3 year old retriever growling on an evening

[retrievermum]

DDog has suddenly started growling at DH and I on a night; she’s almost 3 and has never displayed any aggression before. Usually happens while we are relaxing/watching TV before bed on an evening. She does it whether we interact with her or not (but usually we aren’t as she seems happy chilling by herself).
She hasn’t progressed further than growling, and will still accept us stroking her/playing with her etc but then goes back to growling a little while later.
For context, we have a 10 month old baby who she has never growled in front of but obviously I’m worried about DDog and DD now (not that I’d ever leave them alone together anyway).

Any advice? Have a vet visit booked for a couple of weeks.

What exactly are you doing when she starts growling? Cuddling, eating anything that sets it off?
Might be unwell or possibly jealousy re baby and less attention.

@Luckycloverz usually nothing! DH and I are almost always sat on opposite sofas, DDog will just be relaxing on the floor and suddenly get up and growl at one of us (usually me)

Crikey no idea but id keep her away from the baby at all costs until you figure it out. I have a big scar on my face from my labrador randomly biting me when I was a child

Is it just a growl noise or is she lifting her lips, baring teeth? How is her body language?

Is she alerting you to something? Something she's heard for example, or is she indicating she wants something from you (open the door so she can go out to the toilet)?

We need more information I think. Try to give a really detailed description of the scenario, including the minutes before and after, what each one of you is doing, sounds on TV, food, light changes, movement, and what, if anything might be different from times before when she was not growing.

Sometimes it can be the weirdest things that set them off. My dog has suddenly become terrified of Voxi chat alerts 🤷‍♂️. No problems with other pings, ring tones, alarms etc...but if I happen to be on a voxi chat with an agent and haven't muted the tones he is terrified 🙈

I had a plant that used to rustle and move it's leaves inward as light dropped in the evening. That totally unsettled him as well...and they can redirect their anxiety to you when they're not sure what is causing it...hence growling at you perhaps?

Evening is really commonplace for this too as they can be tired and more prone to the grumps...eg..my dog had real issues with resource guarding when younger...if he awoke suddenly late in the evening he would look around himself and start guarding the nearest object, plant pot, cushion, bag etc, and growl.

Is she definitely growling? Our lab makes a noise like growling when she's sleeping!

Any chance it's a play growl? Mine does that stands there and growls at me until I play with him (can also mean he needs the loo)

Mine makes weird growly grumbling noises at me when she wants attention or is asking for something usually accompanied with a stare and a wagging tail. If I ignore her she'll do a single high pitched bark to get my attention.

Does she go to sleep when you go to sleep? Could she be tired but staying awake because you are? If I'm somewhere my dog can't easily sleep (like the kitchen) when it's late, she whines, jumps up at me, mouths me etc. As soon as i go to sleep she does too.

Body language is difficult to interpret to be honest! Shes not baring teeth but she’s keeping eye contact and not wagging her tail.
She always goes to the back door if she needs the loo, so I don’t think it’s that, and I don’t think she’s asking us to play with her either!

@suggestionsplease1 its really difficult to pinpoint as we’re usually literally sat doing nothing! We finish our tea, clear up etc, play with her for a little while and then when she takes herself off, we go onto separate sofas and watch TV (TV is almost always on for background noise during the day/evening etc). Sometimes DH will have his laptop on his lap, sometimes not, sometimes we’ll be on our phones, sometimes not, and DDog will be lying usually on the floor (sometimes on the sofa next to me), but then gets up, sits about a metre away from one of us (full body facing us) and growls. I can’t for the life of me think of anything might be spooking her etc.

If we totally ignore the growing, she will occasionally do a bark but it’s quite a quiet one and she always looks away from us when she does it.

She does sometimes look towards the window and look a bit nervous, I’m not sure if she’s seen something at some point and is now scared? Would this explain the growling at DH and I?

Ah, I think she's hearing something in the garden and wants out to chase it away. Fox, squirrel, cat.

@Neveralonewithaclone possibly, but her growling seems so directed at me and/or DH!

@Unluckycat1 no she’s always been quite happy to sleep on the living room floor/sofa/take herself to her crate in the dining room (no door between living room and dining room), and still does this even with these growling episodes!

