A growl is one of the best and misunderstood forms of communication!
Never đ punish đ a đ growl đ
Growling isnât âbadâ itâs a form of communication. Normally a growling dog is expressing a dislike of something theyâd like to stop or would like more space from. A growling dog is telling us theyâre upset, itâs a warning that a dog is needing the situation to change and if it doesnât they might have to escalate their communication further.
A dog whoâs been punished or told off for growling, may stop growling all together. You havenât changed how they feel about the situation, youâve just removed the warning. They still feel equally as bad about it, if not worse because now they feel they canât growl, so they may bite without growling.
The safest thing to do is to respect your dogs growl. This may mean changing the situation, creating more space from a trigger, stopping what you're doing or leaving them alone.
I was once dog sitting a Jack Russel, we were out and about and a man with a young boy approached to see if they could say hello. I explained it wasn't my dog and at that point the boy started to reach forward, the Jack Russel growled and the man said to the boy "don't listen to the dog, don't let him tell you what to do - go on stroke him"
Completelty stunned, I just moved away with the dog so the child couldn't reach... Guess what inspired this post! Now, if I'd told the Jack Russel off for growling, the next time he was in a similar situation he might not growl and he may just bite.
I wish humans could growl 𤣠itâs such a clear and simple way of saying âI donât like whatâs happening please stop or give me some spaceâ
Much easier than having to explain yourself!
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