# Help, our puppy is growling at us



## Rocksor (12 mo ago)

It sounds like some resource guarding is showing. It can start with simple things like digging, paper towels on the ground. You have to start her on some training like take things away from her, giving her a treat, and then giving back the items to her (your trainer will be able to help you improve this technique). Can you take away her food bowl and favorite toy? How well is she doing when you are training her (doing the same exercises the trainer is doing)? As for getting on the furniture, you will have to put items on top of the sofas like laundry baskets while you train her not to be on the furniture and make sure the doors are closed to rooms you do not want her in until she is trained. Don't tell her what not to do, instead train her in the behavior you want her to do instead. In the end, she needs more training by your family. Do not let her train you.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

Thanks for replying. She's fine with taking away her toys and food bowl and responding well to her training, but gets bored very quickly. I'll keep going with the training on taking things away from her, maybe that might transpose into not leaving an area she likes. I just really don't want her to be aggressive.


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## green branch (Oct 24, 2020)

Hello, it is good that you are looking for help to solve this problem. What you are seeing is not uncommon, but it won't go away on its own. People get very surprised when they see that, especially with a Golden puppy. She is protesting because you are stopping her from doing or having what she likes. You want to show her that this is not an appropriate way to deal with it. Some care about food and toys, and some like yours about furniture, which in my opinion is much easier to correct. 

People have asked about growling on furniture before on this forum. You can try to look it up. McCann Dog Training has several videos on youtube on this topic, e.g. 



.

Redirecting is not a way to solve this. Let me try to explain it to you in a human equivalent of this. Let's say I am outside with my kids and an ice cream truck comes. They ask if I can buy it for them. Based on circumstances, I might say yes or no. Maybe I am undecided, but I am leaning more toward no, and they start protesting, kicking me, biting me, throwing things, then they are definitely not going to get it that time and any future time until they can show me that they can accept no in a civilized way. I will make sure to convey that message clearly to them.

So, with your puppy, I would put a short leash on her, like a 3 ft one with no handle, and let her drag it in the house. If she goes on the sofa, tell her off, and if she doesn't then use the leash to get her off. Don't let her scare you with growling. Again, redirecting is not a way to solve this problem. Some puppies, like kids, are more strongheaded.

Good luck. Feel free to ask further questions.


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## Rocksor (12 mo ago)

Riadara said:


> Thanks for replying. She's fine with taking away her toys and food bowl and responding well to her training, but gets bored very quickly. I'll keep going with the training on taking things away from her, maybe that might transpose into not leaving an area she likes. I just really don't want her to be aggressive.


Talk to your trainer about what to do before the issue happens, basically what can you train her to do before she gets to the open room or starts digging the lawn. For the room, it could be simple like walk by the open door to restricted room while you give her treats or praises (whichever she prefers). You're basically telling her you get better stuff than being in that room. Then make it harder by going into the room, and giving her treats for looking at the chair but not going forward to it. If her nose touches the chair, it's fine, so she gets the treat. (Note: have a box on the chair to prevent her from jumping on it and make her try to do something else like sniffing the box). Have the trainer show you the timing, and marking the correct behavior. If your timing is off in marking the correct behavior, it could lead to some confusion for her.

As for the garden, you can approach this n 2 ways at the same time. First, find a behavior that you want from her in the garden before she starts to dig (maybe she needs 20-30 minutes of fetch or chasing the toy on a line). Next if she regularly digs in certain spots, you can bury chicken wire about 2 inches deeper into those spots. Make those spots not enticing to dig in. If you do it in every spot she digs in, she will get the hint that it's not that fun to try to dig past chicken wire.

You also have to have some patience. My trainer (with over 30 years of dog training experience) has told me that it takes around 30 days to break a habit and replace it with something else through training, and if you use barrier to prevent something from happening like digging, then it can take 3-4 months for the dog to give up that habit.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

green branch said:


> redirecting is not a way to solve this problem


It won't solve this or any other problem. In fact it specifically avoids teaching anything.