It's hard to tell what could be happening, but possibly a noise outside that spooks her, or lights...car pulling in to a nearby drive / neighbour putting on a light? Could be she's trying to alert you to something ?

I would be able to work it out with my dog because I know what he's like and that he's sensitive to all sorts of things, so it's just a question of working out according to timing what might be happening.

Might be harder to suss out route cause if this is less typical for your dog howver.

I 'reset' my dog to pull him out of the moment on these occasions... so I give him an instruction 'X can you bring me your ball?' and this distracts him and allows him to refocus on something else.

I wonder if she can hear foxes shrieking? Our dog is very unsettled of an evening currently and we have worked out he can hear foxes making noises outside (maybe it's mating season?!) It's got to the point where he is in our room at night now, because during the night we could hear him downstairs restless, panting, growling, whining, etc. We brought him upstairs to sleep a few nights ago and last night he did the same and we realised it was foxes setting him off

If she's looking outside and doing it, what happens if you close the curtains and/or block all her views of outside?

My beagle will growl at the windows (and look at us) in the evening sometimes but it's just shadows causing it - if we close the curtains he settles down fine.

My retriever stares intensely at me or licks and mouths my hand if he’s trying to tell me something like I’ve forgotten dinner. Is it possible he’s trying to tell you about something outside, or something else? Does it happen every night? What happens if you tell him ‘no’ or whatever your cue for be quiet?

If you think that it is an alert growl rather than for eg. a guarding growl, it can help to acknowledge that...so I would cheerfully say to my dog thanks for letting me know and then reassure him.

If they have an impression you haven't cottoned on to something they can keep trying to alert you and need to feel reassured you are aware too, and are in charge taking care of things.

If it's a guarding growl of course I would act very differently. It doesn't sound from what you're saying that this is a guarding growl? It doesn't escalate in intensity if you move closer? Obviously be careful and don't put yourself at risk if you are unsure.

Thank you all so much for your advice!

I don’t think it’s a guarding growl, as she doesn’t seem bothered if we get closer etc. It sounds ridiculous but it seems like an “I’m pissed off at you” growl!

It happens most nights but not every night, and if we tell her no she briefly stops then usually starts again.

I’ll try thanking her etc for alerting us to whatever it might be tonight and see whether she responds to it; last night my husband got her to lie down and cuddled her to sleep and she didn’t growl after that?!

That's interesting - she growls and then gets your attention.

Dogs are smart and if she's figured out that making that noise = attention in some way, she's going to keep doing it.

What do you do with her at that time of the evening? Could she be bored? Is she getting enough exercise and mental stimulation?

Humans tend to think growling is a negative thing, but for a lot of dogs it’s just a noise they make - I’ve had a dog that would come growl at me because their ball was stuck somewhere and they wanted help getting it.

It’s entirely possible she’s telling you it’s bedtime from what you’re saying tbh. 😂

Maybe she can hear noises coming from the baby that you can't (assuming baby is up in bed)?

My 8yo Labrador has started making odd nagging noises at us. It can be when she wants to go out, or if we’re seeing our other dog and she’s a bit jealous. It’s like a big growly groan. Fixed by going out or sitting on the sofa cuddled up to us.

If we ignore her she goes onto barking. She’s driving me a bit barmy.

Could it be your dog wants something from you?

She does sometimes look towards the window and look a bit nervous, I’m not sure if she’s seen something at some point and is now scared? Would this explain the growling at DH and I?

Much more likely she's heard rather than seen something. My dogs are more alert to things they hear outside on a night that we can't necessarily hear - foxes, owls, the wind etc. Noises on a night when it's dark outside are likely to make her more fearful than they would through the day, when she probably wouldn't t notice them anyway because there's so much more going on. She's probably looking at you to alert you about something she can hear rather than just growling AT you.

I had a situation where my dog started growling at me one night. The growling was definitely directed at me. I couldn't hear anything and checked out the windows etc. it was only when I actually went outside that I found my elderly neighbour fallen outside her door.
I never heard a thing. So I think it could be something outside as well.