When Good Dogs Growl

How many times have you seen this? A child and dog are together . They have not been properly introduced and the adults in the room are not monitoring the situation as closely as they should. The child is chasing the dog, thinking they are playing a fun game, while the dog is trying, yet failing to remove himself from a situation that makes him uncomfortable. The child is giggling and when she catches up with the dog, she hugs him, which he sees as being restrained rather than affection, and her version of petting is closer to hitting than gentle stroking. The dog is ducking away from her, his eyes are wide and shifting frantically, desperately looking for an escape route. There isn't one so he does the only thing he can do. He growls at her. She starts to cry and runs to her mother. The owner of the dog yells at him , grabs him by the collar, and shoves him in a room by himself. The dog has no idea what he's done wrong and his feelings are hurt because his owner is angry.

Unfortunately this scenario is all too common. What should have been a fun get together has turned stressful. The owner of the dog winds up apologizing profusely to the mother of the child, and the mother of the child comments that the dog is dangerous around children. The owner of the dog is worried that her friend might be right.

There are so many things that could have been done differently to avoid this negative experience:

• The dog could have been put in a room with his favorite toys, a kong, or his favorite (indestructible) chew toy to keep him busy and content before the guests arrived.
• The child could have been introduced to the dog with the owner showing her how to greet and interact gently with the dog. 
• The adults could have intervened before the dog felt the need to defend himself with the warning.
• The owner could have recognized the growl as the warning it was and explained to the child what it means.
• The owner could have defended her dog and told her friend it was their fault for not paying close enough attention.

We can only hope that this one interaction doesn't lead to negativity in the future. We hope the little girl isn't afraid of all dogs after this. We hope the mother of the girl assures her that dogs are not scary and teaches her to be calm and gentle with the next one she meets. We hope the owner of the dog is more diligent to the needs of the dog and the safety of children who play with him after that. But most of all, we hope the dog isn't afraid to growl the next time he's pushed to his limit.

Dogs, like people, have different tolerance levels for different kinds of interaction. Some are very patient and handle the kind of interaction described above without distress. Some can tolerate it for a little while before they need a break, but once they have time to regroup, they can rejoin the people. Some dogs just plain don't understand what's happening and they aren't comfortable from the get-go. It's up to us, as adults and guardians, to know the limits of our personal dogs and act accordingly. 

Since dogs can't talk to us it's up to us to understand and recognize their body language. Wide/shifting eyes, tucked tail, ears flat, panting, and making themselves small by appearing to "cling" to the floor are signs of stress. If we can get control of a situation and remove the dog from the environment that's causing him stress, then the dog and the people can move along with relatively little fuss and emotional trauma. But, if we miss these signs, which is easy to do, we have to understand exactly what the reaction of the dog means.

Growling is not a bad thing. In fact, it's a very, very good thing. It's something we should view as a gift, really, because it shows that the dog is NOT dangerous.  Growling is a first warning. It's his way of saying "Hey, I really don't like what's happening right now.  Please stop." A dog might growl once or multiple times before his warning escalates. When the message isn't getting through to us, the dog might ratchet up a level to an air snap. Again, this is a GOOD thing, because it tells us that "Hey, I'm not kidding. I really want you to stop and I don't want to bite you!" Air snapping is still showing that a dog is in control of himself and, though he's at the end of his rope, he's still giving you the chance to stop whatever it is you're doing that is scaring him before he lashes out. If a dog bites after all of that? Well, then we failed as the people who should have had control of the situation. Biting is their last resort when they feel the need to defend themselves. They don't want to inflict it any more than we want to receive it, so if things get to that point it's upsetting for everyone. 

Punishing a dog for growling or air snapping does two things. 

1. First, it gives the false impression that whatever was happening to elicit that response was acceptable behavior. It teaches the person the dog growled at that what he or she was doing in that moment was OK and the dog should know better. Chances are high that the person will repeat the behavior with another dog that doesn't have as high a level of tolerance and wind up getting bitten. 
2. Second, punishing the dog can make the dog reluctant to give a warning in the future and he may opt to skip it and go straight to biting next time.

Here are some instructions you can give to make sure your dog has positive experiences when meeting new people, and that new people will have a positive experience with your dog:

Admiral says hello to my niece, Aubrie, at a family get together.

• Talk to the dog in a happy, high pitched tone. This will catch his attention and give him the chance to decide if he wants to say hello.
• Allow the dog to approach you. Offer your hand for sniffing before he reaches you so that he can decide how close he wants to be for that part of the introduction.
• Get down on his level. Crouch or kneel so that your side is facing him. Do not make direct eye contact until he has met you through his sniff and his body language is relaxed.
• Do not stand up and pet him on the head. He can't see what's happening over his head and it can make him nervous.
• Gently scratch him under the chin and then graduate to gentle stroking from his neck down the length of his back. This is enjoyable for the dog. 
• If the dog is receptive, then it's OK to scratch behind his ears. If he wants this kind of attention he will let you know by putting his head under your hand. =)

Everything I've written here applies to all dogs. It's really important that owners of pit bull type dogs are aware of it, though, because our dogs tend to be held to a higher standard than other types of dogs. They're scrutinized more closely, they're judged more harshly, and they're condemned more quickly. I hope, that if you read this, and you know of a dog owner who isn't aware of these things, you'll pass it along. Sometimes when a person needs to get a message, the person to send it should be you.