Growling - All of a sudden

[Traz, Karen & Dale]

Traz will be 11 months old on April 8th.  He is a sweet boy and always loved it when people would come up to him and pet him.  He has only done this twice in the past month, but it is a behavior I don't want to continue.  It might be his protective mode, but not really sure.  Here's what happened:

First Incident - He was strapped into his car harness and a neighbor wanted to see him because she was thinking about getting a Labradoodle.  I was sitting in the car.  My husband was outside.  When he opened the car door so the neighbor could see him, Traz started growling and then barking at her.  I let him know it was "ok" but he still continued to growl.  This was unusual because we've had other people look in on him while he was in the car without incident.

Second Incident - Yesterday, we were sitting outside at the grocery store drinking tea.  One of the cashiers sat down nearby and must have been waving or talking to Traz.  He started to growl again.  I told him "no" and he settled down somewhat.  Traz has seen and let this cashier pet him in the past, so I don't know what his issue was on this date.  Being protective, again?  I don't know.

Any suggestions on why he might be doing this all of a sudden?  Protective?  Dominance?  Bad fur day?  I want to get this under control.  I don't want him giving "doodles" a bad rap, especially those considering getting one.

Thank in advance for your comments and suggestions.

[Cathy McCann]

my puppy just turned 10 months, she is now barking and growling when someone comes to the house. She will look out the front window and growl at what ever she is looking at. The other night she was outside and barking at nothing. Easter she was barking at the neighbour who was on his own deck! I scold her and say Wrong, I don't know what to do to stop this either. I don't want her barking at the neighbours, I don't like it when my other neighbours dog used to do it to us. Open for suggestions.

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

I tend to hesitate to reply much on DK simply because I do not feel like the slightest bit of an expert on anything when it comes to my dogs. :) There are so many other far more knowledgeable doodle owners here. However, I will tell you that it was right around a year when my Rooney also started to display some protective tendencies that sound similar to what you are describing. It didn't happen all the time and often only if he was caught off guard but he did start occasionally barking/growling at people and it seemed to me to be two things 1) I believe he went through another "fear stage" where he was genuinely more cautious about things and 2) he is a naturally more protective dog.

So, the things I have done to try and curb this behavior and let him know that he does not need to be our protector or worry about what's around that next corner are to minimize occasions where he might be startled, give him quick, unemotional corrections when he does bark or growl and then to set up as many occasions as I can when I have him on leash, treats and clicker in hand and can intentionally work on proper greeting of people. The quick correction I usually give him if he is on leash is just a sharp tug on the leash (he wears a harness so this is not painful for him) with an "ah ah ah" and if he persists (which he almost never does anymore) I would step in front of him, make him sit or down and make him stay there until he was calm again. He is now 16 months and it has gotten a lot better with almost no growling anymore and his barking is much more attention seeking than it is protective (thought it is still occasionally that as well).

It is not something I feel we have a complete handle on yet and I plan to continue training and our next step is to start an intensive training schedule working on handling people coming to the door, ringing the doorbell and entering the house. He barks a lot if anyone other than the family comes in the house and frankly, I don't like it. I know it can be normal dog behavior but I really do think Rooney is smart enough and compliant enough to learn a different alternative if we just take the time to teach him.

I don't know if any of that is helpful except to say that I think the age at which this has cropped up might not be unusual and with training I do think it can be minimized.

[Sheila & Finnley]

Great reply Lori. Don't hesitate to give your input. I think on this page everyone has a valuable opinion !