Growl-Monster

[allym]

Henry is now 10mths old and has turned into a little growl-monster with other dogs.  He is fine with my friend's two Westies (both male and have just been castrated) but practically every other dog he meets, he growls at. He stayed with Abby and Clive last weekend and Abby said that he growled constantly, although his tail was wagging.  There doesn't seem to be a pattern with regard to breed / sex / castration etc. We met my next door neighbour's 9wk old Lab puppy this morning and again Henry started growling at her, which was quite embarassing as they were obviously worried about their little pup.

At home he is a little - he never barks, never growls and knows that I'm boss . He has never, ever growled at me, my OH or any other human - just dogs!  He has also been well-socialised with other dogs since he was little, so I don't think that's the problem.

It's really starting to worry me, so I've been thinking of seeing a behaviourist, but don't want to over-react.  I think I mentioned in a previous post that it had been suggested to me that I should have him castrated, but I would much prefer to try and sort out this problem without rushing into a decision about castration.

Any ideas?!

[Cob-Web]

Molo growls at random dogs when he is on-lead - all the while his tail is wagging  He's not selective - puppies, big dogs, little dogs, males (entire and neutered), females are all growled at on occasion 

I used to be worried about it - I contacted a local APDT trainer who also ran clicker classes - she invited us to go along and after observing him she taught me how to keep his focus on me when he's on lead, so that he doesn't get focused on growling 

It seems to have worked, he was on lead all morning today in a hanger full of dogs of all shapes and sizes, and there were no major incidents, although we had a close call with a rotti - but the rotti started it 

[Mollie.Ladie]

Mollie does the exact same thing.  UGH..I feel like strangling her sometimes ..because, that is how she PLAYS.. ...whenever she starts playing with another dog she growls and chases after them..wagging her tail contently.  The thing is, I know shes playing, but the other owners freak out about it ..I wouldn't worry about Molo at all...but I suppose that if you didn't want this behavior you would have to keep him on the leash at all times

[PennyB]

Mollie does the exact same thing.  UGH..I feel like strangling her sometimes ..because, that is how she PLAYS.. ...whenever she starts playing with another dog she growls and chases after them..wagging her tail contently.  The thing is, I know shes playing, but the other owners freak out about it

Snap Wilf's the 'worst offender' of this and has a habit of going up to the biggest male (usually unneutered) and then grumbling in his ear (dog usually looks at him in much amusement) with his bum wiggling like mad. Mind you he goes all giddy and wiggly with the girls.

People in the past have suggested to me that its fear-aggression or similar but I do wonder (I know rotties are growly and those that don't know the breed mistake it for aggression but any experienced rottie owner will tell you its part of their character of just being vocal). My agility trainer is always going on about how 'gobby' cockers are (she sees a fair few of them and they all seem to be)

[Helen]

along with penny and molly|ladie  i think it's just gobbiness - some cockers are very vocal (ask sarahp about that - when we see dillon jarv has a permanently surprised look on his face as dill is *verbal* and jarv isn't!) and it's their way of playing.  all other dog signs are good - the happy waggy bottom, he just likes to tell the world really

i think that clicker training is a great idea - mostly to appease other *worried* owners that you are doing something to stop your dog growling at their dogs .  tbh it took me a while to get used to growly play, obviously jarv thought i was stoooopid.  99 percent of the time the other dog would have read the non-verbal communication anyway and understand it's just play, but their owners need a bit more training :lol

[Abby]

We met another cocker int eh park yesterday who I hadn't seen for ages and I'd forgotten how gobby he is. Believe me, Henry's grumbling is nothing compared with this boy. It's a bit wierd till you get used to it - tails wagging constantly and invites to play, with constant growling. SOunds ferocious but CLive loves it and just keeps going back in for more. Just like he was with Henry. 

[Nicola]

Mollie does the exact same thing.  UGH..I feel like strangling her sometimes ..because, that is how she PLAYS.. ...whenever she starts playing with another dog she growls and chases after them..wagging her tail contently.  The thing is, I know shes playing, but the other owners freak out about it

Snap Wilf's the 'worst offender' of this and has a habit of going up to the biggest male (usually unneutered) and then grumbling in his ear (dog usually looks at him in much amusement) with his bum wiggling like mad. Mind you he goes all giddy and wiggly with the girls.

People in the past have suggested to me that its fear-aggression or similar but I do wonder (I know rotties are growly and those that don't know the breed mistake it for aggression but any experienced rottie owner will tell you its part of their character of just being vocal). My agility trainer is always going on about how 'gobby' cockers are (she sees a fair few of them and they all seem to be)

That's so true about the rotties, Alfie met a lovely 10 month old rottie called Oscar last week. They played for ages and Oscar made this grumbly growly noise the whole time but his whole bum was wagging at the same time and he never bit Alfie or growled seriously at him, it was so cute and Alfie loved him    

[DennyK]

Paddy and I got ostracised the other day because when Paddy gets excited when he's playing he does the same.  Met two couples, each couple walking separately from each other - one with retriever pup and one with OED pup.  They ended up saying they didn't want their puppies playing with Paddy because he was so noisy and they thought it masked "real aggression" - then they walked off together.  Pads sat looking at me and I was SO sad - felt like we'd been sent to coventry by the school bully....   Still: I ran round like a loony to make it up to Pads and I don't think he gave a sod, but I did (still do)....

[PennyB]

Must admit though if the pups are very young then I don't let them do the full-on cocker lets go crazy and be a gobby idiot thing as it is too much for them at that age even if the pup is bigger than them  --- I usually let them work up to it each time we meet (if I have foster pups I just allow short periods of contact like this until they get used to my two)

[sarahp]

some cockers are very vocal (ask sarahp about that - when we see dillon jarv has a permanently surprised look on his face as dill is *verbal* and jarv isn't!)

Aint that the truth    Dill is the gobbiest git I know - and I know a few    Every dog he meets he grumbles at but his bum is wagging (well most of the time  ) I am constatntly having to explain to other owners that it is not aggressive its just him making a noise.

The head trainer at the place I go to often greets us with 'oh great - another gobby spaniel!!!' She has two blue roans and one of hers is a really gobby span 

I'm hoping he'll grow out of it - but there is no guarantee 

[PennyB]

some cockers are very vocal (ask sarahp about that - when we see dillon jarv has a permanently surprised look on his face as dill is *verbal* and jarv isn't!)

Aint that the truth    Dill is the gobbiest git I know - and I know a few    Every dog he meets he grumbles at but his bum is wagging (well most of the time  ) I am constatntly having to explain to other owners that it is not aggressive its just him making a noise.

You can imagine what it was like here with gobby Wilf competing with gobby Dill seeing who could out-gob each other

[Cob-Web]

  The thing is, I know shes playing, but the other owners freak out about it ..

That is a problem - he ends up as billy-no-mates because other owners pull their dog away before I get the chance to let Molo off-lead so they can play; he's fine off lead, but gobby when on-lead when he meets other dogs  Hopefully, he will get the chance to play with some equally chatty cockers on Saturday without offending anyone

He also gets himself all excited and high-pitched barks when on lead in an area he knows - such as the beach; I thought that behaviour was reserved for Collies til now