Obey thy Dog! Grrrrrrowl!

Dogs growl. It is part of being a dog. Dogs growl to protect stuff, dogs growl to say "hey, that is enough of that" to other dogs, and dogs growl when they are having a good time sometimes.

Dogs growl for a reason. Aggression is a very expensive behavior in the big scheme of things. It takes a lot of energy and risk to react aggressively. A growl is a down-payment on an investment in aggressive behavior.

If something happens that causes your dog to growl - STOP. Do not push your dog any further. Say "Thank you!!" and retreat. Go sit at the kitchen table with a pad of paper and a pencil. Write down what time of day this happened, where it happened, what the dog was doing, what YOU were doing, and what was involved(dog bed, particular type of bone/chew, toy). Your dog was being polite when he told you, "Hey, I am not so sure about this. You better back off."

When a dog growls at us we have to respect that. We have somehow pushed him past his comfort point and we have to retrace our steps to find out where we went too far or wrong. By retreating from a growling dog we did, technically, reinforce him growling at us. That much is true and, in my book, totally okay. I will accept just a growl any day. By pushing him further, not backing away, we chance an even bigger display and possible injury due to his Plan A not working. Dogs don't miss when it comes to landing bites. Read the entire article.
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