6 month old puppy suddenly growls at 5 year old son.?

Question

Hi all, wehave had our puppy since she was 8 weeks old and she is great with my son except for this problem. If she is sleeping and my son goes over and pets her ( he is very gentle) she will let out a low growl. She has not snapped but I don't like it. I have spoken to and taken her to training classes since she was about 12 weeks old and so far the only advice I've gotten is to teach my son to let sleeping dogs lie. I understand this but still would like to stop it. she does not do it to me or my husband. When I correct her (usually grab the back of her neck by the fur and scold her) she looks genuinley bewildered almost as if she doesn't realize what she's done. Anyone else experience this or have any suggestions? When she's awake they can wrestle and run and play and she never shows any signs of aggression. Oh she is a yellow labrador.

would just like to add that my son can hug her and touch her when eating. he can even lay on her and they just relax together no problem. And to the person that said my son should be smart enough to stay away, he is and I wasn't looking for nasty comments. I am just looking for some friendly advice because I am uncomfortable with the situation.

Answer 1

Dont' you just hate it when you spend good money on trainers and they don't help. Most dog trainers are not or dont' wish to deal with aggression problems. And as far as, "Letting Sleeping Dogs Lie" thats rubbbish. You don't want to encourage or allow any type of aggression.

You are on the right track by grabbing her by the back of the neck. Her looking bewildered when you do this is great. That means she is responding to you and your husband and she's snapping out of the aggression. How long has this been going on and how long has it been since you've been correcting her? How long do you hold her after grabbing the back of her neck? Do you praise her afterwards?

After grabbing her, use a calm and assertive voice and scold. Don't talk to her or look at her unless using scolding. Hold her until you think she has become submissive to you. Then let her go, if she fights continue the exercise until she does what you want. Dont' back off even if she tries to bite or growl. Never show fear or anger, just a calm assertive manner. Dogs feed off the energy we emit. Don't praise her afterwards just let her go. Praise or afffection should only be used when you initiate contact and when the dog is submissive.

Test the theory of the others here, does the dog ever growl when it's sleeping. Does it growl when you or your husband pet him in sleep. By watching the dog you can assess exactly what is making him growl and if it only happens when your son pets him. Assessing the sistuation is key to finding out if it's from being released from a dream or an aggression problem.

Hope this helps, if you need more info or help, I'm more than happy to help via email.

Answer 2

Border collies are supposed to be great with kids. Labs, ditto.
From my own horrific experience, if the dog shows aggression to your child (or anyone in your family) you are at risk.
Our border collie attacked my 6 year old and bit her in the face. The dog had shown aggression on other occasions, during feeding, or against our other puppy, but this attack came out of the blue because I didn't recognize that she was vicious, or had the wrong temperment type to be with children.
A good rule of thumb: never leave a pet alone with a child that is smaller than the pet.
I've had dogs and cats all my life, they are wonderful companions, but can be dangerous.
The best thing for your family and your dog might be to place the dog in a childless home.
Right now we have a cross-Sheltie and ? that is the sweetest mildest dog I've ever seen. Has never nipped at anyone under any circumstances, and rarely barks. Is friendly to everyone.
I tell people: If she ever growls at someone I'm calling 911 because it would have to be a horrible person to upset that dog!
There are dogs that are compatible with children, but don't take any chances. If YOU don't feel comfortable, there is a reason for it: Moms have the uncanny ability to sense danger to their children, listen to yourself and do what is best for everyone.
We were blessed, the attack didn't leave any physical scars, and my daughter still loves dogs, but she is very cautious around dogs she doesn't know. I thank God every time I think of what could have happened and know that we were spared.
God bless you and help you with this!

Answer 3

Well obedience training is different from behavioral training. There is a club called the The International Association of Canine Professionals you can search their website for a behavioral specialist near you. Cesar Milan is in this group! You as the pack leader can make a rule of No Aggression in your pack Ever. Anyone should be able to touch your dog while its sleeping. The pack leader tells the dog when to sleep, when to eat, when to wake up, when to walk. Your dog is the pack leader over your child and is telling your child it is time to rest and don't BUG me. Once you establish your child as another pack leader this will stop, after all, like I said before the pack leader tells the dog when to rest and wake up. Any type of aggression will escalate in time. Right now he growls maybe tomorrow he'll nip maybe that nip will become a serious bite or assault on your child. If growling gets the dog what he wants (the child leaves him alone) that is a guarantee it will get worse. I would contact a specialist in behavior, I called a behavioral specialist off that website over some aggression issues with my dog. She gave me like 2 hours of advice on the phone without charge and if nothing she said worked she is willing to work with me. She is the most interesting behavioral professional I have ever spoke to. Also I would highly recommend Cesar's Way a book by Cesar Milan I am almost finished reading it now and WOW lots of interesting points and great information. The way I view my dog now is night and day from before I talked to that woman and read the book!

Answer 4

The dog respects you and your husband as leading members in your family pack. The dog doesn't consider your son as such, but more like a play mate and less important member of the pack. When you scold her, it feels natural to obey, but this won't solve the way she sees your son. He should be the one scolding her, but obviously he's to small to do that.
I think eventualy the dog wll grow out of this attitude and in time, your son will grow up and learn how to be firm with the dog. Wrestling should not be exagerated.

