Urgent advice needed on dog growling

[mandymeans]

We've had our rescue about 4 weeks - I know they say that's early days BUT he has been completely settled from about 2 days in. No issues at all. It's like he had always been here

He is really good with my nutty son, who has hyperactivity and non verbal autism.

However, tonight he growled at my little one, who's 2.

She was being a bit silly rolling around next to the sofa (where the dog was relaxing). And he did this growl bark thing at her. It looked really aggressive. I removed her straight away

I know I am probably at fault here as he was relaxing but I genuinely didn't think she was close enough to annoy him

Now, my son can be annoying (he's loud), but he's never snapped or anything at him. A little while ago he stepped on him by mistake walking by and the dog let out a small yelp and then carried on as usual.

The usual common sense applies - The kids are not allowed near him when he's eating or sleeping in his bed.

I have actually provided calm spaces he can choose to relax in where I would not allow the kids to follow. But it doesn't work because he wants to be with us

What's gone on here? I'm getting conflicting advice from Google. Some people seem to say growling is fine as it's just their way of saying 'back off'

Other sources seem to say it's a huge red flag.

I had this with our dog when young and called in dog trainer. Was dog on sofa? If so you need to show dog that its place is on floor. Dog nerds to know its place in hierarchy.

He wags his tail and seems relaxed and curious around them, never looking stressed.

Gently, OP, that means nothing.

One of mine wags her tail near kids and looks relaxed. Give her the opportunity though and I know she’d have a kid in a heartbeat. Body language is all well and good but a dog can change in an instant and some hide their body language - likely because they’ve been told not to show negative behaviour (as mine was by the original owner- didn’t want the dog scaring her kids who tormented her to an inch of her life) such as growling etc.

Your first dog?
Your first rescue?

He needs his own space the isn't where your son will be. You need to teach your son to respect his space, as hard as that can be with a toddler!

I've only ever had sighthounds, and all of them have not like being disturbed while asleep.

Your dog definitely isn’t settled after 4 weeks, it takes at least 3 months, usually longer for a dog to settle in a new home.
Get him off the couch, into his own bed and keep your children away from him when he is relaxing/sleeping/eating. He is not a toy.
Your child was rolling around on the floor, undoubtedly making a lot of noise. The dog doesn’t understand what is happening, views it as a threat and responded accordingly.
Greys are actually usually really tolerant with children (I’ve had 5) but they DO need time to settle and children need to learn that the dog has to be left alone.

I think you should contact the rescue and see about getting a behaviourist/positive trainer

Not because it’s necessarily a huge issue, but more because you don’t seem to know whether it is, I’m reading the OP and wondering if the dog was initiating play or about to bite because it’s resource guarding the couch 🤷‍♀️ it could be either or anywhere in between.

The safest thing to do would be to get someone in to asses the dog and help you work out what to do with him.

Dogs don't generalise easily. If he has been seeing your child upright and toddling round, but now sees him lying down and rolling, he doesn't perceive him in the same way. The nicest and kindest of dogs get over-excited if their family start rolling on the floor.

Im really surprised you got a rescue dog with small children

It's very early days but given you have very young children in the house you need professional help.

It depends on the reason I feel. He could have been worried about the noise, in which case you will have an easier time of it, building his confidence, reinforcing boundaries with the kids etc. Or, he could have been resource guarding, “this is my space I’m relaxing back off”.

That’s much harder to deal with, dogs with this trait can “guard” anything. They don’t fear the child (in general), they seem to see it as “putting the child in its place”. It’s fear in a sense I suppose, “Im worried your going take away my space/comfort” but not fear of the child. Dogs like this seem to have a lower tolerance for children.

I would get a behaviourist in, you need to know why he’s doing it. I know a dog that was respectful with adults (but had resource guarding tendencies) that just wouldn’t put up with children.

I think you need to make sure his space is respected by the kids. Has he got a safe space he can go to get away from it all ? You house is noisy and hectic by the sounds of it. Greyhounds love to chill. They are not aggressive dogs but you must teach your kids to behave around him. I'm surprised they let you rescue any dog with a 2 year old tbh.

