# Growling during play



## homercraft (Aug 6, 2010)

I have a 5 year old pitbull named Brutus and 6 month old GSD named Shelby. During their favorite game, tug-of-war, Brutus will growl the entire time and it's a pretty intense growl too. It scares the crap out of my mom and visitors. My mom is always afraid he's going to kill the puppy so she breaks them up and takes the toy away. I always supervise the dogs during play and neither has ever gotten hurt. Even though Brutus is growling like crazy, he's never bit or attacked Shelby. He does go after his end of the tug very viciously though. 

I've read articles saying growling during play is normal behavior, but I'd like to discourage this in Brutus, and I don't want Shelby to pick this behavior up. Right now, Brutus is the one making all the noise and Shelby is completely silent during play. The reason I want to discourage the behavior is that Brutus' growling is just too frightening for visitors especially if small children are around. 

I've tried telling him "No" or "Shhhh" as soon as I hear the growl, but he'll drop the toy. Since he growls the entire time he plays from start to finish, it's hard to catch him with the "No" only when he growls. And right now, he thinks "No" means to drop the toy and stop playing (which is NOT what I want).

On a side note, my cousin has two dogs that do the same thing. A miniature schnauzer and a golden retriever. The schnauzer will growl the entire time they are tugging and the golden will be silent. My cousin just allows it though, and I probably would too since the growling of a mini schnauzer is no where close to as frightening as a pitbull growling.

Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on what I can try?


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Lucy always growls when playing with another dog. She's done it since i brought her home at 9 weeks and still does it to this day. It has nothing to do with being aggressive or wanting to hurt the other dog, i just think it's her way of being vocal.

Now that doesn't apply to every dog and every situation. You know your dogs temperment. If something seems off than it probably is. 

Is this normal behavior for brutus? How does he usually act when playing with other dogs or with tug toys?


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

i honestly have no ideas for you as my dogs are all vocal in various degrees when they play. Zena i have to say was the loudest and scariest. When she plays she sounds fierce and very intense. We've had neighbors call AC on us when they heard her and when AC showed up and saw she was only playing they left. Most of our nieghbors know that she's a very loud girl when she's playing and dont even bother anymore. good luck in figuring it out! My Shelby is a year old and has only recently started to make any kind of noise when she plays.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

My dogs are vocal too when they play...even when they wrestle on the bed they are growling, yipping and snorting. If one seems to be getting a bit wild, I'll break it up. If you know your dogs, and the style they play-then no worries.
If we have dogs come over to play that don't understand this, it can mean bad consequences. I had a GSD that was an "only" dog come to stay for a long weekend and she took the growls as aggression, had no idea how to play the first day she was here. I had to intervene often.
The last day she was here, she was doing the same as Kacie and Onyx, didn't want to go home!


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Mine growl, snarl, drool, yelp, you name it and they're having a blast! Sounds like they're killing each other but as long as they're having fun, no one's being injured or one isn't always picking on the other they're playing normally. Still best to supervise rough play


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Shasta is so vocal and sounds so fierce when she plays, it freaks other dog owners out. Even though their pups may be playing just as rough, it's always, "Oh, Shasta, not so rough." Even if my puppy is the one doing the yelping! So I'd be interested if anyone has any thoughts on how this might be curbed, strictly because it's hard enough to find other puppies to play with, I don't need Shasta's growling and barking scaring them off. Why are other dog owners such wimps?


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## homercraft (Aug 6, 2010)

Lucy Dog said:


> Is this normal behavior for brutus? How does he usually act when playing with other dogs or with tug toys?


Yes, it's normal for him to growl when playing tug. He growls when I tug with him too. He doesn't have much interaction with other dogs other than my 6 month GSD Shelby. He's a bit dog aggressive and gets extremely excited around other dogs so I never let him get too close.

But even though it's normal behavior for him, I'm trying to figure out a way to discourage it and eventually get him to stop.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

paulag1955 said:


> Shasta is so vocal and sounds so fierce when she plays, it freaks other dog owners out. Even though their pups may be playing just as rough, it's always, "Oh, Shasta, not so rough." Even if my puppy is the one doing the yelping! So I'd be interested if anyone has any thoughts on how this might be curbed, strictly because it's hard enough to find other puppies to play with, I don't need Shasta's growling and barking scaring them off. Why are other dog owners such wimps?


 

they're wimps because they're either first time pet owners (not just dog owners!!), first time dog owners, paranoid, have no clue about dogs though they've had them before, have never heard dogs play including vocals!, or are just prejudice against our dogs because of their breed. whatever the case, wimpy people should just learn and deal. But i'm also pretty harsh in my opinions as i've been told. I'll admit i'm also pretty confrontational as well. Puppies are loud. Dogs are loud. Kids are loud when they play. Why would animals be any different?


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