Growling

How it works

It is information rather than misbehavior, and it is information delivered early, while there is still time to act on it. A growl sits some distance before a bite in most dogs' sequence of warnings, which is what makes it valuable. Punishing it can suppress the sound without changing how the dog feels, and a dog who has learned that growling brings trouble may stop giving that warning while remaining just as uncomfortable. The usual description of the result is a dog who appears to bite without warning.

What it looks like

A dog lying with a chew growls as a child approaches. The child is called away, and the dog goes back to chewing. The growl did its job: it changed what happened without anything escalating.

Commonly confused with

Resource guarding

Resource guarding is a pattern of behavior around keeping something valuable. A growl is one signal that can appear within it, and it also appears in many situations that have nothing to do with guarding.

Related terms