Rocksor said:


> It sounds like some resource guarding is showing. It can start with simple things like digging, paper towels on the ground. You have to start her on some training like take things away from her, giving her a treat, and then giving back the items to her (your trainer will be able to help you improve this technique). Can you take away her food bowl and favorite toy? How well is she doing when you are training her (doing the same exercises the trainer is doing)? As for getting on the furniture, you will have to put items on top of the sofas like laundry baskets while you train her not to be on the furniture and make sure the doors are closed to rooms you do not want her in until she is trained. Don't tell her what not to do, instead train her in the behavior you want her to do instead. In the end, she needs more training by your family. Do not let her train you.





Rocksor said:


> Talk to your trainer about what to do before the issue happens, basically what can you train her to do before she gets to the open room or starts digging the lawn. For the room, it could be simple like walk by the open door to restricted room while you give her treats or praises (whichever she prefers). You're basically telling her you get better stuff than being in that room. Then make it harder by going into the room, and giving her treats for looking at the chair but not going forward to it. If her nose touches the chair, it's fine, so she gets the treat. (Note: have a box on the chair to prevent her from jumping on it and make her try to do something else like sniffing the box). Have the trainer show you the timing, and marking the correct behavior. If your timing is off in marking the correct behavior, it could lead to some confusion for her.
> 
> As for the garden, you can approach this n 2 ways at the same time. First, find a behavior that you want from her in the garden before she starts to dig (maybe she needs 20-30 minutes of fetch or chasing the toy on a line). Next if she regularly digs in certain spots, you can bury chicken wire about 2 inches deeper into those spots. Make those spots not enticing to dig in. If you do it in every spot she digs in, she will get the hint that it's not that fun to try to dig past chicken wire.
> 
> You also have to have some patience. My trainer (with over 30 years of dog training experience) has told me that it takes around 30 days to break a habit and replace it with something else through training, and if you use barrier to prevent something from happening like digging, then it can take 3-4 months for the dog to give up that habit.


Tell me how anything mentioned in either of these posts teaches a dog anything at all? Anything positive that is.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

green branch said:


> Hello, it is good that you are looking for help to solve this problem. What you are seeing is not uncommon, but it won't go away on its own. People get very surprised when they see that, especially with a Golden puppy. She is protesting because you are stopping her from doing or having what she likes. You want to show her that this is not an appropriate way to deal with it. Some care about food and toys, and some like yours about furniture, which in my opinion is much easier to correct.
> 
> People have asked about growling on furniture before on this forum. You can try to look it up. McCann Dog Training has several videos on youtube on this topic, e.g.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for the great advice and the reassurance that it's not uncommon. She is absolutely strong-headed and our trainer told us to redirect but I really felt like I wasn't dealing with the issue.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

Rocksor said:


> Talk to your trainer about what to do before the issue happens, basically what can you train her to do before she gets to the open room or starts digging the lawn. For the room, it could be simple like walk by the open door to restricted room while you give her treats or praises (whichever she prefers). You're basically telling her you get better stuff than being in that room. Then make it harder by going into the room, and giving her treats for looking at the chair but not going forward to it. If her nose touches the chair, it's fine, so she gets the treat. (Note: have a box on the chair to prevent her from jumping on it and make her try to do something else like sniffing the box). Have the trainer show you the timing, and marking the correct behavior. If your timing is off in marking the correct behavior, it could lead to some confusion for her.
> 
> As for the garden, you can approach this n 2 ways at the same time. First, find a behavior that you want from her in the garden before she starts to dig (maybe she needs 20-30 minutes of fetch or chasing the toy on a line). Next if she regularly digs in certain spots, you can bury chicken wire about 2 inches deeper into those spots. Make those spots not enticing to dig in. If you do it in every spot she digs in, she will get the hint that it's not that fun to try to dig past chicken wire.
> 
> You also have to have some patience. My trainer (with over 30 years of dog training experience) has told me that it takes around 30 days to break a habit and replace it with something else through training, and if you use barrier to prevent something from happening like digging, then it can take 3-4 months for the dog to give up that habit.


