Nice Dogs Don't Growl

So often we hear that 'bad dogs’ or 'aggressive dogs’ growl. 'Nice dogs’ don't growl, surely?

Well, that's a bit like saying that only 'bad' people shout in frustration when someone drives inconsiderately and nearly causes an accident or only 'aggressive' people have disagreements with their partners/ family. For some reason, it’s considered normal and acceptable for humans to express our disappointment, frustration, anger, annoyance, fear, or upset at times in life but, sadly, not so with dogs.

How Much Can They Tolerate?

In many cases with dogs, we seem to have completely unrealistic expectations of what they should tolerate. On top of that, we have very unhelpful ideas about what they should do if they’re unable to tolerate something.

For example, some people expect that their dog should tolerate their toddler's tail pulling and prodding. Many more expect their dog to put up with being carried, cuddled (without choice), and having people take their food from them. Some dogs tolerate these things, some don't. Some dogs tolerate it initially but then have enough.

Are You Reading Their Signals?

What is often missed is the dog who is not happy with what is going on but is asking ever so politely if we wouldn't mind stopping that now, please! The subtle signs of communication (head turns, whale eye, lip licking, yawning, etc.) easily go unnoticed and so the dog has to ask more forcefully. They growl or show their teeth, or snarl, or snap. Ultimately, all dogs would reach this point in certain circumstances; it’s just that the specific contexts and tolerance thresholds vary between dogs.

It is totally understandable that people tend to be shocked and disappointed if their dog growls at them. Sadly, this often leads to the dog being punished in some way. Not only is this an issue on ethical grounds (the poor dog is still not comfortable with what is going on and now his trusted humans are angry with him too!), it’s also potentially going to cause a problem in terms of the dog's behavior going forward. If we punish a growl, we run the risk that the dog might not bother growling next time (the dog has learned that it doesn't 'work' and it makes the humans angry) so, instead, they go straight to snapping or biting.

Listening With Your Eyes

Being able to read your dog and listen to them, without them having to escalate to growling, is such an important skill for a great dog-owner relationship. The University of Edinburgh has produced a great (and free) video guide to the canine ‘ladder of aggression’ which you can see here: https://www.coursera.org/lecture/cats-and-dogs/dog-aggression-Xhcu0

And the wonderful Lili Chin has published a beautiful little book called ‘Doggie Language’, which is well worth a look: https://www.doggielanguagebook.com/

Finally, we should be aware that the other worrying downside to labeling dogs as ‘nice’ or ‘bad’ is that if we believe we have a ‘good’ dog who would never growl or snap, we are more likely to put them in the very situations that might just push them too far… with dreadful consequences.