Dominance??

Hi I have an un neutered male weimaraener/lab we have had him since he was 11 weeks old he has been very sociable gentle dog and loves meeting other dogs we have been to puppy parties and puppy training,walk with other dogs but on 3 occasions in the last 2 weeks he has growled at dogs around his age even lashing out at them. We are trying to wait till he is one to get him neutered one on advice and two he had a mast cell Tumor on his ear at 6 months and had an operation to have a 3cm margin removed so dont really want him to have two ops close together. He used to get set on quite a lot at 8 months old but never ever growled back and has been quite submissive. Do I bring his neutering forward? He is quite a big dog so I really don't want to upset fellow walkers??i have thought about a long training lead also! Any advice would be great as I have read and been told so many conflicting things ie if he growls tell him and show him you are upset with him another ignore the behaviour !!

I think you need to elaborate on the precise circumstances your dog growls, is it on, off lead does he approach other dogs or is he approached etc

Just want to add that it is very very normal for 8 month old, particularly male, pups to be told off by lots of dogs. It's their way of teaching the pups a bit of respect. It's usually harmless but can be very noisy and misinterpreted as an attack by people.

How old is he?

Hello thanks for replies he is 11 months old. He growled once at puppy training when he was on a lead the other 2 times he was off the lead and one was when the puppy went to his back end the last time he just growled on meeting. That was a few weeks ago now when he seemed to be going through a "teen" phase and not coming back and listening which I have read is pretty normal in puppies his age. We have invested in a long lead so if I am unsure I just put him back on but he "touch wood" seems to have gone back to how he was which is pretty submissive.

What have you done when he has growled?

Again, it's very normal for a dog to growl at another dog...they are just communicating their emotion/unease with a situation.

If you over react or tell him not to or, the usual, say 'be nice!' In that slightly threatening tone people tend to you when this happens..then it just adds more tension to what is always a slightly tense situation I.e. dogs meeting other dogs they don't know.

With Tonks I used to let her have a quick sniff and then call her away with a treat before things got out of hand.

She rarely growls at dogs, but when it has happened (say with a pushy dog trying to jump on her) I just encourage her to move away and 'come and sit over here if you don't want to talk to them' and then reward her for moving away and ignoring the dog. I know she doesn't understand all those words but it tells the other dog owner what I am doing and why...encase they haven't noticed that she doesn't want their dog leaping all over her!

Growling isn't a bad thing and it has nothing to do with dominance. It's a dogs way of communicating he is not comfortable with whatever is taking place at that moment. Be careful with the way you handle him when he growls. If you teach him that growling is wrong, you are teaching him that giving a warning is unacceptable. The next time he may bite with no warning, then you'll be saying that he's biting out of the blue when that is not the case.

If he is upset at something or another dog, remove him from what is upsetting him without making a fuss. A dog doesn't have to like all other dogs 100% of the time. That is just being unrealistic.

Sometimes dogs sound pretty vicious when they're in fact playing. Was he playing when he was growling?

**we were posting at the same time

Thanks for replying I was advised to pull him away and tell him off but the last time I called him away and distracted with a ball and its not happened since. Think it was just a shock as he had never ever growled then did it three times in 2 weeks hence why I knew he wasn't playing. As he has grown up he has seemed to learnt the dogs who don't want to play and say hello especially the dogs we see around where we live.

Oh dear...who advised you to do that?! They are dogs, not children and they don't have to play nice! If they don't like something they should be allowed to say so!

If a dog is told off from expressing concern about another dog telling them off will make the bahaviour worse. They already don't want the dog near them, for whatever reason, and you telling them off has just given them another reason not to want a dog near them. 'I get told off when a dog is near me' not 'I got told off because I growled at another dog' so they can start to react more and more quickly to keep the other dogs at a safe distance....or not growl at all, which is their way of communicating their discomfort, and react suddenly with no warning once they are really really uncomfortable!

Distracting with a ball sounds good. You're not rewarding them for growling....you calling them away with you and rewarding them for removing themselves from the situation.

Someone who works with dogs advised the first time I distracted and put back on lead then spoke to this person who told me to be firm and say no which I tried the 3rd time I distracted with a ball but as this took a few minutes to do and then apologised to the puppy owner and checked their dog was ok I felt like a bad owner. He didnt bite the other dog just sort of growled and moved forward. It's a massive learning curve having a puppy!! We have been walking down a path with my dog on a lead and my dog was wagging his tail to say hello to another dog and this dog went for him it was only when we got home that we realised his ear was bleeding from where the other dog had bit him this was 5 months ago so I don't think it had an affect on him as he still loves to meet dogs and play and he must be maturing a bit as we met a puppy last week who wanted to play and after 5 minutes he was off sniffing around on his own!! Really grateful for all your comments I actually came across Dogsy whilst looking for advice on this sort of thing!! Sorry I am rabbiting!!!