Am I doing the right thing telling him off for growling?

When we had Tim the rescue staff he gave Gregs confidence a big knock.
Greg is a very dog friendly dog, and gets on with nearly all dogs (the only ones he doesnt get on with are the ones that dont like him!), before if a dog growled or was nasty to Greg he would just ignore them.
Now he has started to growl back, he doesnt show his teeth or get nasty he just gives a little growl to say 'back off' .
When he does it I tell him off and straight away he stops.
Am I doing the right thing in telling him off??
I dont want him to growl back because as soon as people see a staffy growling, straight away they say he's vicious. (even though there dog has been growling, spitting showing its teeth etc.)
But if I do tell him off am I taking away his ability to fend for himself?? I just want to do the right thing for him

An excellent question, I look forward to all the replies.

it is a very hard one as you have said he is a staff and people will get the wrong idea if he is growling. so i do now how you feel.

i would say let him growl as he is warning them but then try and get him to walk away if you can that way he has told them he wont take it but you are still incontrol. does that make sence.

i now know days it is so hard with all the bad press but i do let my dogs tell others off but then walk away.

i am sure someone with more nolage will be along to help.

Speaking generally it's not a good idea to tell a dog off for growling - a dog who is growling is showing he/she is uncomfortable with a situation.

In some circumstances, a dog told off for growling may then go on to bite instead as this is the logical sequence for them as dogs to follow. This won't happen all the time of course, but as dogs are living creatures you can never tell.

An example I often use is a real life one of a rescue GSd. He was fearful of people and would growl at them. The training class he was taken to used to tell him off and use check chains and throw bean bags at him for this, and in time he stopped growling.

Trainers congratulated themselves and later a nasty incident occurred when the GSD attacked a waitress without warning on a dog walk when they stopped at a beach cafe

This incident happened purely because the dog was told off, his emotions were still there. He was still afraid but not able to warn anyone away or tell his owner how he felt.

I think for your individual situation I'd personally want to know loads more, eg time scales related to growling starting, exactly what happened, and when with the other dog, lots of things Basically a case history.

If you're not sure, there are some very good trainers/behaviourists in your area who could visit you at home or come on a walk with you to assess your boy

They'd take into account your concerns re him being a staffie and probably help to get him to stop, but more by changing his "view" which might be best. It might be OK to tell him to stop, but then show him what you do want him to do eg come with you.

On the face of it, and not knowing exactly what has occurred, I'd be giving him a lot of rewards (high value food rewards such as liver) for interacting well, and probably pre-empting his growling, so calling him away before he got himself to that state. Very often this will work so that growling stops, but you need to be aware of how aroused he is. He doesn't sound as if he's ever attacked any dog, so I'd be fairly confident but just very aware, and reward for good behaviour, pre empt any problem behaviour.

Hth a bit

Wys
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NO>.

I wouldn't tell him off for growling..

Imagine.. you were scared of something but you couldn't scream or walk away?

Imagine.. you were uncomfortable with something but couldn't speak or walk away?

He is saying.. leave me alone.. if you stop him from giving a warning growl he *MAY* just stop and attack without warning..the question is.. will be fight or flight?

well,trin used to growl at strangers that approached her in public(mainly men),i used to tell her off and it didnt seem to do nething.
so i stopped telling her off as it was ovious she felt uncomfortable,over a few months she gradually got better and now she doesnt growl,even though she doesnt like people just comming up to her now she tolerates it.
i think me telling her off made the situation worse to be honest

I dont tell my lot off for growling as its a warning, but I would not stand in the situation allowing them to face up to each other, I would say no to the dog and walk away

I'd not give him into trouble for growling. I'd pet him and reasure him but wouldn't stop him or give him trouble for it. Just a natural way of comunicating his discomfort at something.

Some good replies here I personally wouldn't tell mine off for growling in most situations, as has already been said, it is their way of letting you know they are clearly unhappy with a situation and if you take that away then they may go ahead and bite someone without any warning.

However neither would I pet them and reinforce the growling, I would either try and remove them from the situation or distract them (by getting them to watch you, play with a toy etc).

Thanks for all the replies,
It really is only a few incidents, and it is always a reaction to another dog being horrid to him. i am always in control and I take him away straight away if he does growl back,
I guess I find it strange that he used to take alot of cr*p from other dogs and you never heard a peep from him.
Now he has just become a little vocal around the nasty dogs.

I really don't think it would warrant getting a behaviourist or trainer in as its only happened a handful of times if that. After speaking to a few people I think its because he is no longer a puppy anymore and he will not take the horrid behaviour from other dogs anymore. Unfortunately there are quite alot of staffy haters in this area and I think their dogs pick up on that and thats why they are nasty to Greg.

Luckily though Greg also has lots of nice friends so that more than makes up for the horrid ones