Why Does Forrest Growl At Ashley? Mystery Abound!


TSchiefer

New Member
Hello everyone. Got a solid story here for ya.

So, my fiancee and I have a one year old male purebred weenie dog named Forrest. Forrest was born February 13th, 2013 to his parents (whom belong to my parents) Morgan (Mom) and Bandit (Dad). Both are completely even tempered lovers. Forrest was the first, and two brothers followed. We acquired Forrest from my folks at roughly 8 weeks. Forrest has lived with Ashley and I since.

Forrest has been raised seeing his parents roughly two to three times a month, and he absolutely loves playing his dad. Those two, when together are completely inseparable. His mom hasn't wanted too much to do with him since he was around 6 weeks old. She tolerates him just fine when he's around, but isn't as excited about seeing him as his father.

Forrest has a friend at home, our cat Milo. Milo's as laid back as they come, but does enjoy a good romp around the dining room and living room with Forrest. In fact, he's taught Forrest some really interesting cat tactics, like rearing up during battle, and using his paws for blocking and attacking. They've never disliked each other, and I believe thoroughly enjoy each other's company.

Recently, Ashley and I have taken in our friend Cassie, and Forrest likes her just fine. Cassie has no pets.

Now, for the meat of the story;

Forrest, who has seen Ashley almost every day of his life, growls at Ashley at night. That's right, specifically after dark. During the day, you'd never know he had a problem with her. But at night, when Ashley approaches him, he growls. If he's laying under blankets with her, and she moves or goes to pick him up to move him, he growls at her. He's never growled at me, not once, ever. I've tried to get her to be more firm with him, like giving him a tap on the butt when he does it, but she doesn't like to do it, and if she does, he just growls more.

Say for instance he's playing with a toy during the day. She can come up to him and start playing no problem. But if she starts playing with him at night, he'll growl when he's pulling his toy away. He never growls when I play with him.

In the morning, he'll sit at Ashley's door to the bedroom, and cry for her. Forrest usually sleeps with me on the couch (long story short, I can't sleep without the TV, she can't sleep with one on). He knows he can wake me up in the morning to take him out, but he wants Ashley to do it. Like clockwork. You'd swear they're best friends. He also has no problems sleeping in our bed with Ashley at night, but again, if she turns over or accidently moves him, he'll growl.

I can't get a clear answer from anyone about why this habit developed. Some have said it's just because he doesn't want to be moved at night, but that's not true, because I have no problems picking him up and moving to the other side of me or off me or anything like that.

Others have said it's because he feels like he has to protect me. I just simply don't buy that he'd be aggressive to her because he's protecting me.

Some have said it's a dominance thing, like he feels she's inferior.

He's also showed a tendency to growl at Cassie if she moves him as well.

He doesn't seem to mind any of my male friends at night. If they sleep over, he'll gladly sleep with them, and never growls at them.

He's only once snapped at Ashley, and it was early on when we discovered his dislike for her at night. When he was growling, she picked him up and tried to give him a kiss, and he snapped at her. He didn't bite her, and never has.

I can tell you now, she's never laid a hand on him in a negative manner, never been mean to him, never kicked him or anything like that. She's only been loving towards him. She's cracked him on his butt for pooping or peeing on the bed, but that's giving her taps a lot of credit.

So what's the deal here? Why does he seem to have a nocturnal disdain for women at night?
 

Penny

New Member
He's only once snapped at Ashley, and it was early on when we discovered his dislike for her at night. When he was growling, she picked him up and tried to give him a kiss, and he snapped at her. He didn't bite her, and never has.
So what's the consequences when he's on the bed and he growls?
Down on the floor, he looses the privilege. She's being too 'soft'. That's doesn't mean she should be rough with him, but he's claiming the bed and top dog gets the bed. He goes on the floor and has to wait to be invited up. When he was growling, why would she pick him up to give him a kiss? No. Disagree with the behavior and do not give affection when he's doing a behavior that you don't want. Calm and assertive and good body posture communicates a lot.

Neutering helps if he hasn't been yet.
The Dog Whisperer shows (try youtube if you don't get National Geographic Wild station) can help a lot because Cesar is excellent in showing calm assertive energy with body posture. Again, nothing 'mean' or rough mannered.
 

TSchiefer

New Member
Neutering will come down the line, but we'd like to stud him out first. He's got a beautiful lineage, even if he is a spoiled little brat sometimes.

As for knocking him down a peg by scooting him off the couch, I insist on it. Does she follow through when I'm not there? I don't know for sure. I'm not there.

And yeah, I know all about Mr. Milan, my mom used to watch him regularly.
 

bw3

New Member
Omg my bruiser does this to my fiancé and has recently started doing it to me, not nearly as bad as to "daddy" tho.... did I stop? How did yall fix it? My dog will be 1 yr old on July 20, he is also not nutured.





Hello everyone. Got a solid story here for ya.

