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Dog snapping meaning11/23/2023 The interesting thing is, that as scary as it appears, this aggressive display is actually good because it serves as a safeguard against injury. Hey, I’m just sayin’.if your baby did that you would be calling an exorcist, not a behaviorist! As a pack oriented predatory animal, growling is hard-wired into all dogs, it does not need to be learned, they just do it instinctively. Once those fangs come out, pretty much everyone gets it! This is the point when people realize that their dog is not a furry baby but is, indeed, a predatory animal. Owners often don’t recognize a threat unless it comes in high volume and a ferocious looking snarl. It may be at low volume accompanied by a closed mouth, dilated pupils, stiff body language and no breathing. Threat growling can be very subtle to the untrained eye. This is concerning, especially with dogs known to bite. They are saying, “Go away!” and may bite in order to make that happen. For example, a dog may growl at people he doesn’t know because they scare him or because they have entered his property or because he has a bone. This is seen in dogs that are fearful, territorial or possessive. Threat Growling: Threat growling is used when the dog wants to increase the distance between themselves and a perceived threat. Most people figure this out but sometimes they mistakenly think the dog is threatening them. It may even sound like words such as “Wi wuv woo” and in a sense they are talking.they are communicating in a vocal fashion. This is usually a low growl with loose body language that owners tend to think seems like the dog is trying to talk. They may also growl as a request for attention. Pleasure Growling: Some dogs will growl affectionately, when being petted, for example.If you are a novice dog owner you should consider finding a balanced dog trainer that has playgroups or puppy socialization classes to learn what is play behavior and what is not. Let the energy come down before starting back up. If things get too rowdy simply take a break or interrupt the dog’s play session. This is “good growling” and nothing to worry about. It can be heard in dog-dog play activities but also when playing tug-of-war or rough housing with humans. Play growling can appear to be very ferocious to the novice dog owner. He was really just starving for someone to play with. He was growling like crazy but definitely not aggressive. I got down on the floor and wrestled with him and played some tug-of-war with him. The dog was aggressively playful but otherwise totally harmless. “Really? Are you sure?” they asked with eyes the size of saucers. I asked them to let him go and you should have seen the look on their faces. They had the dog on leash and he was lunging, growling and really putting on quite a show. I remember some clients about a year ago who were afraid to let me come into their house because of their “aggressive” dog. Play Growling: Dogs get into so much trouble due to the scary sounds they make when playing or wanting to play.So, before we worry about how to make the dog stop growling, let’s take a look at why the dog might be making these scary noises. There are many different forms of growling which I have put into six categories and, although it may sound funny, in many ways growling can even be good. While growling can be very scary it’s not necessarily aggression and, in fact, not all growling is bad. I get called for growling issues quite frequently because people think their dog is aggressive. “My dog growls at my kids." “My dog growls at strangers.” “My dog growls if I try to take his bone.”
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