When your four-legged friend plays with you or others, you will occasionally notice that he starts to growl. This sound is usually a warning signal, but it depends on the context: in play, growling can also be a harmless reaction.
But not always: Occasionally the dog also communicates his displeasure – if you ignore his signals, it might even do so dangerous become.
To be on the safe side, you should find out exactly what could be driving the dog. I have you for that the 8 most common reasons compiled why a four-legged friend growls when playing.
8 reasons why a dog growls when playing
If dogs growl while playing, it can both positive and negative reasons have: They use the sound both as part of the game and to warn others.
As a layperson, it's not that easy Context of the sound to recognize. The following data from a study with 32 animal participants and 204 scientific growling sounds could be helpful in itself.
So you see: Dogs who growl playfully do so much shorter and slightly deeper than four-legged friends who show aggression.
The exact causes However, they also vary from individual case to individual case. Most often, playing dogs growl for one of the following eight reasons.
1. Positive excitement
If your dog growls while playing, it's usually pretty harmless: Often the four-legged friend is simply happy and is positively excited.
The sound is more of a sign that the four-legged friend is having fun. The growling is usually more likely quiet and short, The dog often opens its mouth at the same time and grabs a toy or a human or animal play partner. A dog also often likes to growl when playing tug.
Pay attention to body language
To avoid misunderstandings, you must pay close attention to body language: If the four-legged friend moves defensively or tries to escape (not to be confused with games of fetch), you should leave him alone.
You don't actually have any reason to worry: If the dog actually bites, it always happens inhibitedly and accidentally.
2. Territorial behavior
But fun can quickly become serious: some dogs growl while playing not because they are happy, but because they get the idea at some point to defend territory.
A typical example of this territorial behavior often occurs throwing games with balls up. Some four-legged friends have no desire to return the toy at all, instead they defend it as their own and then growl.
The extent of the defense of the territory or individual objects depends entirely on the playing partner: If the dog is busy with a caregiver, he will growl and often allow his “prey” to be taken away without hesitation. If the four-legged friend is less accepting of people, he could also snap at them.
3. Lack of acceptance of the “playing partner”
One lack of acceptance from the playing partner can also be the reason for a dog to growl during other games. When it comes to people, that's it Ranking disrupted: The four-legged friend then thinks he is the “boss” and can dominate the game.
This form of growling often occurs when the dog is playing with someone who is not his or her immediate caregiver. Often these are strangers, for example visitors. Also Children are not accepted by some four-legged friends as higher-ranking pack members.
During most games, the dog is still in a good mood, so accidents are rare. Still, that growl is part of a fundamental problem, which can also have serious consequences on other occasions.
4. Dog doesn't want to play
Four-legged friends have a strong instinct to play, but it also has its limits. Sometimes the dog just has no desire to have fun with people or other animals.
This can be due to many reasons, e.g
- Dog is tired
- Illnesses that lead to apathetic behavior
- Malnutrition, dog is weakened
- stress
- Distraction by other stimuli.
If you take the initiative and ask the dog to play, there's a good chance he won't be particularly motivated. If you persist, it is quite possible that the animal will start to growl – this is a kind of warning.
The four-legged friend is often in a more defensive position or lying down. If the dog asks someone else to play, this behavior will not occur.
5. Too rough game
When dogs play, things sometimes get very wild. Sometimes it becomes too much for the four-legged friend: he feels pushed too much into a corner or to tackled hard, This quickly becomes unpleasant for him.
He then switches from game to defense mode. The growl then serves as a warning to the human or animal playing partner. The dog then wants to say something like “please be a little gentler, otherwise I’ll have to defend myself.”
6. Protection of sensitive body regions
Dogs also have privacy: Although they don't care about clothing or other customs, they still have sensitive areas of their body.
Practically every four-legged friend has favorite places where they want to be touched, for example when petting, and sensitive areas of their body. These are often regions in the stomach and intimate area.
Sensitivity and pain
In some cases it is not just a matter of sensitivity, but of Pains, e.g. due to an unrecognized inflammation, injury or organic disease.
If the dog has a very allergic reaction to contact with a spot or is suddenly sensitive in a new spot, it is advisable to do so to report to the vet at the next routine visit.
In the heat of the moment, it can happen that you “invade” these areas without actually wanting to. Even children and visitors who don’t know the dog as well as you often fall into this “trap”. Then it's important that taking the four-legged friend’s limitations into account, otherwise the animal could also snap at the human.
7. Back problems
Back problems can be very painful for the dog and often appear suddenly – due to the unusual movements in some games, it is quite possible that an injury will then “break open”.
These are often simple but unpleasant ones muscle tension, which under certain circumstances can also press on a nerve. But there are also more serious reasons, for example one Herniated disc or even Tumors.
The growling often occurs very unexpectedly and should definitely be taken seriously. You can often hear other sounds when you suddenly feel pain, e.g Screams.
8. Ear pain
And also Ear pain can be very treacherous for four-legged friends: the animals can hardly do anything about it if they become infected.
One Infection of the ears is often caused by pathogens such as bacteria, fungi or viruses. An affected dog usually doesn't feel like playing, but if you try to encourage him anyway, he often reacts by growling and, if you continue to play with him, could also start to snap.
You can often get an ear infection recognize yourself, provided you approach the dog with a flashlight. In many cases, redness or dark, crust-like spots can be seen in the ear canal, and in the case of bacterial and fungal infections, a distinctive stench often comes from the ear.
Growling: Important part of dog communication
When a dog growls, many owners view it very critically: they consider this vocalization to be a sign undesirable behavior and do a lot to break the habit of this supposed bad behavior.
Some owners then go so far as to treat their protégé scold or even him punish. Technical means such as training collars are also occasionally used.
But does it really make sense to stop your dog from growling? Most experts say no. Instead, they point out that this sound is a important means of communication of animals.
Irreplaceable as a warning signal
As I explained before, growling can mean many things. But often it is explicit warning of the four-legged friend. This is usually preceded by many other signals that people – especially children – often barely or not notice at all.
Escalation levels in dogs
From the table above you can see that growling occurs at a very important time: the dog has difficulty controlling the sound Part of one of the final escalation stages, which are still going smoothly.
Banning would deprive the dog of escalation levels
So what would happen if I forced the dog to stop growling? In this case the four-legged friend would straight from subtle body language to attack pass over and grab his playing partner.
Specifically, this means: The animal would become unpredictable and was (rightly) considered to have behavioral problems. The dog is hardly to blame for this; the owner is responsible for depriving him of an important means of communication.
I would therefore advise you to only stop your dog from growling in exceptional cases: These are occasions in which the sound is used as a learned behavior, for example to artificially attract attention.
Playing dog growls: 5 solutions
Instead of dealing with the growling itself, you should instead focus on it causes, that lead to the behavior. The following 5 solutions are particularly suitable for this.
1. Vet visit
If your dog is playing because of a Illness or one Injury growls, you should initially leave him alone. Afterwards it is highly recommended to have one Appointment at the vet close.
You then describe the symptoms to them. It is also important to explain:
- When the dog…