# Puppy Growling



## Mr Viz Wiz (Mar 16, 2013)

We are the proud owners of a lovely 8 week male vizsla. He is very good to date, we have had him a week. I have an issue i would like to discuss - that despite being confidently submissive our pup has growled(real growls) 5 x in the last few days. Mostly when i picked him up from his bed to take him out into the cold for a wee! and once for picking him from a situation where he was playing too rough with the children. On all occasions i have held him and shouted NO firmly to him, he then queitly growls which turns into grumbles then stops. i hold him for a few seconds firm then look him in the eye, then put him down when he is calm. I then ask hin to sit, which he does, then reward his good sitting behaviour. 
I have 2 questions for vizsla owners, 1st. Am i handling this right?? Or should i ignore??? and 2. is this a sign of aggression dominance. Which i would worry about as i have 2 children 6 and 3.
The pup is excellent with them, very gentle and when mouthing/nipping he is ready to accept there disapproval and obeys the children. He is very gentle, this is the best way to describe him, there are NO other signs of agression/dominance.
Advice would be appreciated?


----------



## brendano (Dec 2, 2012)

he's a young male pup and i think he is just talking to you (would you want to go outside into the cold to weewee when you were all warm in bed) My 8 week old gsp has nipped my youngest (3) once but she provoked it and was warned countless times not to pull his head (her, my vizsla and gsp romp quit roughly but its all good) he did growl first though, my female vizsla has never growled though. don't make a big deal, vizslas love their people but they are allowed to have personalities!


----------



## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Could you entice him out to go wee instead of lifting him out of sleep? The lifting out of sleep can be startling and in that case a natural reaction.


----------



## Főnix (Feb 3, 2013)

I'm just a new owner as well, I'm interested to hear what the more experienced members will suggest on this. 

Here's one thread that talks about the same issue:

http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,4358.msg31322.html#msg31322

Maybe it will be of some help. Our puppy growled a couple of times soon after got him and we were told he was just communicating as he would with his litter mates. My way of dealing with it was to just ignore it and continue doing what I did that he growled about so he would know I don't respond to growling. If it had escalated I would have addressed it, but it didn't. I don't know if that's an okay way to handle it or not, I hadn't found this thread at the time.

However you decide you want to handle it, it's completely normal. I wouldn't worry about dominance or aggression.


----------



## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Fonix, I like reply #13... link you posted


----------



## Mr Viz Wiz (Mar 16, 2013)

Hi Fonix,
Thanks for the great reply. I do keep thinking that he has only been removed from hiis pack memebrs a week, hence still learning which behaviour is acceptable within a human family!

Our other little issue is training him to be OK alone while we work ( 2 days per week), friday was his first big test! i came honme twice and both times he was barking like mad in his crate! so working on that at the moment!

Hope your new jouney with a Viz is proving good!


----------



## Főnix (Feb 3, 2013)

It is good, thanks! The thing we're working on the most is jumping and mouthing. We've gotten to the point where he knows not to and he tries so hard to hold himself back, but eventually it bubbles up and explodes out of him. It's pretty cute, even if we do want him to stop.  The biting/snapping seems to happen most when we're trying to walk away from him and he's trying to keep us there (by grabbing our clothes). Overall he's just a bundle of fun.

Good luck with your little guy! What's his name? Too bad you can't tell him how lucky he is that he's only alone two days a week.


----------



## lydiaful (Feb 15, 2013)

HI Mr Viz Wiz!

We had exactly the same issues with our pup Wilson when he was a similar age, however he has just about grown out of this at 16 weeks old.
Wilson is our first Viz, so i contacted the breeder for some advice, as she was always willing to help and support. 
We had also researched the behavior on the net and decided that he was testing us to see if he could become the pack leader! Wilson would do exactly the same as you have described, growling at being disturbed from his sleep or if it was something he did not want to do, like getting of the sofa!
Myself and my partner worked on our pack leader skills and basically i had been babying him too much! so we made him work for everything, i.e sit for a cuddle, sit for a play, and ignored any unwanted behaviour by turning our backs on him until he had stopped. We also stopped picking him up so much (which is really hard with a little pup!!) and gave him a bit of tough love, which seems to have paid off!
He now knows his place in the pack, and very rarely growls at us anymore. If he does growl we simply ignore it and carry on with taking him outside for a wee or whatever it is he is grumbling at, and this seems to be working.
Same with his food, if he growls as i walk near the bowl, i pick it up and make him sit and wait for 20 seconds, and then give him it again, thus establishing that this is unwanted behaviour and i do not want it!
It has been hard, but then again nobody said having a viz pup was easy, however he is worth every bit of it and the hard work is starting to pay off as he is the most responsive dog at puppy class!!!
I'm no expert but hope my little bit helps!
Lydia and Wilson x


----------



## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

http://www.vizslaforums.com/index.php/topic,5022.0.html

Try this thread. Your task is tough but can be very rewarding.

RBD


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

There is a little regimen you can put your pup on called "NILIF" (short for "Nothing in Life is Free". Essentially, you make him work for everything he gets. No coddling. If he wants to go out the door, he sits first. If he wants to go up a flight of stairs, he waits for you to go first. If he wants a treat, he sits and shakes paw first, etc., etc. It goes like that. It helps him to understand his place in the pack. 

I've never had to use this routine with Willie, but he came pretrained. He does an automatic sit for everything he wants.


----------



## veifera (Apr 25, 2012)

I read the other day that arousal is the very first emotion a dog is biologically capable of experiencing in life and of course puppies don't yet have the skill to handle that emotion. That's why "slow down" is such a useful tool for puppies who don't yet know how to calm down.

My dog never growled at me when I interrupted her play, but she was clearly NOT pleased when I would stop it. What worked well for me was asking her to do something else instead of simply the end followed by nothing (I did sit, etc). I think it's very compatible with NILIF and it's also a great way to stop puppy biting or jumping without making the puppy too submissive.



> Mostly when i picked him up from his bed to take him out into the cold for a wee!


We had exactly the same problem. At some point I realized that I'm simply teaching my dog that when I approach her while she's sleeping, something rather unpleasant is going to happen.

That's not something I wanted, so what I did then was to stop by and rub her belly every now and then when she was stretched out on her bed, so she associated me coming over with something nice. And when it's time to go pee, I always (to this day) spend a minute or two just rubbing her belly or cuddling with her. The growl (or I should say - groan, really) disappeared in a couple of days


----------

