Growling during play

[natrhymer]

I know boxers are very vocal dogs; woo-wooing, barking, etc. are part of their regular play. Our boy Dieter is a rescue, about three years old and we've had him for two years. We recently took him to a behaviorist -- he is fear aggressive while on leash and was biting us on walks when we encountered other dogs. We've been working on behavior modification with tips we got from the behaviorist and from an aggression seminar we went to at the Humane Society. Everything is going well. The only thing we're having trouble with is stopping his growling during play, a recommendation from the behaviorist. (BTW, he has never growled over anything else; we can poke and prod him, pull his ears, push him into a sit, move him while he's sleeping, reprimand him and put our hands in his food while he's eating -- there are no issues with growling at any other time).

The behaviorist recommended that we stop play immediately and walk away when he growls, but it hasn't been very successful.

We'll keep trying, but I'm not sure if this isn't overkill, given that boxers are just so vocal to begin with and we're in play mode. Dieter has also been trained to stop playing when we say so and is trained to stop play if gets too close to our face/neck/head area.

Any thoughts?
Thanks!

 

[heartsong12]

I don't know what to tell you. Most every boxer that Diabla has played with does that growl. If you did not know better you would think from the noise that they were fighting. I think that growling during play is common with boxers.

 

[sandy's mom]

We have the same problem with Napoleon. When he plays, he doesn't realize how rough he gets and he doesn't calm down easily. If you get up and go away, he will go after you.

The only thing I have found that works for me is, when he comes after me I will quickly and sternly tell him to sit, then I give him a treat. Not every time, that way he never knows when I will have one. Sometimes, his treat is me rubbing his ears and telling him to calm down. 9 out of 10 times this will calm him down and then he will play nice again. He always growls, he just gets really rough.

Good Luck!
Debbie

 

[gustus]

Growling play

Our previous Boxer, Gus, and our 4 month old, Tucker, have both been very vocal with the Boxer growl while playing. We've also noticed that other dogs they play with start the same thing. Although we have to remind other dog owners they are playing, it's just something I think Boxers do. It might be their way of laughing! I love it

 

[natrhymer]

Thanks for all of your replies! I tend to think that Boxers just growl during play and it isn't a show of aggression necessarily, but we're trying to follow the behaviorist's recommendations. The thing is, if we stop play, he stops growling (obviously, because there's nothing to growl about!). But as soon as play starts again, he's growling -- perhaps that IS their way of laughing, gustus, who knows?! We just can't break him of the "habit" of growling during play.

 

[BeckyNC]

I know your behaviorist is the expert, but if you stop play and end something Dieter enjoys, won't he be confused? You are restricting him from doing something fun?

What does the play growl have to do with his negative behavior you are hoping to correct? It seems the growl is so inherent in who are crazy pup are, it might be difficult to stop. I do know some folks stop their Boxers from playing when things get too heated, but that's a bit different.

 

[natrhymer]

I know your behaviorist is the expert, but if you stop play and end something Dieter enjoys, won't he be confused? You are restricting him from doing something fun?

What does the play growl have to do with his negative behavior you are hoping to correct? It seems the growl is so inherent in who are crazy pup are, it might be difficult to stop. I do know some folks stop their Boxers from playing when things get too heated, but that's a bit different.

That's kind of my thoughts on the whole thing. I think that it's just being overly cautious -- any growl is a bad growl, at least at this early stage of behavior modification. I'm just not sure that a boxer is capable of not growling during play! Actually, the growling really has nothing to do with his negative behavior because he doesn't really growl during the negative behavior, anyway.

We've been working at it for two months now with little success. I'll be calling the behaviorist again this week just to clarify what we should be doing, but I thought I'd get some "second opinions" from the boxer experts here on BW. Thanks again for all your thoughtful input!

 

[Cami]

Cami has distinctive growls....a play growl, and a warning growl, ("I hear something!")......I would not want to stop either growl. She will be off in a room by herself and a few toys just growling at them having a great time playing. When she is together with other boxers playing it sounds like a dog fight, but they all have smiles on their face, loving every minute of it!

I wouldn't stop the growling during play only stop the play if it gets too aggressive.

 

[Gus's Teah]

Ditto to that last post! When we wrestle with Gus, he contantly growls and "talks." However, it's a different growl than the one he uses if he's giving a warning (i.e. he hears an unrecognized noise , etc.).

 

[LiLBiZzounce]

Just a question... does the growling ever lead to barking? Sadie starts out with the growl-talk and we are used to this, but now she has been turning it into barking and we can't seem to calm her down or quiet her down once she starts this other than to just stop playing with her and hope she gets the hint. We know she isn't being agressive because the whole time she is doing it her tail is wagging slowly back and forth. I am glad I stumbled onto this forum since this is kind of discussion I was hoping to engage in for my answer. Is this normal or should we be concerned??