Thanks! She was just lying in the grass when she growled as she didn't want to leave. When she digs and I tell her to stop she does. She had some plastic in her mouth about 30 mins ago and growled at me when I tried to remove it, as she wouldn't drop it when I said drop. She eventually backed down and dropped it but again I want to try to stop the growling happening in the first place - I feel like the reasons/situations to growl are growing and pretty soon she'll be in her crate all the time.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

SRW said:


> It won't solve this or any other problem. In fact it specifically avoids teaching anything.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I'm interested on what you would suggest?


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Riadara said:


> We have a 4 month old Golden Retriever called Lola. She is super smart and pretty wilful, which isn't a problem, but she has started growling at us and I'm getting really worried. She growled at my husband about 4 weeks ago when she was digging up a plant, when he tried to stop her she snapped at his hand and drew blood. We got a positivity reinforcement trainer and she has been doing well in the training overall, but not for this. our trainer told us to just distract her or ignore her when she starts growling. In the last week her growling has gotten worse and more frequent – the distraction approach isn’t working. An example of her growling is if she gets into a room she’s not allowed in and jumps on the chair. When I approach her to tell her to come down she starts to dead eye us and give a low growl. She has also started doing this when we need to get her from the living room to her bed at night time and when she is lying out on the grass and it’s time to go in home. It’s not really realistic to leave her on the furniture or in the living room all night and I’m really starting to worry about her behavior now. Her health is good and she’s getting loads of exercise and socialization. Has anyone else had this problem? I am now very concerned as we have lots of little nieces and nephews and I'm worried she will frighten them, or go further.


You have a serious problem and you are correct to be dealing with it immediately. Your girl doesn't respect you and she will be dangerous to young children. I wouldn't have her out freely with them at all until you get this issue under control. She will absolutely look at them as weak and try to bully them. 

You mentioned that she gets loads of exercise - is it off leash, aerobic hard work for a half hour or so a day? Socialization is wonderful but the piece of the puzzle you didn't mention is obedience work. Do you put her on a leash every day and practice some obedience exercises? Do you work with her off leash at meal times putting her through her known obedience commands and working on teaching new ones? Are you enrolled in a weekly group class with a good, experienced trainer who knows Retrievers? If not, these are all things I would be doing, every single day.

She should be learning "down/stay" so that you can fix her meals while she waits, you gradually work up to being able to place her bowl on the ground next to her and she doesn't move to eat until you release her verbally. Do not bother her when she's eating her meals. No one should be taking food bowls from her. She sounds like a dog who is insecure and worried about people taking things from her, you can teach her to trade with a higher value treat, call her to you and give the treat to take an item and then give it back. She can learn that you won't take every single treasure but she does need to be trained so that if you had to take something you could. It's a process.

Start having her drag the leash in the house, a cheap one. Use it to enforce your commands without putting hands on her. Start working really hard on her recall - always have treats on you and call her from all over the house or yard and when she comes, make sure she comes right into your knees by holding the treat there, pet her and praise her and then let her go. You can also have her wear a short 20-25 cm leash (call it a training tab in the US) when outdoors so you have a way to control her. Practice calling her to you for no reason, give the treat, hold the tab and practice walking a few short steps, treat and release. Praise and talk to her while you're working with her.

All of this is to help her learn that good things happen when you interact with her and give commands, obedience lessons teach her that working with you and obeying is not optional, but if she cooperates, good things happen. You can use a toy to reward her with playtime and fun in place of a food treat. Do this intermittently to keep her on her toes. Working with a trainer who understands retrievers will help a lot.

Look up a training protocol called "Nothing in Life is Free" where you have her perform simple commands before letting her have access to thing she wants. Teach her to sit and "wait" at the door to be let out. Don't open the door and say "ok" until she obeys. If she comes up to you for petting, have her sit and "shake paw" before you pet her. She can be kept on leash indoors and learn a lot of different behaviors that help her remember that you the human are the leader and she is the follower, she is not in charge. 

