Growling Puppy

[Toya]

I have a bit of a strange situation.

I have two Golden Retrievers, one 6 year old male, and a 5 month old female.

My male (Moppy) is extremely well behaved and has the perfect temperament and manners.

My 5 month old Golden Retriever puppy seems to be confused as to when it is appropriate to bark.

About a week after we got Millie, Moppy was eating his bone, and Millie wandered over thinking she could just help herself. Moppy growled at her and gently put his mouth over her head (no pressure applied at all) in a warning that the bone was his. Obviously Millie was distraught and ran around the yard yelping. I checked her over thoroughly and there was not a mark on her, bar the saliva from Moppy. He had just given her a big fright.

Ever since, when Millie has a bone or her food and someone is approaching her (or the wind blows)...she will growl. This concerned me, so I started with making her eat from my hand, putting my hand in her food bowl whilst she was eating, taking her bone off her and then giving it back when she was well behaved etc.

After all of this though, she will still growl on occasion...yet her tail is wagging. Most of the time when she see's me in the yard, she will actually pick her bone up and run over to me with it hanging out of her mouth, tail wagging madly....and growling!!!

Now although I now realise that she has no real grasp on what a growl actually means, others in the future may not. The last thing I want it for a child to pat her and she growls at them!! I will know that it is all fine, but the childs parents may not.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

[TessaBella]

Not sure if I can help or not, but our Bitsa, Sassy growls at us when she wants to play. Her tail wags, she sort of prances with her head down and her hackles are not up. You can tell the difference between a play growl and a warning growl.

[sas]

Don't 'just' watch the tail, the tail can be decieving.

Granted some puppies make growling noises when they play, but when they are resourse guarding this is not acceptable.

You should be able to take anything out of your dogs mouth without getting bitten.

I would be working with the dog giving treats or using clicker training when the dog is giving you the behaviour you find acceptable.

Edited October 23, 2006 by sas