My female spayed 11 year old American Eskimo dog is constantly growling at our two new Labrador roommates. Newly divorced, I've moved into my sister's house with her two Labs. Sadie constantly mumble-growls nonstop. Sadie can be in the bedroom and the Labs are at the other end of the house and she'll be growling. She has excelled at obedience: puppy, basic, and advanced without leash. She recognizes me as "alpha" in all other areas. Her body posture when growling: no eye-contact with dog, tail sometimes wags, sometimes parallel to floor. She's also begun growling at the two cats she grew up with. I walk her and run her every day with the labs. When we're all out in the 40 acre lot it's the only time she doesn't growl at them. She has never liked other animals, totally ignores them. This behavior has happened other times with other animals in the past 11 years, but now it's extrememly unnerving as I've got acrage and would love to get another dog. Vet says its nothing medical. I've tried several different things to correct it. I want her to be happy. Help!

*Moderator Edit*
email address removed to slow down the spammers, please ask for responses to be sent via pm.

Will Rambeau
Moderator

Hi Kathi,

Can I ask that you don't use your e-mail address in your posts please. There are several reasons for this but the main reason is that a question posted on the board, should, as much as possible, be answered on the board for the benefit of all.

I'm not a moderator of this site but I like to read all the questions and answers here so I can better understand training in general <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Cheers

John

Thanks John!
My main reason for doing an edit on email addresses is that they're used by spammers - best to use a PM instead, or to have the answer posted so that all can share in the learning process.

 Quote:

She has never liked other animals

If you have an 11 year old dog, and weren't able to socialize her and get her more comfortable around dogs before this, I'd say you probably aren't going to have too much luck at this point. There are a bunch of socialization windows our pups have during their first year, and if we don't take advantage of them to work with our pups, then we get what we get. And it's fine when you have a single dog household, or don't ever want another dog near, but you are experiencing the downside of what can happen if you aren't able to socialize early.

I know that SOMETIMES these dogs MAY do better with a puppy of the opposite sex. Puppies are smaller, if left with their littermates/mom until 7 - 8 weeks old have learned to act appropriate and submissive, and so aren't as intimidating as a larger adult dog. That said, small puppies can really push the envelope with an older dog when they want to play, and so if the adult does snap, that puppy is a gonner.

Here's a few sites with info on dog/dog agression that may help:

http://www.petplace.com/dogs/inter-dog-fear-aggression/page1.aspx

http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_SocializationAdultDog.php

http://www.tarheelcanine.com/SibRiv.doc

http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/shy-k9s-faq.html

No Probs.

I was going to mention spammers/spiders and the like but didn't want to geek myself up too much :P

Cheers

John