Anonymous wrote:She could be losing some of her sight and could be growling because she didn't see things coming at her from the side - your hand when taking something from her, your sister-in-law moving to shift her position, etc. We had a very sweet lab who got growly as he got older (12) because he simply could not see as well and felt "surprised" all the time. Definitely have your vet check her out.

We had a dog who slowly went blind. I suppose everything was shadowy to her, and she couldn't tell friend from foe, so she growled at everything.

She could be losing some of her sight and could be growling because she didn't see things coming at her from the side - your hand when taking something from her, your sister-in-law moving to shift her position, etc. We had a very sweet lab who got growly as he got older (12) because he simply could not see as well and felt "surprised" all the time. Definitely have your vet check her out.

Anonymous wrote:Op, could she be deaf? Not a good idea (for example) to surprise a deaf dog. We had some neighbors that were lousy about this - to the point of being antagonistic after they were informed. Rotten.

No, she's definitely not deaf. If we say her name behind her she'll turn her head to look at us.

Op, could she be deaf? Not a good idea (for example) to surprise a deaf dog. We had some neighbors that were lousy about this - to the point of being antagonistic after they were informed. Rotten.

While I definitely agree you should take her to the vet, if they don't find anything wrong, it may just be that she is just cranky and will not escalate from growling.

My dog growls when she is sleeping and I shift around her. She has done this her whole life. She growls, sometimes loudly, jumps off the bed or couch, and comes right back up when I've settled again. She has never snarled or bit me or anything like that. Apparently, she just doesn't like being disturbed in her sleep.

I tried banning her from the couch and bed, but she dislikes that more, as evidenced by her sad cries when confined.

That's my guess too, that she is in pain, possibly arthritis. Or possibly dental, since you mention that she growled when you pulled something from her mouth.

Take her to the vet. Often older dogs who get a bit cranky have something like arthritis and need some medical assistance. That would be consistent with her growls at being picked up and nudged -- things might hurt if she's placed in a position that used to be comfortable for her.

It doesn't sound like training will help, she's not doing anything wrong per se.

My wife rescued a cockapoo when it was 4 years old. The dog had been neglected, untrained, and possibly mildly abused (she's head-shy to this day with strangers). We trained her (I worked from home and ran home on lunch hours for about a month) and she has been wonderful and happy. Our dog is now 11. Over the last month, DW and I have noticed she growls. It used to be that she would easily (happily) go 4 or 5 months without ANY situation coming up that made her growl. Sometimes when we were playing tug of war with one of her toys, but that was a play-growl.

Now, she's growling a few times a day. My SIL (who the dog LOVES) was holding her a few nights ago, and apropos of nothing, the dog growled. She seemed happy in her arms. Then I took her for a walk, she had something in her mouth, and as I always do, I pulled it out (tree bark) and the dog growled at me. I pushed the bark away with my foot so our dog wouldn't eat it, and she growled again. That same night we had guests over and our dog kept begging for food, and I saw her growl.

It seems like she is getting cranky in her older age of 11. Any dog trainers here who can help? I want to make sure the old gal is happy. Also, I want to make sure this growling is not a precursor to biting. We are going out of town for half a month at the start of May, and want to feel confident that our dogsitter will be safe with our dog, and that our dog won't bite any humans or dogs while we're gone (the dogsitter will stay at our house, and we've done this many times in the past - they love each other). If there's any training we can give our dog to encourage her to be happy and not want to growl (I don't want to punish her for growling itself - seems like that'd be the same as punishing a child for crying), I would really appreciate knowing about it. Thanks.