# Growling over dish cloth?



## Branthegoldenman (Mar 19, 2016)

My golden (9 months) has been growling at members of my family when they try to take things away from him. He knows the command drop it and will do so if we offer him a carrot or some other higher value treat, but this particular time a family member just tried to take the thing he stole away from him (dish cloth) without using the command, so he growled at him. So my question is, is growling okay, Even if he was not given the command? How do I fix this issue?... Does your dog drop everything you ask him to? How do we practice this so he drops things without hesitation? I'm concerned that one day he'll get something he wants so badly that he won't respond to my command...I'm also concerned that this may escalate into aggressive behaviors and that he may try to bite someone.


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## HopeMakes5 (Jun 23, 2015)

Aww...the dish towel was my boy Shadow's favorite thing, too. We always had to keep them in a place where he couldn't reach them. I'm sure others better with training can advise you, but I'd say you need to work on the "give" command with a high-value treat, rewarding him when he gives it nicely. The growling is not ok. "Give" is for something they have that you want to take from their mouth...I think it is harder than "drop it". I'm sure others on here can give you some good tips!


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## GoldenFocus (Feb 28, 2016)

What "kind" of growling? There is the fun play type and the aggressive type. I had a great dog that would growl when we played tug of war with rope toys....he was just into it is all.


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## Branthegoldenman (Mar 19, 2016)

it doesn't seem like a playful type of growling... more like a "you better not try to take this" type of growl.


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## Lise123 (Jan 1, 2014)

My dog did stuff like that. He'd steal household objects and then retreat to his den under the table, adopting a guarding position and growl. He'd lunge at us if we tried to remove it. Little stinker!

We learned a) never go after him; b) never get mad about it, because then the situation escalated. We would go to the fridge and pull out some awesome, forbidden treat (cheese, pizza bite, whatever was on hand) and lure him to us. A second person would retrieve the item.

It has gotten much easier now. He knows if he takes something, we give him a treat and retrieve it, so he comes flying out when he hears the fridge open. I also can put him in a stay while I retrieve the items, and he gets the treat after I get it back. My husband just goes under the table and retrieves the items, talking to him gently. (I don't do this because I want him to place a high value on giving me anything I want, but what do I know.)

If he has something while we're out and about, he will drop it for me every time if I can just get my hand on it. We work on "drop it" ALLLLL the time. The only failure in our system is that I just can't bring myself to put my hand on dead stuff in his mouth (he found a turtle the other day). Really awesome stuff he will only drop if I put a hand on it; otherwise, he spits out anything I ask for.

You can definitely train this behavior out of your dog, or at least show him the right way to respond when he has something that you don't want him to have. It might not be the same for your dog, but for mine, if I get upset or agitated when he has something, he thinks it must be something REALLY great that has lots of value, and in the old days, that meant he was more determined to keep it. So we act pretty bored by it, which is not easy to do.

Nine months was kind of a rough period for us, but things improved a ton by 12 months. I hope you see progress on this issue soon!


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## Wenderwoman (Jan 7, 2013)

I've learned that anytime they encounter something new or anytime you introduce something new to your dog, no matter the age, they may be really interested in it. I consider most growling as warnings so I wouldn't approach without something to trade.

It's likely they won't be that interested again and it was just the novelty of something new. They may make a game out of getting it like mine do with socks and things. They get some crazy thing and trot out in front of me and show me so that I can chase them around or give them a treat.

I did have an issue the first time I gave my 7 month a raw bone. We had to grab her by the leash and pull her away. Then she only got the bone if we were holding it. Once she was good with that, we started with the trading with some cooked chicken. 

Make a habit of trading with your dog once or twice a day. You don't always have to use high value treats, just as long as they will trade you for it. 

Also, make sure to get the dog comfortable with having your hands in their mouth. Once a day, pull up the lips gently and open the mouth and fish around with your fingers. Hopefully your dog has a soft bite by now so it should be perfectly safe to do. If you haven't trained them to do this, be careful at first.

Long story short, work on trading. Then take it a step further by getting them comfortable with your hands so that you can actually fish small objects out of their mouth.


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## GoldenFocus (Feb 28, 2016)

I understand the trade thing....I use it just to get something they have for the most part. Barter is the backbone of biscuits at my house.

However; what is the best approach to aggressive growling like this? When I had a Rottweiler back in the day I was instructed to roll her on her back and hold her until she gave up and submitted. She was 85 pounds when I did this and very strong. 

I did roll her on her back and pinned her for a minute, lowering my face to hers and going nose to nose looking right into her eyes. She relaxed and stopped with the tough girl routine after that. Admittedly I have no idea if this a good way to get the dog to see the leader as the LEADER these days or not. In the five Goldens I have owned I never had to do anything like this. They all have had a team player attitude and discipline pretty much stopped at housbreaking...

Rottie had a lot more "umph" to her personality but she ended up a great dog, spirited and strong but not a candidate for Alpha after that.

I think you need to stop the aggressive challenge to your leadership in a way you feel is best given input from the experts.....


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## Wenderwoman (Jan 7, 2013)

GoldenFocus said:


> I understand the trade thing....I use it just to get something they have for the most part. Barter is the backbone of biscuits at my house.
> 
> However; what is the best approach to aggressive growling like this? When I had a Rottweiler back in the day I was instructed to roll her on her back and hold her until she gave up and submitted. She was 85 pounds when I did this and very strong.
> 
> ...


I would never put my face (or any other body part) in front of a growling dogs face, they could snap and bite.


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