Many people mistakenly think a growling dog is being 'bad' and punish them. If a dog growls at me, I will thank them and step away. Why? Because they were kind enough to warn me they were uncomfortable. That dog could have chosen to use much more force to give me the same message, but they gave me a warning growl rather than a bite. I will then look at what has made the dog uncomfortable and put some work into resolving that for the future.
For example, say I touched a dog's ear and he growled at me. I would stop touching and calmly step back. Why did he growl? Was it the ear touching and not another trigger around? If it is my dog and he has never had an issue before with ears, I may assume he has some pain and consult a vet. It might also be the dog has handling issues, I would then make a plan to do some simple handling exercises to help him feel more comfortable in future (starting with touch where he is comfortable and reward, moving slowly to the area in question - changing his association from a negative 'ouch' to a positive 'yum').
So yes, I am thankful that a dog warned me. Warnings are good! If I punished that dog for growling he might stop growling. But if he doesn't warn me he is uncomfortable, and I keep making him uncomfortable, he will have to move to his next step of defence and that could be a nasty bite. This is why people say "the bite came without warning". By punishing a growl you are removing the warning
No comments:
Post a Comment