We rehomed a Serbian street dog from a rescue when we had a 3 year old. I can say some rescues did but I'm surprised you got one now given the concern about dog attacked.

I look back now (7.5 years later) and think wtf were we thinking. Thankfully he is brilliant and we were very careful when he arrived (and for a very long time afterwards). But I don't think dogs and young children mix well generally.

I mean this kindly op, but never ever let a child run/roll around near a dog. By near I mean in the same room. We now have 3 dogs and our cocker would have growled jn that situation and she isn't a rescue. Your rescue should be offering support and advice as well.
There is some great advice on this thread so I won't repeat it.

When I read your opening few posts about the growling scenario and then him being a generally good dog and wanting to be with you I knew it would be a greyhound! I have one too (with us 2 years now) and he still growls at us sometimes, for example if he gets on our bed and falls asleep next to us then wakes up and realises we're in 'his space' (😅) However it's only ever a growl and as far as I can tell it's not a precursor to escalation, it's more of an instinctive thing as due to their past in kennels and not having shared their space in that way before. We just give him a minute to decompress and more often than not he's right there pawing at us wanting more attention. He is a 'chatty dog' in all ways (not barking but a big whiner 😂) and we now kind of see the growling as an extension of that. He has never bitten to defend his space.

Having said all that, I totally understand that having a dog growl at you in your own home is shocking and all the more so with kids around (we don't have any yet, which made it a lot easier for us to navigate his little quirks).

If you want to keep him, I think you need to be vigilant about keeping the toddler mostly hands-off with him for now - they're gorgeous natured dogs but space is the one thing they can be funny about, especially when they're so new to living in a home. Imo they often want that in-your-face, hands-on attention but feel slightly conflicted about it at the same time. You just have to feel your way sensitively, which is obviously asking quite a lot of a toddler!

Wish you the best of luck.

Has he got a crate that he can disappear into if he wants his own space? Take the door off and put a blanket over it.

We have greyhounds and children. We had a really good behaviourist for our first as she was very nervous. She agreed with the canine ladder of aggression theory, which you can google. You don’t want to tell them off for growling as they are trying to warn you. Train them out of it and they go straight to bite. The people who tell you to tell them not to growl will also stick to the outdated pack theory etc.

You know about greyhound sleep startle? Make sure you do.
With this growl incident I think you need to look at where the dog was, if in its bed then the toddler needs to keep away from the bed. There’s no hierarchy as such, but dogs can get territorial about their bed, so if they are allowed on a sofa then it really needs to be their own sofa. Depends on the dog and the situation a bit but with a 2 year old you need to be careful. Having reread, dog was on the sofa ie its bed. Toddler needs to leave dog alone when in bed.
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to get a behaviourist in for a session, a reward based one who has some greyhound experience.

Also, OP, are you on Facebook? There are some good rescued greyhound groups. You can read about other people’s experiences and ask your own question. There will still be 25% of old school who, wrongly, tell you to train them out of growling, but the rest should be sensible.

It will be ok 😊

I think its understandable you want to keep him as he sounds lovely. But I strongly strongly strongly recommend getting face to face advice in real life.

There really isn't a substitute for someone coming to your home, seeing your set up, and giving advice on what is practical for you about giving your dog a safe space, maintaining clear boundaries which you and the dog can consistently respect. I've never had a greyhound but have had collies and pens and gates are of limited use with agile dogs that can climb! So I can imagine that may be an issue you for you, but depending on your set up there will be a solution.

I also have not had a rescue so no advice from me but generally whilst its counter intuitive a dog that is settled should not feel the need to be near you. A dog that is following you round is probably anxious. A calm dog can have a nap in another room because they know you moving around doesn't mean anything.

A couple of hours with an experienced behaviourist now might cost a couple of hundred quid but save you hours of heartache down the line if it gives you insight into how your dog is feeling and how to make their home feel safe for them. Growls are not a sign of a dog who will inevitably hurt someone, but they are a dog saying I'm worried, so listen and respond.