Growling at people

[lspirit]

I volunteer with a local Boxer Rescue. Back in April a family called a local Doberman rescue asking if they could surrender their female Doberman to them, and oh, by the way, they also had a male Boxer. Both dogs had been exiled to the garage once their baby was born 5 -6 months earlier. They admitted that they only let the dogs out once a day at most and for the most part just fed them once daily and cleaned up after them. I agreed to take the Boxer who was about 1.5 years old and Dobie Rescue picked up both dogs. When I met up with Dobie Rescue, the Boxer would have no part of letting me get him out of the crate. He acted extremely aggressive, not wanting either of us near him. After about 30 minutes of this nonsense, we were finally able to get this very scared guy out of his crate and onto the parking lot. Once this happened, he was my friend and he bonded to me quickly.

I then had this beautiful boy that had had very little human contact for the last 5 - 6 months and though sweet, was a bit weird. Taken to the vet or anywhere else in public, he would growl at people. No lunging, no showing of teeth, no other overt signs of aggression. He was also very head shy. The poor guy had a huge cherry eye that ended up being operated on 3 times due to the size of the prolapse. Because of his growling behavior, our vet who is very Boxer savvy, would muzzle him during exams. While muzzled, he was very well behaved and never protested the muzzle.

After awhile of taking him out in public and dealing with his growling behavior, I would carry a pocket full of treats and when people would approach him, I would explain the situation, ask them not to touch the top of his head and offer them treats to win him over. When I could find kind souls willing, this worked out pretty well. He would accept the treats and stop growling.

I eventually found a family that was willing to follow my instructions and that he seemed to take to well. Over the course of a few weeks, I would leave him alone with them for a few hours at a time, eventually adopting the Boxer to them on a permanent basis. He became a different dog. They walked him in parks, took him to visit friends and family and he was no longer growling at folks. He became a very sociable and loving dog. I also want to mention that Zeke was always VERY good with other dogs. NO problems at all and he got a reputation of being a "daddy dog" because he was so appropriate with puppies and small dogs. I was extremely happy that he had overcome his issues with humans and was acting like a typical, well-adjusted Boxer boy.

Fast forward 2 months. Zeke is now back to growling at people. The family has no idea why. Nothing has changed in their routine at home, socially or in anything else they are doing with Zeke. They are taking him to obedience training, which is going well, but as of right now, the trainer is chalking it up to him just vocalizing as a Boxer. The family isn't quite buying it and quite frankly, neither am I.

Is there anyone that might offer some insight to this issue with Zeke? This dog is awesome and he has a family that is very willing to work with his issues. Thank you.

 

[IluvLucy]

Are the training classes a new thing? I know you said that nothing has changed but it sounds like the obedience training is a recent change. Perhaps there is a person or dog there that has caused him to do this? I am working with a boxer that has a similar problem and have been taking him to a training center run by some friends of mine to try to socialize him. It is going well but I did notice it is taking him a long time to warm up to the one instructor. I think it is because he is always talking loudly so that the students can hear him over the normal noise level there. Just some thoughts..

 

[lspirit]

Thanks for the reply, Gary. Yesterday was Zeke's third obedience training class (1 per week). My understanding is that one major thing that prompted the family to start the training was that Zeke had begun to do the growling. They didn't feel at the time it was a huge issue but wanted to nip it in the bud pronto. However, a few days before the third class I spoke with Zeke's dad and he felt the growling was getting a little worse. What I'm hearing is that Zeke likes the instructor a lot and responds well to her. There is only one other dog in the class and this dog and his family socialize quite a bit with Zeke and his family. The instructor is a personal friend of mine and she tells me that she adores Zeke and that he is very good in class. She has trained a number of our dogs, both in our rescue and those that have been adopted, and is very good at keeping me updated on their progress and/or any issues they may be having.

So yes, the training is something fairly new but the growling seemed to start before the classes did. I hope this information helps.

 

[larrygs]

I am not sure how severe the growling is or if his family has had boxers before. However it occurs to me this may be fairly normal or a phase he is going through and unrelated to his past.

From the Boxer standards:
"Deliberate and wary with strangers, he will exhibit curiosity, but, most importantly, fearless courage if threatened. However, he responds promptly to friendly overtures honestly rendered. "

We are in the phase of redirecting Layla when she begins to growl at things, people in the dark, etc. Letting her know it is not acceptable and not her place to protect us. All of our girls were very friendly, but all were quite aware of there surroundings and let you know if something unexpected was occuring.

Having strangers give treats is great, but not always possible. You might also consider blocking him, (standing between him and what ever he is focused on, and getting him to focus on you with a "watch me" type of command. If he does and sees you're ok, he probably will be too.

 

[LILYLARUE]

It makes me wonder why this dog is leary of people. Hmmm. Also wonder if the previous owner (and possibly new owner) uses negative training. Of course, they would never admit to it when they signed the dog over to the rescue.

If he was hit or smacked at his first home, then there might be some unknown triggers in the new home that would set him off.

There's gotta be something wrong, physically or psychologically since he stops and then resumes after time.

I sure hope you figure it out and help him be balanced and happy again.

 

[IluvLucy]

Is he growling at people in the class or just strangers in general? The new boy I am working with seems to be very particular about who he growls at and who he doesn't. I think it has a lot to do with the person's state of mind. Dogs are very perceptive and if the person is a little frightened or agitated, I think the dog picks up on it and reacts. I think the key to this is repeatedly showing them that there is nothing to worry about and that they don't need to protect you. As mentioned above, get between them and the person they are growling at and block their view. Let them know it's not an acceptable behavior. There will be setbacks from time to time, but, like trying to reverse any bad habit, persistence will pay off and there will be fewer and fewer instances of the unwanted behavior. It takes time, they don't get that way overnight and they aren't going to get over it that quickly either. That's my game plan anyway, and I hope things work out for you too.