My 10 week old puppy Growled at me!!! 3 times!

[New puppy owner]

The first time I grabbed a flip flop out of his mouth without thinking.  the 2nd time I took a toy from his mouth.  yesterday i tried not to grab my shoe so i went and got a treat and approached him and he growled before I'd touched him.  isn't that unusual so young? should i be worried he's a "toy guarder?"

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

He's starting to test his boundaries. 

 

You should start taking toys from him regularly during play.  Give the toy back fairly quickly after taking it, so that he knows that you taking things away doesn't mean the end of play.  Either that - or take his toy and give him an AWESOME new one (or a treat) - that means that taking away something means something good is coming!

 

Doing the same thing with his food bowl is also a good idea - take it away a few times while he is eating (give it back right away).  This will teach him that the food is a gift from you - not something for him to have and guard.

[Kendra K. Rhoton]

Remington did that to me at probably around 12-14 weeks!  I was shocked and even a little afraid of him.  I know, he was a 12 week puppy, but it scared me.  I had to learn to not let it affect me.  He was just testing me to see what I would do.  Don't worry, I think this is completely normal.  Remington is the most gentle cuddly thing ever even if he does growl every now and again!

[Jaime and Barley Barker]

Barley never did resource growling, but I did train him anyway to "give" things when I wanted them. I did that to be pro-active to avoid resource guarding in the future since we have other dogs. I exchanged the item he had for something else like another toy or a treat. This came to be really useful when he started stealing my clothes and shoes. In fact, it worked so well that he started "trading" toys with the other dogs by stealing what they had and giving them what he had. He also started leaving things in piles of laundry, "trading" a plush toy or ball for a sock or underwear. Anyway, I think it's a good command to teach and you'll find it useful. It shows that giving something up doesn't mean the end of fun or cause resentment in your pup.

[Helen & Kirby]

I agree.  I put my hands in the food, take the food bowl away and then add something extra tasty, etc to avoid food guarding.  As for the growling and guarding the toys, is it a "play" growl?  Either way. the NO GROWL commands and directing the pup to do other commands is wonderful.  I would be cautious about "trading" for another toy or treat because you might inadvertantly teach him to growl, if everytime he growls he soon gets a treat or a new toy.

You could also try completely ignoring the dog when it growls with a toy. Stop playing!  Walk away and give it absolutly no attention.  They will soon know to be "nice" so you will play with them.  This works for puppy biting too.