The Gift of a Growl

[bradl]

The Gift of a Growl

Quote

A growl rarely comes out of nowhere. If a dog is feeling uncomfortable with a situation, you can nearly always spot it in their body language first- they freeze, they look away, they show the whites of their eyes. They might lick their lips or yawn. However, we humans often miss these signals, and when we do, the dog is forced to escalate their behaviour, and a lot of the time, nobody hears the dog until they do growl.

And a growl is a wonderful gift. The growl itself is not an act of aggression, it is the only way the dog can make itself heard when all of his other signals have been ignored. If you punish a growl, you are disabling a really useful warning system. If a dog’s body language is ignored, and his voice is punished, he’s only left with one way of communicating- his teeth.

I know that in the past I have taken growls personally and have fallen into a reactive posture, probably escalating things rather than defusing them.

[Sam I Am]

Great article! Respect on both sides, taught with positive reinforcement. 

[Hillscreek]

Excellent quote. Where is it from?

[bradl]

From the linked article  (click to follow link)

[Hillscreek]

oops wsn't paying attention. Sorry

 

[Idaho Cairns]

Bonnie must like a lot of attention--she is the most growly Cairn we have ever had!

 

[JoJo]

This makes a lot of sense, thank you!  Good info.

[sanford]

12 hours ago, JoJo said:

This makes a lot of sense, thank you!  Good info.

I agree. This seems like common sense that I should have known, but it was important to have it restated!

[Christiane Roberge]

Have a growler and this is new to me.  Prev. two never did this.  Hard to tell how serious he is, but have curbed his growling at me specifically and let him work it out with the pack.  He is only 13 weeks and trying to run the show!  Took on his big brother who has too much patience with him.  I do think it is not wise to let pup growl at us.  They need to know who is alpha so I hold him on his back and growl back.

 

[Sam I Am]

I think the growling part is pretty common in a young pup, especially when food is involved. . I am not one for flipping them on their back as I find that with some dogs it ramps up their aggression. Sam used to growl at me when I would take  his bone away, but an oven mitt, in one hand and a treat in another solved the problem. I can now take the bone right out of his mouth.  I must admit since learning positive reinforcement training methods with SAM in his puppy classes, I by far prefer the outcome.

[sanford]

5 hours ago, Terrier lover said:

...I find that with some dogs it ramps up their aggression...

I found this to be true, at least in our case. (Although, it's been pointed out that flipping them on their side, as opposed to the back, supposedly avoids escalating the situation).

[Sam I Am]

A cool thing we were teaching our pups in class was to actually on command flip over to their side. The purpose being that if someone like a vet or groomer requires it that they do so without fighting you. It was done very calmly with a down command then a treat close to their nose which they then follow causing them to lie on their side. Took a bit with SAM and most of the other pups but SAM now happily lies down on his side. The test will be of course when it's done in a place with lots of distraction. But as the saying goes practice makes perfect...well in a Cairns world it means practice...practice....practice........😋.

[sanford]

1 hour ago, Terrier lover said:

practice...practice....practice........😋.

Congratulations, Terrier Lover!

Somewhere along the line I picked up the following info: for teaching or training sessions, you have to repeat something 15 times.

I found this a bit tedious, but definitely helpful!

Edited November 12, 2017 by sanford