lovely greyhound growling over toy and when (accidentally) woken

[ivegotalovelygrowler]

Hello,

firstly, ive had my beautful grey for a few weeks, she's a little joy and im completely completely in love with her. I just need advice regarding a couple of incidences.

1. Id fallen asleep on a rug next to doggie's folded duvet (our sofas aren't very comfy, leather and about 30 years old. Partner had to step between us to turn light off and she woke up snarling and barking. She went back to sleep again straight after partner had backed off.
   
   
2. She growled at me once when in the morning when i was coming to get her for a morning wee. Again she was just waking i think and was probably a bit confused as a moment later she was all over me with cuddles and licks.
   
   
3. She growled over a ball in the garden I was trying to get off her to throw again. She was dropping it then picking it up again.
   
   In a way im quite glad that she growls, as in she's telling us what she does/doesn't like. I know she's a very confident but tolerant dog, as at socialisation class she sticks up for herself with loud (ear hurting) barking if naughty dogs hump or try and get her to rough play, but she's never hurt any of them and manages to get them to back off with vocalisation. When playing in the garden she also barks really loudly at me (this is def play barking as she is trying to get me to run round with her).
   
   I have never and will never tell her off for growling. What i was thinking with the toy thing is to give her some cheese if she lets me have the ball. Generally, is it just that ive got a very vocal dog? Any other interpretations? Any further guidance much appreciated, I'm a bit green with dogs, she's my first!!

[Scuttlebutter]

Hi, glad your grey is settling in well.

With regard to the growling on waking - this is her way of telling you she doesn't like being disturbed. Bear in mind that when she was a racer she had her own space and humans would have very rarely disturbed her. You wouldn't like it if you woke up in the middle of the night to find someone leaning over the bed! (well, maybe depending on who it was - if Alan Rickman, then no growling at all )

The best way to prevent this is simply not to disturb her when she is sleeping. You will also find though that as she gets used to you and your partner, she will become more tolerant. Ours will now quite happily get shoved while on the bed in hte middle of the night and and just roll about with us - they wouldn't have felt comfortable doing that to start with.

With regard to the ball, well done firstly on getting her to play wiht it at all. Many greys just look at toys and owner standing there as though you've gone mad, look down their long nose at you and wander off back to the sofa! The key is to train her to accept giving you the ball by giving her a higher value treat - effectively doing a "swop". A nice piece of cheese, liver cake etc should have her drooling nicely.

Personally, I wouldn't be happy with a class where there was "rough play" which included humping. If it is a large dog, they could hurt yours or damage her back. I've done obedience classes (KC Good Citizen) with ours and never seen this.

Hope everything else goes well - they do become very addictive! Oh, and pics are good.