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| Rascal Growled At Me; Is It Alright? | |
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| Topic Started: May 12 2009, 07:33 PM (140 Views) | |
| Red Rascal | May 12 2009, 07:33 PM Post #1 |
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Well today I got big surprise, Rascal growled at me for the first time ever! I normally give him chicken wings to clean his teeth but thought they looked a bit dull so got him his first ever marrow bone from the butchers, it was huge and at least a foot long if not more. :D He wasn't sure what to do with it at first and was licking it on top of his bowl and then pulled onto the floor and after about five minutes managed to get it to his mat in the conservatory. I thought it was funny and got the camera to take a picture, I bent down to take the photo and he growled! I put down the camera and just said Rascal and he growed again! He was blocking the the door to the garden and I wanted to open it so I just got all matronly and took the bone from him (leaving it on the floor) and ushered him towards the door with my legs, while opening it and ushering/shoving him out. :blush: I then made him sit and stay while I put the door stop against the door, and then marched back into the bone while telling him to stay and picked it up and then put it back down, he was totally watching me like a hawk. I then released him and he ran and got the bone taking down the garden. He was chewing it for nearly two hours and has just brought it in (now a lot smaller) to the house, and chewing on his mat in the sitting room (beside my husband) like he does his usual chicken wings, although he is still doing his regular evening back garden patrol, checking next doors cats don't come in :rolleyes: :D and taking the bone back and forth with him. Did I do the right thing? :unsure: I was really surprised when he growled at me as he never has before, it wasn't a really vicious growl more like a warning growl, like he did today at a border pup he was playing with when she started swinging from his tail. And if I dealt with wrongly :err: please tell me what I should of done. |
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| roo roo | May 12 2009, 07:44 PM Post #2 |
Total Gas Bag!
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funny thing is Razzle did this with me on saturday night in a similar situation.i prised her jaws open and took the bone from her and put it away.shes not been given it back yet!(dont think Razzles figured out that her mums dealt with large dobermann stud dogs in a past life and doesnt scare easily especially at a little feisty jack russell terrorist!) ;) anyway she will get it back if and when i decide she can have it.theres only room for one boss in this house! |
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| zandd | May 12 2009, 07:45 PM Post #3 |
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Think you handled that brilliantly - especially given the fact that you were shocked at this hitherto unknown behaviour.The fact he stayed and let you handle it without grumbling shows (to me) you did just what he needed.The bone was obviously very special to him - now you know how to keep him busy for a couple of hours in the future :lol: |
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| Marean | May 12 2009, 07:47 PM Post #4 |
Total Gas Bag!
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I think its an instinctive reaction to bones, I remember as a child our cavalier king charles was fine with everything until she had a bone then she became all wolfish growling etc :rolleyes: |
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| Red Rascal | May 12 2009, 08:11 PM Post #5 |
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Thanks Lynne :flower: , I thought I might have done it completely wrong and was then worrying......... :blush: I wasn't afraid of him just shocked, and felt he redeemed himself enough by sit staying ten feet away letting me pick up the bone and putting it down again without moving or grumbling and only taking it when permission given. He's just come up to me with the bone in his mouth for a tickle and is back to my sweet little lad. :rolleyes: Just don't want him to think he's got the upper hand as that would just be the start to a very slippery slope. :devil: Maybe I should have taken it off him :unsure: , oh well its done now. |
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| piwoodhouse | May 12 2009, 11:04 PM Post #6 |
Total Gas Bag!