I had a very smart, beautiful dog when I was 13 and she is the dog I most loved. She started growling at me when she reached 6 or 7 months old and the first time she bite me was a time when I was petting her whilst she was asleep. She kept biting me for several years (when she was awake), whatever I did to correct it, but I didnt mind as I thought she just wouldnt respect me as the leader of teh pack. Finally I noticed that she was only biting my hands (symbol of authority) and whenever she wanted to bite me, I hide my hands so she would not bite me. When the dog turned 4 she gave birth to 9 puppies. We kept 2, we found homes for the rest of them and finally my parents decided to give the mother dog to my grandparents. She still lives there , I still love her very much and now that she is old, she stopped biting. She is a very gentle dog now.

Answer 5

Interesting situation...
Thanks for the thorough explanation.... it helps...

OK... you've trained the dog (obedience classes), but you DO need to now train your son. You have already been given the right answer.

Tell your son about my female dog (great pyrenees).

My two pyrs can be sleeping side by side and my female will suddenly raise up growling and snarling at our male. Now the poor boy was also asleep and as far as we know he didn't even touch her. So he's awakened by her threats and is totally surprised and distressed as he didn't do anything wrong. Apparently some dogs dream about guarding when asleep, and our girl doesn't recognize the difference between dreams and reality. So whatever threat she was facing in her dreams ... is suddenly seen as him as she wakes up not knowing that the threat was only in the dream.

Other times, she wakes up growling and looks around bewildered and feeling foolish as noone at all is near her. I've been across the room and seen this. I look over and she looks at me bewildered as she KNOWS there was a threat there but it's suddenly NOT there.

Your son is pulling her out of a deep sleep and whatever threat she was guarding against in her dreams, she suddenly thinks is him. She doesn't know the difference between the dream and reality and so is bewildered when you scold her.

As a yellow lab she'll be a good sized dog. Your son needs to learn to respect her privacy when she's asleep. If she sleeps deep when inside, it's because she feels safe from attack, and suddenly she thinks she's been attacked so as she wakes up, she growls to warn the invader to stay away.

It's hard to train a dog to not wake growling in this kind of situation.

Think about something that your son really hates to have people do to him. Ask him how he feels when this thing is done to him that he doesn't like? The dog doesn't like to be wakened this way because she's sleeping deep and feels threatened.

If his intent is to wake her, he should call her by name. If his intent is to show her love, he should wait till she's awake so she can enjoy his attention.

I hope this information helps you. Now use it to train your son. Once he understands why she feels threatened, he's more likely to cooperate with you and not pet her in her sleep.

OH... sit down with your son while the dog is asleep and just sit there quietly and watch the dog. You may see her muzzle move and her paws. Discuss with him what she might be doing in her dreams. My dogs paws move when they are running or chasing a predator in their sleep.

I agree with Hanks suggestion to test how she reacts to food and hugs, but not blowing in the dog's face. Many dogs don't like anyone to do this. I was wondering like Hank if you have tested to see how the dog might respond to YOU doing what your son does. I think that would be interesting.

Answer 6

Our dog does that if someone cuddles him while he is in deep sleep, but he has not shown aggression to any of us while awake. Like the previous poster said, dogs dream and often growl/bark in their sleep. I dont think correcting her that way is going to help either, the dog will have no idea what you are mad at if she is asleep. Your son is five and should be smart enough to leave the dog alone if you asked him to.

Answer 7

Labs are usually laid back, but they can complain when they don't like something...

Some tests to try - Carefully see if he can hug her, take her food while she is eating, and get in her face and blow in her face. Obviously, you don't do this to an unknown dog... so I imagine you already know the answers. But she should not react badly for any of these things.

If she is not protective about her food, and she doesn't growl when he hugs her, then I think that the low growl is just a test and a complaint...

He may be too gentle, while she is sleeping. Try it yourself, when she can't see you and see if she complains to you, too.

I tend to think it is an adolescent thing ..."oh, don't bother me, I don't wanna get up, I just wanna sleep a few more minutes..."

And I think that she will grow out of it.

Answer 8

I think that some of these answers have gone far too deeply into this.
The easy way round it and I do not mean this facetiously at all, is to let your son leave the dog to it's rest, and to enjoy it when the dog is ready to play.
I'll bet that there isn't a father in this world today who, when a kid has jumped on them when they were trying have a lie-in, hasn't gone "Ooooooh. Leave me alone". In fun!
Good Luck to you all

Answer 9

under no circumstance should your son or anyone else should bother a dog while it is trying to sleep, there you have just answered your own Q:
When a dog is trying to sleep it is its own time to chill out your son can always play when the dog is awake. Tell you son nicely not to bother the dog while it is resting, we have un broken sleep so should your dog

Answer 10

Dogs dream when they are asleep. Many times my dogs will growl and bark in their sleep, along with twitching. It is very possible she is dreaming about something and is either growling at something in the dream and he touches her at the same time, or she is being threatened by something in the dream and his touching her makes her think whatever is in her dream is actually getting her.