You may need to use a deeper tone of voice when you're disappointed with her, (not louder, just deeper). I do think there is balance needed in handling her. She is pushing the edges of the rules here and needs to learn that you are the one running the show. You want a trainer who isn't 100% cookies and butterflies to help deal with her and if she came from a really good, experienced Golden breeder, you might consider contacting that person for help networking for a good trainer. Don't give up.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Riadara said:


> I'm interested on what you would suggest?


nolefan and green branch have offered good advice.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> You have a serious problem and you are correct to be dealing with it immediately. Your girl doesn't respect you and she will be dangerous to young children. I wouldn't have her out freely with them at all until you get this issue under control. She will absolutely look at them as weak and try to bully them.
> 
> You mentioned that she gets loads of exercise - is it off leash, aerobic hard work for a half hour or so a day? Socialization is wonderful but the piece of the puzzle you didn't mention is obedience work. Do you put her on a leash every day and practice some obedience exercises? Do you work with her off leash at meal times putting her through her known obedience commands and working on teaching new ones? Are you enrolled in a weekly group class with a good, experienced trainer who knows Retrievers? If not, these are all things I would be doing, every single day.
> 
> ...


What great advice! Thanks so much and it makes a lot of sense


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## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

Riadara said:


> Thanks! She was just lying in the grass when she growled as she didn't want to leave. When she digs and I tell her to stop she does. She had some plastic in her mouth about 30 mins ago and growled at me when I tried to remove it, as she wouldn't drop it when I said drop. She eventually backed down and dropped it but again I want to try to stop the growling happening in the first place - I feel like the reasons/situations to growl are growing and pretty soon she'll be in her crate all the time.


I have a question that no has asked. Does your puppy really know what the word out means? At 4 months old we might think they know the word but in reality they don't. Are you consistent using the word?
What are you doing when she doesn't drop what she has in her mouth? What are you doing when she is growling?

I would also suggest playing games requiring her to give up items that are not considered valuable to her so she understands that she needs to give up items at all times when requested.

Also, as some others have said... you need to start doing obedience training with her... .this should have started from day one. Have you taken puppy classes with her yet?


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

rhondas said:


> I have a question that no has asked. Does your puppy really know what the word out means? At 4 months old we might think they know the word but in reality they don't. Are you consistent using the word?
> What are you doing when she doesn't drop what she has in her mouth? What are you doing when she is growling?
> 
> I would also suggest playing games requiring to give up items that are not considered viable.
> ...


She understands out, she's a pretty fast learner and we are consistent with the words we use. We have been doing obedience training with her but to be honest I felt the trainer we got is all sweetness and light and all the training was off the lead and done with the promise of a treat. Our trainer told us to walk away from her when she growls, next option is to swap it out for something and don't look her in the eye. None of this worse and if anything her behavior got worse. I was just outside doing her obedience training with her on the lead and going okay - will take a lot of time I think, she's pretty willful.


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## green branch (Oct 24, 2020)

Let me just reflect on what has been said by you and others in this thread. I think you are doing a good job and are being proactive. You probably just got surprised by a willful puppy. Nolefan mentioned to look for someone who has experience with Retrievers. If you find a good trainer, they could help you even if they work with Shepherds primarily. But why is Nolefan mentioning this? Well dogs are dogs, but particular traits are more common among certain breeds. Goldens were bred to be working dogs. A certain stamina and determination is needed to jump in cold water or go through an ugly terrain and retrieve over and over. So, your girl might have that in her. Take this challenge that she is giving you seriously. Know that if you resolve it, then you will have this smart dog that you can make to be the most wonderful dog. Think about dog sports.
About trainers, you can continue with the one that you are using, if you feel you gain from them and you can afford them. In life we have many teachers and we can not learn everything from one. Take every advice with a grain of salt. Do not spend money on trainers if you can’t afford them. There are so many resources you can find online about the issue you are having, as well as about basic obedience.
Regarding the approach with giving food closer and closer to the chair. This kind of approach can work if a dog is afraid of some things that look strange to them, like umbrellas, strollers, people with helmets, people in costumes, etc. (Think about what a service dog going to Disneyland have to be prepared for). Then you can feed them around them, say a person with helmet, and when they are OK with that, then the person with helmet can feed them and they will learn that this is nothing to worry about. It could also work with some body sensitivities - dogs who don’t like their paws being touched for example. Your dog is not afraid of the chair and it is counterintuitive to believe this approach would work. Plus you don’t have time to lose.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

green branch said:


> Let me just reflect on what has been said by you and others in this thread. I think you are doing a good job and are being proactive. You probably just got surprised by a willful puppy. Nolefan mentioned to look for someone who has experience with Retrievers. If you find a good trainer, they could help you even if they work with Shepherds primarily. But why is Nolefan mentioning this? Well dogs are dogs, but particular traits are more common among certain breeds. Goldens were bred to be working dogs. A certain stamina and determination is needed to jump in cold water or go through an ugly terrain and retrieve over and over. So, your girl might have that in her. Take this challenge that she is giving you seriously. Know that if you resolve it, then you will have this smart dog that you can make to be the most wonderful dog. Think about dog sports.
> About trainers, you can continue with the one that you are using, if you feel you gain from them and you can afford them. In life we have many teachers and we can not learn everything from one. Take every advice with a grain of salt. Do not spend money on trainers if you can’t afford them. There are so many resources you can find online about the issue you are having, as well as about basic obedience.
> Regarding the approach with giving food closer and closer to the chair. This kind of approach can work if a dog is afraid of some things that look strange to them, like umbrellas, strollers, people with helmets, people in costumes, etc. (Think about what a service dog going to Disneyland have to be prepared for). Then you can feed them around them, say a person with helmet, and when they are OK with that, then the person with helmet can feed them and they will learn that this is nothing to worry about. It could also work with some body sensitivities - dogs who don’t like their paws being touched for example. Your dog is not afraid of the chair and it is hard to believe this approach would work. Plus you don’t have time to lose.


I really appreciate all you and Nolefan have provided, and the reassurance too. My husband thinks I'm overreacting a little as she is very sweet and sociable and generally a good dog, apart from this new behavior. My sister also tends to agree with him, but my intuition is telling me to get this under control. Everyone who meets her loves her. I just want her to know her place in the family, be happy and not scare or heaven forbid bite anyone. She's not afraid of the chair - it's the opposite - she loved it from the first day she arrived. She knows she's not allowed on it, so tried to sneak into that room and jump on whenever she sees an opportunity. Thanks for the advice on the other trainers - I was looking at a behavior therapist and it was about USD500, which is a lot. I looked on the internet and didn't really find anything that was meeting our situation. If you do know of specific resources can you share? If not no problem, thanks for all your support and advice so far.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Someone who is certified and has taken classes will be expensive. It would be something you might hold off on until you've tried a good, experienced person who has years and years of training experience. Maybe reach out to regional Golden Retriever club or a gundog trainer for suggestions on who they would refer you to. Follow your instincts on this one, your husband and sister need to be on board with the plan. I hope you will check back with us periodically and let us know what you have done and how it's going. It can be so helpful to other people who need help in the future to see what you have success with.


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

Riadara said:


> Thanks! She was just lying in the grass when she growled as she didn't want to leave. When she digs and I tell her to stop she does. She had some plastic in her mouth about 30 mins ago and growled at me when I tried to remove it, as she wouldn't drop it when I said drop. She eventually backed down and dropped it but again I want to try to stop the growling happening in the first place - I feel like the reasons/situations to growl are growing and pretty soon she'll be in her crate all the time.


Growling is a dog's way to communicate. Punish the growl and your dog might just go straight to biting instead of warning you with a growl. I have heard good things about Jean Donaldson's book Mine so you might want to check it out.


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## green branch (Oct 24, 2020)

Hello again, there are many resources out there, but the problem is that you can get overwhelmed and misled. 

