Growling at children

[Kristen Clemente]

I am not sure if this is the right group to post this question but I am at a loss what to do.

My Goldendoodle, Duke, is is 17 months old. I have two children, aged 9 and 5. Duke has never had any problems with children and has always been so excited meeting new children. Two weeks ago we were on a walk and a small boy asked if he could pet Duke, I said yes, of course. Duke has never been anything but perfect around children. A couple of mins. into the gentle petting, I heard a growl, I was confused at first, not realizing what the sound was. When I figured it out, I quickly pulled Duke away and continued on the walk, nervous and shocked. I didn't know what to do and thought maybe I imagined the growling.

 

Today, it happened again. I was waiting outside the school and a older girl (about 8 years old) came up and started petting Duke. After a few minutes, another older child approached, Duke starting growling and jumping and acted excited. I pulled him aside and made him sit but my heart was racing. Why the growling??, this behavior makes me so nervous. I am now afraid to let any children near him. Has anyone experienced this type of behavior before? It makes me so sad because he is such a nice dog and has never growled or snapped at anyone in my family.

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much for your time!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Have you done any obedience training with Duke?  If you have, what "method" have you used....e.g. clicker training, positive reinforcement (treat or reward base), corrections and rewards (if so what type of training collar).  It will be helpful to know where Duke is in terms of training at this point before giving advice.  Also, if you have trained did you use a specific trainer or a general class?  I'm sure you're very concerned.  I've just been through something similar with Murphy, so I do understand how you must be feeling.

[BG and Gavin]

Did is sound like an aggrestive growl?  Was he curling up his lip or showing teeth?  The reason I ask is sometimes when Gav is excited and wanted to meet another dog or a person he "talks"  it sounds like rrrrow, rrrow, row and is followed by a play bow. Any other signals that you recall (the position of his head, ears, tail)?

[Becka]

This is a good point--Sadie makes lots of sounds that could technically be classified as growls, but that's really just how she talks, especially when she wants something (like to go outside).

 

Is Duke ever food- or toy-possessive/aggressive?

[Cindy Breeland]

CLOE WILL GROWL WHEN SHE IS BEING PROTECTIVE OF ME WITH OTHER DOGS. SHE LOVES MY GRANDCHILDREN AND HAS NEVER ONCE GROWLED AND DOES THE GRRR THING AS IF SHE IS TALKING AND BOWS DOWN. IT IS SO CUTE.  BUT SHE DID GROWLAND I MEAN GROWL  AT MY BEST FRIEND WHO WAS VISITING. I WONDERED IF SHE WAS  JEALOUS.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't have any answers, but I have had some experience with a dog who would start to growl a few minutes into letting someone, usually a child, pet him; I don't want to scare you, but in that case it was not a good thing.

What was he looking at when he started growling? Was he looking at the person petting him, or at something else? Did he happen to be staring at you?

I personally think that you need someone who is knowledgable about dog behavior and training to assess him. Without seeing the dog's behavior and body language, the children's behavior and body language, etc., it's hard to know what's going on or give advice on how to handle it.

[Cathy w/Shiloh~Cody]

I do not have any children and my dog started growling at kids and strollers. I started taking him

to a nearby baseball field where there was a lot of action, kids running around, cheerleaders etc.

I kept him close to me and we just observed kids for two weeks. I told kids he was in training and not to pet him yet.

Then I could see he was relaxing around them and I had the kids (with the parents permission) to pet him

calmly from his side-not straight at his face. It worked for him-he quit barking nasty at kids and snarling at

strollers, (they had those at the baseball field too) Maybe this would help? My dog was growling out of fear.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You did it exactly right.