Starting to growl

[Cami]

I was wondering if this was normal Boxer behaviour.
Cami started to growl while playing with toys occasionally around 3 months of age. This trait has continued and intensified, (louder, more often) as she ages, (now 6 1/2 months). I was slightly concerned until I found out that this was a completely normal Boxer play growl.

Now, however, she has developed another growl, a very low, deep, throaty growl when she senses something outside.....the wind, a leaf, something I can't see or hear etc...She can be dead asleep, on her back, spread eagle, tongue hanging out and snoring up a storm. When suddenly she will jump up and head for the closest door or window and start with this ferious growl, followed by deep non-playful barks. Quick sharp deep barks, ones that I have never heard her make before. She even goes so far as to make a sorta wolf howl, tilting her head back while doing so. A friend of mine has a beagle and she said her dog does this all the time and it is normal but only for hounds to do.....

Is some sort of protective gene being tapped into because she is getting older?

She has never barked or growled at another dog or person and many dogs have barked at her before. The only other times that she has ever barked is during play and its definately a play bark and nothing like the growl/barking I described.

I am sure that neighbors hear her while we are out playing and think that she has gone completely dog-crazy. Now I am wondering if they can hear this other wild-dog house alarm she is becoming.

If it sounds normal for a Boxer than all will be well with the world. We think it's cute...her hair stands up and she tries to make herself appear really really big.....

 

[coveyjt]

Sounds normal boxer talk to me.
When we play tug, wrestle or she plays with another dog her size, she sounds ferocious.
When she alerts to something she hears, her ears perk up and she gets this look of excitement and she paces. She doesn't usually bark. But she does give a low growl.
I'll say "It's time to go to work". Then we go out and check the outside to make sure there are no boogers.
The way she sees it she has 3 jobs; guard dog, sock carrier and attention hog.

As for the howl. Does it sound like a WooWoo.

 

[Scorpio]

Ozzy too will go to the window when he hears something and gives a deep long growl. When he sees someone he doesn'tknow too he growls. I noticed this coming out more as he got older too.

 

[jray]

So far Oskar is a play growler. It's funny. It's usually a low growl and a moan. Haven't had the experience of growling at anything else.

 

[Cami]

I don't exactly know what a "woowoo" sound is, I thought a woowoo was a good thing?

It may very well be a woowoo that I am describing sort of a low warning growl with an odd bark included, but it's not a happy playful sound.

It's like a wolf or coyote sound when they put their heads back and call out for pack members.

The only thing Cami does when she meets anyone is nearly fall over with excitement and she just wiggles, wiggles, wiggles. In fact when she was smaller under 30lbs and a little on the uncoordinated side she did fall over....alot. Now that she is 43lbs she doesn't fall over anymore. She has never met a stranger, human or animal.

 

[Az Boxr Lovr]

Hi..Joe has done the low, throat growl thing four times now. He has growled like that at one of my daughter's friends(a boy, so that's okay with me ) a man at the vets, at a cop who later admitted to me that he does not like dogs and a few nights ago at something outside. It always freaks me out when he does this. I guess it's just his protectiveness coming out, and that too is okay with me! I hope Cami is feeling better.
Cheryl and Joe lovicon

 

[boss_owner]

Cami, your original post describes exactly what Boss does. He started growling when he was about 2.5-3 months old during playing of tug of war. But we think that was because one of our friends taught him to do that . We quickly discouraged that and he's never done that since during play.

Over the last month though (he is a little over 6 months now) he's been getting very territorial and now whenever anyone is near or on our property (we have a trail in the back yard that he thinks is his and only his :p ) he does the growl and the bark that scares all the hikers. He barks especially loud at the dirt bikes that zoom by, which is very very cute.

I'm sure that a boxer's nature is to protect the territory and that this behavior is normal. We never taught him anything aggressive and it just comes naturally. The good news is, as soon as he sees us talk to the person, or if he recognizes them, his hair comes down and tail goes wagging all over the place.

I'm not worried at all, and you shouldn't be either. :cool:

 

[dbj17]

How did you discourage the growling during play time? Do you just stop playing? How does the dog know it is the growling that caused it?

Our three month old always growls during play time. We did not teach her, but she has been doing it for weeks. Whether she is playing with us or one of her toys, she growls like crazy. That is the only time. Her "voice" (bark and growl) is still pretty high pitched. It is actually quite annoying to listen to for several minutes in a row. (I hope that it deepens as she grows.) The whole time her tail is wagging and she is having a good ol' time so I guess she thinks it is fun.

 

[boss_owner]

We discouraged it by making the 'Shhhhh' sound whenever he growled. He seemed to naturally understand that sound as a que to calm down, so he connected the dots. If that didn't help we would stop playing with him. After a few weeks the growling stopped. Once in a while though (every couple of weeks or so) he would break the training and growl and we just reinforce it. Worked like a charm for us.

We are now trying to do the same with barking. He started barking at planes recently, and we have a small airport nearby, so its getting to be a drag. We'll see how that goes.

 

[kellerboxer]

Tank is 6 months now and is starting to do the same thing, he never used to bark at all, but now when I let him out in the yard at night he runs all over and checks every square inch, and if he see's anything close to our yard move he'll bark and do the howl thing you were talking about. He was doing that last night so I brought him inside for a minute and he ran into our back bedroom and started barking at the wall that faces the backyard. I just laughed Tank is such a goof sometimes.