ten month old growling and warning off

[karenl]

the latest problem we seem to have with our now 10 month puppy is that nearly every time we stop at a bench or similar when we are out she growls and barks at other dogs if they come up to her or us. when she is just walking along she is absolutely fine and lets any dog sniff her, it seems to be a bit of a guarding thing we think as she does it a lot if she has a ball or drink or something of hers. it is embarrassing and a bit scary just in case she snaps at them, HOW DO WE DEAL WITH IT, she is our first dog and we are trying to do the right thing. she is a bit of a grumbler but just lately seemed to be doing it less apart from these incidents.

[Ian Wright]

sorry cant help my Grace growls when eating and when she has a toy and at other dogs sometimes. I think she just wants to play with them but it does not sound good.

Let me just say Grace is well under shot so i think a lot of the noise is caused by this. She has problems picking stuff up but we love her  

will be watching this thread as i know some one will give you some good advice
she is 8 months old

[Karma]

Is she on-lead when this happens or off?

A lot of dogs feel more threatened if they are approached on-lead, and maybe the fact that you are not moving adds to this feeling....

Or, as you say, it could be guarding-type behaviour.  Honey started guarding us when she was about 8 months old - we acted quickly and, while she's not 100% with other dogs, she doesn't guard us anymore (tennis balls, sticks, somewhere she's chosen to rest for a while, she'll guard, but not us!!!).
We stopped taking all treats and toys out on walks, as having them made us more valuable to her (so more reason to protect her source of good things!).  We praised any appropriate interaction (however fleeting and from whatever distance) and if she did display any growly/guardy behaviour we just walked away... so she lost the item she was guarding.  If she picked up a stick and was guarding that, we took the stick away...
We also took positive action - we started an obedience class, just to help improve her confidence and her bond with us.  We also took her along to a doggy socialisation group, where she could learn to be around other dogs in a more controlled environment... we still do this and she is much less anxious with dogs there than she is out and about! 

Generally I would try to prevent situations occuring, so don't put her in the position of greeting other dogs when she has something valuable to her.  Praise every time she does it right.  Show your disapproval when she does guard by walking away from her. 
I would be wary of actually taking the item off her, although that's what we did, as it has left us with huge problems getting Honey to retreive anything!!!! And if you weren't 100% certain about how she will react it could start her guarding the item from you as well as other dogs...

[karenl]

thankyou for your advise, it happens when she is off lead or on, she just seems to get very annoyed as i say she is fine meeting other dogs generally it only seems to happen when she is next to us or she has something.  i do take it off her if i can and my husband stood up with her and moved away, she has been socialised a lot ,puppy classes etc. this behavior is  relatively new and i am starting to dread stopping and sitting down when we are out and about,