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Exactly this happened to me the first time I gave Widge a bone. It warmed my heart to see his little tail thumping with excitement as he lay in the sunshine, his tongue going eighteen to the dozen, utterly delighted with this massive treat. As I walked past him to go back into the house, I reached down to give him a motherly pat with an over-enunciated "Alright, Widgie?" - and he nearly took my face off! I went quite cold and felt sick to my stomach to think our erstwhile friendly family pet could do that. Like you I knew I had to get the bone off him to reassert myself but those teeth and that growling were really intimidating. In the end, I took a deep breath, marched up to him purposefully, held him down around his shoulders with my left hand (ignoring the noise) and with my right, whipped that bone away while bellowing "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" in a voice so loud my next door neighbour dashed out to see what had happened. Now, when Widge has anything and I want him to give it up, I only have to say "Leave it" in a fairly sinister voice and he shrinks away instantaneously. On the other hand, if I ever want his undivided attention, I just have to remember where I've hidden that bone.... ;) You reacted perfectly and Rascal will have a new found respect for that. |
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| Linda & Fred | May 13 2009, 07:00 AM Post #7 |
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Fred snarls and growls really nastily if he has a bone and someone just happens to walk past him! I put him in a crate normally. When Beauty was in the vet's on Sunday (silly girl ate a fish hook) I gave him one in the garden to see how he went. When he growled at me as usual I took the opportunity of it being just us to teach him to pack it in. I used the rattle can to just rattle as he growled as I walked past, and after a while he stopped growling as he learnt to trust that I wouldn't take it away and that I wouldn't stand for his behaviour. It paid back dividends later as when he had just one tiny bit left that he'd already left (couldn't find it in the grass so I sent him searching for it) he not only let me approach him, he spat it out on request into the bin. With Fred it's hard sometimes to find a balance between teaching him his behaviour is unnecessary (ie I just gave him the bone I'm not gonna take it away again) and unnacceptable and breaching the trust we have built up. Things seem to be working, but I have seem behaviourists say that when a dog is guarding food the last thing an owner should do is remove it, withold it or make them wait for it, but we each have to find our own way. |
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| piwoodhouse | May 13 2009, 09:05 AM Post #8 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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Quite right. You only have to look at the number of dog books on the market to realise that what works with one dog mighn't be successful with another. |
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| zandd | May 13 2009, 10:04 AM Post #9 |
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Absolutely.Even with my two it's perfectly obvious what works with Duncan will be completely ignored by Daisy :rolleyes: One thing I will not accept is my dogs growling at me,Duncan did once when I moved him in bed as he was taking up too much space - the shock on his face when he was turfed out of bed and told not to get back up was priceless. |
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| TerrierTops | May 13 2009, 10:29 AM Post #10 |
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You did exactly the right thing with Rascal to keep it from escalating and/or re-occuring. You can judge that by his response and the success you had taking it off him again! Depends on the dog. I was much more forceful (read as "domineering b*&(%" :rolleyes: ) with my airedale cross than I would ever be with either Flynn ( a true sook) or Georgia (a true sulk), they will respond on a much lower threshold. |
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| RJL | May 13 2009, 08:06 PM Post #11 |
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I think you did exactly the right thing! Most dogs can get really possessive with 'special' bones and it does no harm at all to remind them that it is not acceptable. When you return the bone to them as a reward for relinquishing it, it also helps build trust. Well done! The other posters are right - everyone finds their own way with their own dog. I was a bit surprised with Dill at first, as he play-growls like a demon - but his bite inhibition is superb and he is such a gentle little thing. Hanging off his tuggy though - he just sounds evil! I cleared all the ramblers off the top of Pendle the other weekend because I wandered up there carrying a rope with a snarling heeler clamped to it :P |
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| Red Rascal | May 13 2009, 08:12 PM Post #12 |
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:lol: :lol: Thanks everyone, I just wanted to make sure he stayed a little ginger :devil: and didn't turn a giant ginger :devil: , as he's enough to cope with already. :D Nothing like the support, help and advive from the TT'ers. :flower: |
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| Red Rascal | May 14 2009, 02:49 PM Post #13 |
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Rascal when he growled at me, really guarding his bone. Posted Image And after I took it off him showing him I'm the boss and I can and will take it if he growls, looking much more relaxed and a happier dog. Posted Image |
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| zandd | May 14 2009, 05:55 PM Post #14 |
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Oh lovely to see the difference,he's really hunched over the bone in the first one - and I don't think it's just because it's so tasty. |
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| roo roo | May 14 2009, 07:00 PM Post #15 |
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Total Gas Bag!
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love that 2nd pic of him licking his chops! :wub: :D |
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