Our dog growls at my girlfriend (and other females).

[cockerdile]

First things first, 2.5 year old female working cocker. she has been to kennel club puppy training, bronze training and silver training - but not gold as for we just cannot seem to get her to heel on the lead for the life of us! My girlfriend has done most of the training with her; she also took her regularly to gun dog training for work on obedience and recall.

She is a great dog, an obedient dog, a playful dog, an entertaining dog and she can, at times, be a cuddly dog.

However, she can have a grumpy streak.

This seems to be more of a problem for my girlfriend, I don't seem to have as much of a problem. Originally I felt that it was because my girlfriend felt the need for cuddles more, but this doesn't seem to be the case as we have put this thoery to the test a little. My girlfriend can stroke her and she'll raise her head, look at her and start growling and then a few seconds later I could do exactly the same thing, she'll raise her head look at me stroking her and wag her tail and not give it a second thought.

The same thing can happen to other females, she can come along and plonk herself next to a man who'll reach down, give her a stroke and she'll roll over and be a real hussy... but she can plonk herself next to a lady who'll do the same thing, reach down, give her a stroke and she'll grumble at them.

I was at a BBQ the other day with her and I glanced over to check and there she was growling at someone petting her (to be fair, they were reaching down over top of her looking directly at her which arguably a dog can find threatening)

Is this a thing? We are planning to see a behaviourist about this but I also like to gather many opinions about what's going on so we can make the most informed approach to resolving this issue.

With myelf and my girlfriend, we understand her quirks however on the odd occasion I have had to intervene and point out to people that it's probably best to leave her be at the moment 'she's having a strop'. My concern is that we should hit this nail on the head early on.

I'm not sure what this 'issue' is though... It does happen more when she is tired. By tired, I mean we've had some long days out with her - i.e. this morning she growled at my girlfriend, yesterday we spent all day at the beach with her darting in and out of the sea and having a good swim

[Pearly]

This is a great post, one of the best and well written I've read on here. 

We have four cockers, all bitches, each have their own personality!  Purdey seems to be the closest to your girl.  She will be fine, awake in her basket and one of the others walk past and she grumbles....she'll ask to be picked up/sit on a knee and then grumble at the person holding her.....or at anyone approaching the person holding her!  Not all the time and not gender specific in her case.

I think you are wise to seek behavioural help but please do make sure the person uses positive training methods only, such as exclusion or ignoring not water sprays or other adversaries.  I guess it's plausible that your girl may be a bit anxious around women if her "boss" is female - wcs want to please and she may find it a challenge to accept affection for no earned reason in her mind    if she's earned a fuss i.e. A trick or retrieve does she accept hands on reward (affection) then? 

One to be aware of - using adversaries as a  training aid on an anxious dog will exacerbate their behaviour.  I have an example of this too - Pearl was scruffed by a so called friend for squeaking at feed time - she's now a complete wreck at meal times and has to be distracted away from the kitchen until the meal is ready.


Jayne
X

[hoover]

I'm another one with a dog like this and the tiredness is definitely something that can exacerbate it.

I think sometimes the dog can pick up on nervousness and can react to this, so if your girlfriend is giving off a vibe that suggests she is nervous or tentative whereas you are patting confidently without a care in the world that can sometimes explain a different reaction. There can also be an element of habit and learned response - the dog started growling once or twice and now it has become a bit of a habitual response in the same circumstance.  She might be generalising her response to all other females.

With my dog I also think there can be an element of 'what can I get away with here?' in terms of nervous response and that he inhibits more aggressive displays if he thinks they will backfire for him.. For example, he might dislike the actions of a puppy around him and he might growl to let the puppy know this as he has confidence he will 'win' this encounter, however he might also dislike a very large dog coming to say hello to him but he does not growl at these times but displays more accepting, tolerant body language or runs away.  It's possible that your dog believes that growling at your gf works for her to control an encounter she is unhappy about but possibly dislikes being patted on the head generally and does not display the same behaviour with men as she feels it would not 'work for her' and might backfire.  Pure surmising on what I believe is happening with my dog at times!

[cockerdile]

@Pearly

Ah yes, Purdey sounds similar. A while back, Willow (the dog in question ), came over wagging he tail without being 'summoned' and hopped her front legs up onto my girlfriends knees whilst she was sat down and looked at her. My girlfriend naturally went to stroke her and she growled!

We both got Willow together from 8 weeks old, so all her life she we have both been there.

Interesting what you say about her "boss" being female and anxiety towards other females, I have wondered if perhaps she feels more relaxed with me as although I do enforce certain rules (like sitting before we cross the road, persistantly working on her heeling on and off the lead, recalls, and so on - thing of high importance, rules that could save her life) I am a lot less particular about other things (like coming in muddy and shaking mud all over the kitchen and traipsing it through her house before we've had time to wipe her off a bit - less important to me, it's easier for me to use a mop and bucket than tackle a wet hyper spaniel)

Also very interesting that you mention about affection for no earned reason as after she has growled and we leave her be we can ask her to do something and she'll do it and then will accept affection without any issues.

As for adversaries, I'm very much a positive rewards kind of guy. I'd argue that even I work better that way myself! Being told off doesn't stop you from doing it again, it just makes you craftier to get away with it next time! But tickle the back of my ear for doing the washing up and I might just do it again!

I have considered willow is suffering from some anxiety, I can see it in her body language at times. I also feel she 'overloads' when there is a lot of activity, if we have BBQs she quite often paces, stares at walls and compulsively licks floors - this is another reason we plan to seek a behaviourist - to me, this compulsive behaviour and her possible anxiety is more of a concern than her occasional grumpiness - we all have that don't we, I certainly know I'm not perfect.

I don't mind her growling, I think it's good she tells us that she's uncomfortable. The way I see it is a dog growling is on par to a person telling someone to sod off and leave them alone - it's a polite request before things escalate.

What I would like to get to the bottom of is why she seems to growl more at women, your suggestions sound plausible and I'll look into this

@hoover

Ah yes, I have learnt very quickly that a dog reflects you're own energy, I have many a time been complimented by friends for being able to find a dog that is as scatty as I am!

That's a good point about habit, I have wondered if with me she has learned to just tolerate it because it's short lived. Between us, I prefer short cuddles with the dog, where as I think my girlfriend would love her to curl up on her lap for never ending cuddles - which, at times, does happen.
Ironically, if I'm sat on the sofa she'll come over and pester me for longer cuddles when all I really want is for her to go over to my girlfriend for those!