Growling dog? Never do this.

Imagine this scenario: You step away from your Kentucky Fried Chicken for just a few quick moments, and when you come back, a wing is missing. You find your dog in their dog bed, busily snacking away on that wing. You know that cooked chicken bones are dangerous for dogs, so you try to take it from them—and they growl at you.

What do you do?

If the first thing you do is tell your dog, “No!” You’re not alone. It’s a very common thing to do. We don’t like it when our dog’s growl at us, viewing it as a kind of acting out, but there’s good reason not to. Here’s why.

Critical Communication

Have you ever heard stories of dogs who suddenly bit their owners, “out of the blue”? The dog appeared fine one moment, and the next bit their owners hand severely with absolutely no warning. What happened? Why didn’t they give any warning a bite was coming?

Sometimes, the reason is they’re punished for growling. You might think you are telling your dog, “No! Don’t take that bone!” or “No! Don’t be mean to me!” But your dog thinks that growling itself is what’s forbidden. Since they can’t growl to let you know a bite is coming, straight to the bite it is.

As unpleasant as it can be, growling is good in a dog. It means they don’t want to bite you, but they do want to share their feelings. Once a growl has been punished out however, it’s not likely to come back and the dog is more dangerous for it.

What’s in a Growl

Not all growls are the same. If I can’t tell if a wrinkled blanket is a blanket or a dog, I’ll sometimes give it a poke. If I get a soft, gentle rumble, I know that someone’s in there and not to fluff it out. Leia does this. She has never bitten anyone in her life. Is she threatening to bite when she rumbles at me? She is not. She is simply saying, “I’m in here!” in her own way.

Whenever a dog growls though, it’s a good idea to pause and take stalk of why they are growling. It could be a polite, “Please stop doing that!” or a more intense, “I’m going to bite you if you don’t stop that!” or “That hurts!”

Dealing with a Growl

While you should never scold a dog for growling, there are often times when you have to do what you are doing to the dog. Take the scenario earlier with the dog and the chicken bone. You need that dog to leave the bone for their own safety.

How you respond will depend on the personality of the dog, and any training you’ve done in the past. If you know your dog won’t leave the bone, and there’s definitely going to be a bite, tossing a blanket over the dog, removing them from the bone, and putting them in a bedroom while you get the bone cleaned up is a management solution.

It’s likely this won’t work more than once or twice, since the dog will quickly learn to snatch and run, but it helps you get the bone without punishing the growl.

I teach my dogs a trading game for scenarios like this, so it never reaches a growl. They know if I say, “Trade me,” I am going to offer them something better. I will take the chicken bone but give them some boneless fried chicken in exchange. They love trade-ups, because it usually works in their favor.

Resource guarding isn’t the only time a growl might happen. They might also be growling to tell a kid that’s enough ear-pulling, or because something hurts.

A vet trip might be necessary to sleuth out where pain is coming from, and of course, a kid should be told not to pull ears in the first place. In both of these cases, a growl is helpful because it lets us know something needs to change for the dog to be happy—without bloodshed.

Before the Growl

My dogs very seldom growl at me—or anyone for that matter. The soft, short rumble when I’m poking at a suspicious blanket being the odd exception.

One of the reasons for that is that there are several more rungs on “the ladder of aggression” before growling. I usually make changes long before a growl is necessary.

The ladder of aggression includes: (From the most mild up.)

• Yawning
  When a dog doesn’t like something, the most polite way of saying so is to yawn. A big yawn, especially if you know they’re not tired, means “You’re really too much!” It’s a very nice, polite way of asking you not to smooch them so much, or they’d really not wear that costume thank you.
• Lip licking
  Lip licking indicates they’re a bit more upset than a mere yawn will do for. Lip licking lets you know they are feeling upset. If you’re handling them at the time, they might also lick your hands in a submissive gesture. The goal is to let you know they’re unhappy and get you to stop.
• Turning head away
  If lip licking fails, or sometimes in accompaniment with lip licking, they may turn their head away. This is a soft form of removing themselves. They’re trying to let you know they don’t like that and would like to leave.
• Turning whole body away
  Didn’t get the hint with turning the head? Now you get the whole body turned away! Surely you’ll notice that.
• Walking away
  Obviously, it’s time to make their getaway. If you or who ever is upsetting them won’t stop the behavior, leaving may be what they need to do.
• Crouching
  If they can’t leave, they may try crouching to let you know they’re unhappy.
• Growling
  This is a modest, in the middle rung on the ladder. Clearly all other, more polite, signs have failed and now they have to let you know they are serious about not liking your behavior! See how many rungs we’ve gone through before getting there though? They’ve probably offered so many other more peaceable signals before getting here.
• Displaying teeth
  Teeth are shown, usually with a growl
• Threatening the bite
  Your dog may well have his teeth a quarter inch from your skin, lips pulled back to show the teeth, a growl going, and the implication is clear—you’re about to get bit!! Stop that!
• A bite
  Obviously all warning was useless, so they had to go through with their threats. This is where people get hurt!

Skipping Signals

Sometimes dog skip signals if they know that earlier signals will be ignored. If you’ve never noticed their big yawn, they know it won’t work. They need to escalate to a growl right away, especially if something you’re doing is particularly unpleasant.

You can help reduce the chances for bites by respecting your dog’s growl, and by paying attention to their other signals. Even if you can’t give them what they want (sorry bud, those toenails still need clipped!) you can often find ways to manage the situation so that they don’t feel like their only option is to bite.

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