Most of the time, if a dog growls, you can tell what growl is what thing, especially since dogs rarely turn their rough growls on their owners. I have never had either of my dogs growl at me in a way besides playing, but children are a different story. One of my dogs loves children, the other hates them. It’s common for dogs to be nice to children, but not necessarily like them. Put yourself in your dog’s point of view. Children are just about eye level or bigger than they are and they’re stumbling, loud, rough creatures – any dog would be a little startled. Children, like puppies, also don’t know when to stop. The good part about puppies is that they know dog language so they know when to back off, but children don’t. Children keep going even after the dog starts to show signals of being uncomfortable and most owners tend to think the child’s behavior is cute and doesn’t share the dog’s fear, which makes it even more urgent for the dog.
So what should you do if your dog growls at your child? Keep the child away as the dog will bite, not because he doesn’t like the child, but normally out of fear as they don’t know what else to do. The child needs to be taught the dog’s boundaries, rather than the child getting to do whatever he wants. Once the dog feels safe, the growling will stop, normally.
However, like I said there are different types of growling, specifically three.
1. Play growling – high pitched growl, usually with a level or wagging tail, accompanied with a play bow or something likewise. It’s easy to tell if a dog is playing.
2. Nervous growl – If the dog is nervous, it will practice avoidance behavior, meaning ears may be pinned back low, lips will be tense and eyes will be wide and cautious looking.
3. Dominant growl – This is a growl that is also really distinct. It usually accompanies an alert look, stiff stance, but doesn’t share the wide and cautious eyes like the nervous growl. The tail would be high and rigid as well.
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