In the previous post, it was said that growling is a dog's way to communicate. Yes, this is correct and your dog is telling you" I don't like that you are trying to move me from here." That is OK. What is not OK, if you don't do anything about it, you will probably end up with a dog that you can't live with. She is young and there is a chance that it can go away on its own, but since this behavior is starting to appear more often and she went beyond a growl, it is better to assume it won't. Otherwise, you can be bitten multiple times and have a bitter-sweet relationship with this dog. You might not be able to have kids and this dog together. There is no reason to have this dog's and your own life miserable when you can do something about it. 

Not every growling is a problem. Let's say I see a dog growls at another dog, I will record that, but that is not a reason for concern on its own. My dog will growl at a younger dog if he doesn't like something, but he kept his mouth shut when a calm older dog came to our home and took his bone and chew on it. My guess is that he was not happy that this dog was chewing on his bone, but he chose not to say anything. With a younger dog he feels "I am bigger than you," and will try to take it away, but if they are not giving up he might choose to growl. He never ever tried to bite any of the dogs. They don't always decide to growl if they don't like something, and even if they do, it doesn't mean they will go further than that. I am not saying that it is a good practice that you torture your dog by letting other dogs chew on their bones. I am just saying dogs have common sense, like we do. 

There is also play growling. My dog will growl when tugging. He doesn't growl when wrestling with dogs, but some do. These things are harmless.

The bottom line, there are different kinds of growling. The one you are dealing with is a problem, because a dog who bites you whenever they think is right is hard to manage.

The book Mine that was recommended to you is about resource guarding. One might consider what you are seeing resource guarding, because she is "guarding a place," but I don't think it is. It sounds to me that you are dealing with bratty behavior. Resource guarding is a more serious problem and hard to deal with. Such dogs will not let you approach their food, home, person, or something else. It is good to know what it is, to catch the first signs of it. Luckily, it is not common among Goldens. It is believed reasons are genetic, learned, or both. 

Just to clarify, no one said that you should punish growling. You should find a way to tell a dog that something is not OK. It is really not about growling only. Say a dog is doing something over and over, you have to be able to tell them when it is enough. You have to find a way to convey this. The tricky part is how to do this when you speak English and they speak dog. Nolan gave you some ideas already. Think about what your mother did when you did something unacceptable. Different mothers react differently, but there is usually a specific body stance, stern look, maybe a pointed finger, and something like series Uh-Uh, or, as Nolefan said, deep No. Sometimes their pose or what they say can vary based on the situation. You can also watch how a mother dog or a stable adult dog corrects a puppy. A younger dog might start chasing a puppy and say "Let me show you who is the boss here." They will usually push a puppy down by putting their mouth on the puppy's neck and the puppy will try to fight it back, but they will try to push it back, eventually, the puppy will give up, shake itself and run away. They are not pinning the puppy - hold it until the puppy surrenders. They are not trying to hurt them. They are just telling them "Stop it." An older dog can make some kind of quick jump to turn towards a puppy, take a bold/serious pose and look at the puppy with an expression saying "What did just happen?" and the puppy will say "Oh, sorry." I think that for us humans it is natural to talk to a dog in a human way, but to rely on body language primarily. Telling "I know you like this chair, but growling when I ask you to get off is unacceptable." is not going to work for a dog, but it can work for a kid.

There are also aversive approaches. There is nothing bad in trying them if they are not cruel and help your puppy understand what you want. Your puppy growls on the chair. You tell them off, they are not getting off. You pull them by the leash off the chair and lead them to a kennel. Leave them there for 15 minutes or so. Then you let them out. They might even fall asleep in the meantime. Sometimes they behave the worst when they are tired. You did a good thing and helped them calm down. If they are awake, you can let them out. Don't try to provoke the situation with the chair again. When the situation happens again, you will repeat the process. Eventually, the puppy will realize every time I growled I went to a crate. This is not what I wanted. Another thing, some puppies will learn quickly if they are surprised by something unpleasant, but harmless, e.g. spritz of water or a rattling sound can stop barking and convey the message that you don't want them to bark. If they are barkers, you can and should teach them a command quiet, but it will take longer. A spritz of water can be very easy for some puppies to understand.

