nothing to do with the social behaviour of dogs.

There is not enough information here to say what the correct response should be. My first question would be, how much training work do you do with the dog on a daily basis?

[Sharon]

Possibly he is testing the waters to see if he can move up in the family pecking order?... Just a thought. Like a teenager wanting a go at the old man!... I would pin him into submission and let him know whose the boss... I am no expert but that's my opinion.

X2 ( but I personally wouldn't do this much past 8 months)

plus work with him more on obedience expectations. ... sit before he eats , waits at the door and you go out first , no rough play , no tug of war games where he wins, etc...

PS The behaviour is not that unusual for a dominant dog. My 15 pound JRT still needs all I've mentioned daily too.

[last5oh_302]

I agree with welsh. Those are definitely not the best ways to handle it. You want your dog to respect you, and to do good things to please you because they love/want to do things that please you. Having a dog do things for you out of fear only dumbs the dog down.

It's really hard to say what's going on here without seeing what the dog is doing, but he's still a puppy. I highly doubt it's aggression but more of a teenage phase where he's testing the waters. My suggestion would be to stop showing him attention when he does this (with a little "hey", or "ahh") and he should quickly learn that this is unwanted behaviour.
Repeat and if he does it again stop showing him attention again.

[terrierman41]

What's his body posture like? How his ears and eyes? Pupils dilated looking you in the eye? Showing teeth?

[last5oh_302]

I agree with welsh. Those are definitely not the best ways to handle it. You want your dog to respect you, and to do good things to please you because they love/want to do things that please you. Having a dog do things for you out of fear only dumbs the dog down.

It's really hard to say what's going on here without seeing what the dog is doing, but he's still a puppy. I highly doubt it's aggression but more of a teenage phase where he's testing the waters. My suggestion would be to stop showing him attention when he does this (with a little "hey", or "ahh") and he should quickly learn that this is unwanted behaviour.
Repeat and if he does it again stop showing him attention again.

But, if he's growling when playing then this is pretty normal. He could even be over tired. I'm not so sure about the growling while he's just lying there being petted. Again, it's tough to say without seeing it, but if he's growling when just laying there being petted then I'd stop with the attention.

[last5oh_302]

What's his body posture like? How his ears and eyes? Pupils dilated looking you in the eye? Showing teeth?

Like the dog in your avatar? LOL

[welsh]

What kinds of games are you playing when he starts growling? More info about the circumstances would help. And the questions about his posture are important, too.