puppy suddenly growling at me and lunging at me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update, he started getting frustrated with my husband at the end of their walk today. Started jumping up at him. No other dogs around. He is otherwise always chill and has no problem with dogs or people. Suggestions?

He knows he's close to home and doesn't want to end the walk yet, so he's throwing a temper tantrum to stay outside longer.

This, our dog does that. She'll growl and make noises to get our attention. She's trying to communicate.

A growl IS communicating.

[Anonymous]

Our pup did this throughout his first year whenever he got bored on walks. It started around 4 months or so. It was so embarrassing, and we were really worried it was a sign of aggression issues. Looking back it was never really aggressive lunging and biting though, it was more he was bored with the walk and no longer wanted to be on the leash. Eventually we got pretty good at getting him to stop through redirection with a quick training routine. Now at 2 years old he is a total goofy sweetheart, absolutely no sigs of aggression and such a good dog.

He is half Cattle Dog and very intelligent, during the worse of his teen months he got really good at trying to manipulate us and our other dog into doing what he wanted. He was definitely the most difficult puppy we've ever raised. Our first dog was a Cavalier mix so a world of difference raising him from a puppy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update, he started getting frustrated with my husband at the end of their walk today. Started jumping up at him. No other dogs around. He is otherwise always chill and has no problem with dogs or people. Suggestions?

He knows he's close to home and doesn't want to end the walk yet, so he's throwing a temper tantrum to stay outside longer.

This, our dog does that. She'll growl and make noises to get our attention. She's trying to communicate.

A growl IS communicating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Update, he started getting frustrated with my husband at the end of their walk today. Started jumping up at him. No other dogs around. He is otherwise always chill and has no problem with dogs or people. Suggestions?

He knows he's close to home and doesn't want to end the walk yet, so he's throwing a temper tantrum to stay outside longer.

This, our dog does that. She'll growl and make noises to get our attention. She's trying to communicate.

A growl IS communicating.

That's what pp said.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He is asserting his dominance and trying to get off leash. Mine did the same at the same age and was a golden doodle. It was really upsetting at first. You have to take charge and be firm and ignore / control as much as you can, rather than reacting or allowing it to happen.

One thing I did notice weirdly was it happened at exactly the same point on our way home from walks - just as we turned into our street and it was like a trigger for him "oh this is the place where I acted like a little bastard before, I'll do it again!"

So I walked home a different way and that actually helped.

Dogs aren't trying to dominate you.

you have never met a dog.

all dogs do is attempt to dominate - they take your seat, they take your things, they take your food, they take the leash. this is a behavior that can be trained out but it's standard fare for most pups.

+1

Dogs live in packs. Packs have rank. That is how it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He is asserting his dominance and trying to get off leash. Mine did the same at the same age and was a golden doodle. It was really upsetting at first. You have to take charge and be firm and ignore / control as much as you can, rather than reacting or allowing it to happen.

One thing I did notice weirdly was it happened at exactly the same point on our way home from walks - just as we turned into our street and it was like a trigger for him "oh this is the place where I acted like a little bastard before, I'll do it again!"

So I walked home a different way and that actually helped.

Dogs aren't trying to dominate you.

you have never met a dog.

all dogs do is attempt to dominate - they take your seat, they take your things, they take your food, they take the leash. this is a behavior that can be trained out but it's standard fare for most pups.

+1

Dogs live in packs. Packs have rank. That is how it is.

This is sounding like that tired, discredited belief in alphas, etc

[Anonymous]

Ok, so about a year ago I could have written your post. Here is what I learned: our dog wasn't growling, that's how she "talks"... anyone else would think it was a growl, but with a trainer's help we learned she was just a vocal dog and when she is trying to communicate, her vocalizations sounded growly.

Maybe that's the case with your pup too.

[Anonymous]

PS Our trainer confirmed it wasn't actually growling at all, which others have pointed out is a way of communicating. In our case, her regular voice sounded growly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so about a year ago I could have written your post. Here is what I learned: our dog wasn't growling, that's how she "talks"... anyone else would think it was a growl, but with a trainer's help we learned she was just a vocal dog and when she is trying to communicate, her vocalizations sounded growly.

Maybe that's the case with your pup too.

Ours does a cute growl as her way of talking.