So, my fiancee and I have a one year old male purebred weenie dog named Forrest. Forrest was born February 13th, 2013 to his parents (whom belong to my parents) Morgan (Mom) and Bandit (Dad). Both are completely even tempered lovers. Forrest was the first, and two brothers followed. We acquired Forrest from my folks at roughly 8 weeks. Forrest has lived with Ashley and I since.

Forrest has been raised seeing his parents roughly two to three times a month, and he absolutely loves playing his dad. Those two, when together are completely inseparable. His mom hasn't wanted too much to do with him since he was around 6 weeks old. She tolerates him just fine when he's around, but isn't as excited about seeing him as his father.

Forrest has a friend at home, our cat Milo. Milo's as laid back as they come, but does enjoy a good romp around the dining room and living room with Forrest. In fact, he's taught Forrest some really interesting cat tactics, like rearing up during battle, and using his paws for blocking and attacking. They've never disliked each other, and I believe thoroughly enjoy each other's company.

Recently, Ashley and I have taken in our friend Cassie, and Forrest likes her just fine. Cassie has no pets.

Now, for the meat of the story;

Forrest, who has seen Ashley almost every day of his life, growls at Ashley at night. That's right, specifically after dark. During the day, you'd never know he had a problem with her. But at night, when Ashley approaches him, he growls. If he's laying under blankets with her, and she moves or goes to pick him up to move him, he growls at her. He's never growled at me, not once, ever. I've tried to get her to be more firm with him, like giving him a tap on the butt when he does it, but she doesn't like to do it, and if she does, he just growls more.

Say for instance he's playing with a toy during the day. She can come up to him and start playing no problem. But if she starts playing with him at night, he'll growl when he's pulling his toy away. He never growls when I play with him.

In the morning, he'll sit at Ashley's door to the bedroom, and cry for her. Forrest usually sleeps with me on the couch (long story short, I can't sleep without the TV, she can't sleep with one on). He knows he can wake me up in the morning to take him out, but he wants Ashley to do it. Like clockwork. You'd swear they're best friends. He also has no problems sleeping in our bed with Ashley at night, but again, if she turns over or accidently moves him, he'll growl.

I can't get a clear answer from anyone about why this habit developed. Some have said it's just because he doesn't want to be moved at night, but that's not true, because I have no problems picking him up and moving to the other side of me or off me or anything like that.

Others have said it's because he feels like he has to protect me. I just simply don't buy that he'd be aggressive to her because he's protecting me.

Some have said it's a dominance thing, like he feels she's inferior.

He's also showed a tendency to growl at Cassie if she moves him as well.

He doesn't seem to mind any of my male friends at night. If they sleep over, he'll gladly sleep with them, and never growls at them.

He's only once snapped at Ashley, and it was early on when we discovered his dislike for her at night. When he was growling, she picked him up and tried to give him a kiss, and he snapped at her. He didn't bite her, and never has.

I can tell you now, she's never laid a hand on him in a negative manner, never been mean to him, never kicked him or anything like that. She's only been loving towards him. She's cracked him on his butt for pooping or peeing on the bed, but that's giving her taps a lot of credit.

So what's the deal here? Why does he seem to have a nocturnal disdain for women at night?
 

Lupita

New Member
I understand your curiosity and desire to understand the psychology of your dog, but basically, dogs growl because they're uncomfortable. Whether he's uncomfortable with being touched when he's sleepy or with the way Ashley picks him up or simply because he's more on edge at night (many dogs seem to be more "alert" in the evenings, quicker to bark or growl) it doesn't really matter. The important thing is how you deal with it. If a touch causes a dog to growl, adding more touch (spanking, picking him up, kissing him) will only increase his discomfort. You saw that when Ashley picked him up and kissed him after he'd already communicated with her by growling. He felt forced to communicate more directly, by snapping.
If Forrest were my dog, I would limit his access to areas where he typically gets growly. The bed and couch for instance. It's good practice to allow him up on these places by invitation only, and ask him to sit before he gets picked up.
With regards to picking him up, I would make it very clear to him that that was my intent. I always have Lacy sit before I pick her up, and that lets me do so safely, without her wriggling and falling. However, as much as possible, teach Forrest to move where you want him on his own. You can use food to lure him and pair it with a word like "Scooch" so he learns to make room in the bed or wherever. Also teach him "off" and "go to your bed" If nothing else, teach him to target your hand with his nose so you can lure him that way.
In addition to all that, I would work with handling him. It's possible Ashley touched a sore spot once and he remembers that. If you feed him kibble, why not take half his meal and hand-feed it, pairing it with gentle touching? Especially have Ashley do this. Let him eat out of one hand while petting him with the other. You want to start slow and work up to more sensitive areas like his paws. Eventually, he'll start to associate touch with the reward of food, and it will become very pleasant to him. This was how we taught our hand-shy dog, Lupi, to adore being petted.
I hope some of this helps. It sounds like Forrest is a pretty great little guy!
 
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