# Growling at my husband



## Valed4313 (Mar 11, 2009)

Help! We have 18 month male 100lb beautiful Golden Ruger! He's very sweet and loves to play with the Kong~ to a point where we have to hide it to get a rest. He recently has been growling at my husband when we want him to move to a different area of our home. When my husband gets close to his face and says a stern "NO" a few times, Ruger keeps on growling. He won't do it with me. We never have hit him or been agressive towards him. Sometimes I think he's just tired but it happened this morning after a nights sleep. We're not sure if he's just talking. It sure sounds like a growl. What can we do?


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## BIGDAWG (Sep 28, 2008)

18 months, 100 pounds?? Oh my....


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

He could be talking. Goldens are pretty vocal dogs. I would strongly suggest that your husband not scold him, even if he is growling. A growl is a warning, if you train that out of him, he could skip the warning and go straight into a nip or a bite.

How about keeping a leash on him in the house at all times for a while. Then when you want him to move to another room, your husband can grab the leash and say "let's go" and take him where he wants him to go? Either that or use a high value treat to encourage him to get up and follow.

One other thought that I had while typing this is that he might have some sort of discomfort. In his hips maybe? At his age and weight, he has a lot of stress on his joints and it may cause him some pain to get up, so he growls.


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

I'm assuming you've raised him from a pup and this is a new behavior, not a new to you behavior. Is he neutered, intact? Has he ever shown aggression? He might just be talking. They do make low growls when verbalizing. He might also be having pain. You might want have him checked by his Vet if this keeps up. Is there a sequence of events that precede his growling: getting up, being startled, reached for, something taken from him?


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## Popebendgoldens (May 16, 2008)

100 lbs is too much for any golden retriever to weigh, unless he is very tall. I would worry that that much weight could cause a lot of stress on the hip joints.


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I would have a complete workup by your vet to have a full thyroid panel done to see if his levels are good. Even if the test comes back low normal have the vet put him on the thyroid meds because it is low for goldens. There is some good information on this website about thyroid http://www.itsfortheanimals.com/index.html. If you think it is a mean growl and not the rooroo growl then also start looking into the Nothing in life is free (NILIF). There is a ton of information on the web about it like this website http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resources/articles/dogs/002-01.htm. He may be trying to assert his independence and needs working with to get his place back in the pack. 
Good luck and hope some of it helps.


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## wagondog (Aug 24, 2007)

As everyone else has stated the medical issues are first and foremost, a dog that hurts can manifest it in many ways often in aggression. A simple ear infection can cause a bad reaction from an otherwise reliable dog that his petted around the infected area. With that said and everything being normal there is one exercise that I have found to be helpful with my Rotties through the years. There is often one specific person that a dog zeros in on, the dog may feel higher in the pack than that person. Remember the pack has nothing to do with size, or sex. It has to do with body language, personality, and your ability to transmit that to your dog, verbally and visually. One of my rotties zeroed in on a family friend. Whenever Franny was in the house I could see it immediately, but he did it with no one else.
I asked Franny to participate in some training with us, having her take the lead walk with the dog, not just walk but exibit command and control. It took a while but they became good friends. Again this was always done under close supervision, rotties are incredibly powerful animals that have the ability to do great damage so I was always there to observe. It was safer to deal with the situation than ignore it because Franny was always welcome in our house.
If your husband walks the dog on lead, suggest ways for him to exibit control (ie; stand tall, never let the dog lead, dog goes to sniff when you let him) If he doesn't walk the dog have him start. He could also participate in training to elevate his position in your pack. 
WagonDog


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## SoGolden (Jul 17, 2008)

Valed4313 said:


> Help! We have 18 month male 100lb beautiful Golden Ruger! He's very sweet and loves to play with the Kong~ to a point where we have to hide it to get a rest. He recently has been growling at my husband when we want him to move to a different area of our home. When my husband gets close to his face and says a stern "NO" a few times, Ruger keeps on growling. He won't do it with me. We never have hit him or been agressive towards him. Sometimes I think he's just tired but it happened this morning after a nights sleep. We're not sure if he's just talking. It sure sounds like a growl. What can we do?


I just wondered if when your husband "gets close to his face" is he sort of staring down the dog--trying to intimidate? This does not sound like a positive interaction with *any* dog. Time for advice from a professional trainer?


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## Bogart'sMom (Sep 16, 2005)

Have you done any training with your dog? Now might be a good time to start. Does your Husband take care of any needs of the dog? Like food, water or walks? That might help with showing the dog to see your husband as a leader/caretaker. I also agree you don't want to get rid of the growl of a dog since that is their only tool to comunicate that they are not happy with a situation. The next and only step would be a bite. 
I would talk to a good trainer in your area. Hopefully you get this niped in the butt before it gets worse.
All the best,


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## Valed4313 (Mar 11, 2009)

Thanks for all of your comments. I will start with the vet check. I do agree that my husband should be more of the caretaker than I am at this point. We will also work on that. This is an awesome website, glad I found it and appreciate all the help.


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