Your dog will not be afraid of you or not love you if you tell them what the boundaries are. The same applies to kids. I am not a strict mother, but there are certain things my human kids know are not negotiable. I will listen to their opinion about many other things. Now the question is why my kids would listen to me, as well as my dogs? It is not just because I feed them. You gain their trust and love because of so many other things that you do for them. So, show your dog what you want from them (training), give them what they need (exercise, play, rest, health), and make them feel protected and safe with you.

If your attempts to resolve this don't go anywhere feel free to reach out. There are professionals who can help you and who can tell you if what you are seeing is just a bratty puppy or a serious behavioral issue. I have mentioned one resource and the same people have other videos on this topic, as well as many training videos. You said that you can't find resources. You don't need to look for something explicitly related to your situation, a puppy on furniture growling at the owner. You can look for establishing boundaries with your dog, how to be a leader for your dog, or something along those lines.

P.S. Your husband and sister are allowed to have a different view on the matter. It is important that you establish boundaries with her. If you hear her growling at them, go and correct her if they don't want to or don't know how to do it. It is important that at least one adult establishes boundaries. They will see that what you are doing makes a difference. One thing, if your sister is the one who is the mother of your nephews and nieces and thinks that it is OK to let her kids play with the puppy without your supervision, that is not correct. Do not let children play with her without you being present. Once you are able to successfully stop her from growling when moved from a place she likes, then I would see how she reacts in the same situation when kids try to move her, but you have to be present there. You don't want that this dog leaves bite marks on the kids.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

nolefan said:


> Someone who is certified and has taken classes will be expensive. It would be something you might hold off on until you've tried a good, experienced person who has years and years of training experience. Maybe reach out to regional Golden Retriever club or a gundog trainer for suggestions on who they would refer you to. Follow your instincts on this one, your husband and sister need to be on board with the plan. I hope you will check back with us periodically and let us know what you have done and how it's going. It can be so helpful to other people who need help in the future to see what you have success with.


Thanks so much - got a recommendation for a trainer who specialised in this and he is due to visit this evening. I'll keep you all posted. By the way, I've noticed a big improvement in her since we started using the lead in her obedience training yesterday.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

Riley's Mom said:


> Growling is a dog's way to communicate. Punish the growl and your dog might just go straight to biting instead of warning you with a growl. I have heard good things about Jean Donaldson's book Mine so you might want to check it out.


Thanks for the advice, will check it out.


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## Riadara (9 mo ago)

green branch said:


> Hello again, there are many resources out there, but the problem is that you can get overwhelmed and misled.
> 
> In the previous post, it was said that growling is a dog's way to communicate. Yes, this is correct and your dog is telling you" I don't like that you are trying to move me from here." That is OK. What is not OK, if you don't do anything about it, you will probably end up with a dog that you can't live with. She is young and there is a chance that it can go away on its own, but since this behavior is starting to appear more often and she went beyond a growl, it is better to assume it won't. Otherwise, you can be bitten multiple times and have a bitter-sweet relationship with this dog. You might not be able to have kids and this dog together. There is no reason to have this dog's and your own life miserable when you can do something about it.
> 
> ...


You're such a great source of information! I totally believe it's bratty behavior. In fairness, my husband and sister don't let her behavior go unchecked, they just think she will grow out of it. I used to put her in her crate when she was acting up and letting her out 15 mins later when she was calm and it was working great, but the previous trainer told me not to do this, as she will start to dislike her crate. She's definitely better behaved since I did her obedience training on the lead yesterday - she's following me around and lies at my feet now without being called. The lead makes all the difference with her. Our last trainer didn't advise on using the lead for obedience training, instead using treats. We have a new trainer coming this evening to get a different perspective. I generally knock on the door frame or rattle something when she's acting up and it definitely helps her to focus and behave (except for that chair!). I'll try the water spritzer too  I feel optimistic that we can fix this, I just want to make sure we are doing all we can to nip this in the bud now.


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