Stop Dog Growling
If you are a dog owner, no doubt you love your pet dearly, but perhaps you have some behavioral problems with him or her. One of the most common problems with dogs is growling — or, rather, the fact that you want to stop dog growling.
What is dog growling, and how do you stop dog growling?
Keep in mind that first and foremost, growling is a means of communication for your dog. So, you don’t want to take away his or her ability to growl altogether; you just want to control it when it is behaviorally inappropriate.
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Most common situations where dog growling occurs
Dog growling occurs most often when your dog feels threatened. For example, maybe you have young children in the family and they move very quickly and in ways that the dog can’t anticipate, so that he or she feels threatened.
Or, perhaps you’re taking your dog for a walk and your dog comes upon an unfamiliar dog that is larger than him but in no way menacing; the other dog is simply strange to him or her. That’s another situation where your dog may growl.
Stopping inappropriate growling behavior
Again, remember that there are going to be certain situations where it is very appropriate for your dog to growl. So when you stop dog growling behavior, you’re not going to want stop it altogether; you are simply going to want to control it to the point where it doesn’t happen in what should be innocuous situations.
Respect goes both ways
If you have very small children and the dog feels legitimately threatened because he or she may be injured (unintentionally) by the child, that is a time when it may very well be appropriate for the dog to growl. Growling is a means to warn the child that he or she is being too rough, and this should be respected, such that the child backs off and leaves the dog alone. If you stop the dog from growling, he or she may resort to other more injurious responses to the rough behavior, like biting, to warn your child to stay away when he or she is being too rough. Of course, you don’t want that.
In this case, you need to instruct your child to move away from the dog when he or she begins to growl, so that the dog can feel safe once again.
When growling occurs in innocuous situations
If a dog begins to growl simply as a matter of course in safe situations (like when a calm person approaches him or her, or when a doorbell rings, or when your child is being perfectly appropriate and calm), this is something that does need to be controlled. The dog must know that while growling will be respected in times of unsafe or dangerous circumstances, growling “just because” will not be.
First, of course, you should take your dog in for a complete physical if he or she does not normally exhibit this type of behavior. It could be that there are hormonal imbalances, allergies, health problems, aging difficulties, etc., that put him in pain or discomfort and that have nothing to do with the so-called growling “triggers.” Take care of the medical problems, and you should see that the growling problem will go away by itself.
If nothing is found physically wrong with your dog, then it’s time to address the inappropriate growling behavior itself.
Remember that you are the “alpha” dog
Reestablish yourself as the “alpha” dog in your “pack.” It may very well be that you’ve let your dog get aggressive and take the lead; however, dogs are happiest when YOU are the “alpha” dog, such that you’re the leader and they follow. So if things have gotten out of control and your dog has become the “alpha” dog, you need to take control back.
In that case, you’ll need to practice some obedience tricks to get your dog to stop growling inappropriately.
When you first witness inappropriate growling behavior (where the dog isn’t really being threatened by anything), give a gentle but sharp tug on the dog’s collar and firmly reprimand him with a loud “no!” It’s perfectly okay to “shame” the dog a little bit, because dogs want to please you and of course you want that. Shame is an unwanted consequence for the dog, so if you shame him a little bit, he’s less likely to repeat that behavior. However, never, ever hit your dog as a form of punishment.
Consistency is key
Finally, as you work with your dog to stop inappropriate growling, remember that it’s really important that you reinforce to your dog that his growling is inappropriate EVERY time it is, or you won’t be able to stop dog growling. If you do, though, you should see inappropriate growling stop and then disappear altogether, in a relatively short amount of time.
