Another growling problem! Any thoughts??

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mrs merton
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Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:42 am

Another growling problem! Any thoughts??

Post by mrs merton »

How worried should I be about growling? I wonder if anyone can offer any advice - apologies for going into some background first so that you know what we're dealing with - I'll try not to go on too long!

We rescued a 5 year old male Griffon from the pound back in June (to join our elderly female Griffon, also a rescue, whom we've had for 2 years). Harvey, as we christened him, was terrified of us to begin with and wouldn't let us near him for the first three days, and wouldn't come in the house for the first week (fortunately the weather was fine so we could let him sleep outside!) However, patience and calmness worked, and by the end of the first week he was indoors and not only happy for us to touch him, but actually really affectionate.

Fast forward 4 months and he's settled in great. He's still very nervous of other people, but super-affectionate with my boyfriend (Alex) and me, even enjoying being cuddled. He's loves other dogs and is completely non-pushy and non-aggressive with them. He was terrified of cars when we first got him - he was sick as soon as he got into our car the first time, and would jump into the hedge whenever one passed him on a walk, however, lots of training with treats and short car-rides has worked wonders and he's a happy traveller now, and completely nonchalant when walking past traffic.

We still have a couple of problems: we believe he was a hunting hound before we got him (we live in France where hunting with packs of hounds is hugely popular) and although he's adapted fantastically to being a pet, and is very calm and clean in the house, when he's outside he's completely focused on his nose and tracking whatever's out there, so doesn't respond very well when called. Also, he is always trying to escape from the garden on the scent of something exciting, and this morning when Alex found him scaling the wall and went to stop him, Harvey growled at him.

We had another incident a week ago when Harvey was asleep sprawled over Alex's lap on the sofa. Alex had to get up for something, so stroked Harvey's leg to wake him up, and Harvey responded by growling - a long, sustained and menacing growl. In fact, he only stopped when I distracted him by calling to him, allowing Alex to get up and move away.

The escaping and lack of attention when outside, I can deal with and realise that this comes with the territory when you take on a dog with a past, but I'm wondering how worried we should be about the growling? Is he just grumbling at us because we're stopping him doing what he wants to do? Or is he genuinely telling us to "back off or else"?? And can anyone suggest what is the best response to this?! He's a big strong dog and I don't want to get this wrong!!
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