Hi
I’m after some advice . Firstly, I’m trying my best to make this work and help our dog be settled- I just ask for advice , not criticism. If I’m doing something wrong I appreciate any advice given.
We have a Labrador , he’s 2 , we have had him about a 2 months now . He came from a home with children and other dogs . He sleeps in a crate , he used to sleep in a kennel outside at his old home . Here , he has the run of the house - we don’t lock him away - the crate is his safe space to sleep.
All was well. I have a 14 year old son , autistic so may be relevant ( can speak in different pitches , bounce as he walks ) and 2 girls aged 9 and 11 . He settled in so well , he’s the most lovable boy . On walks he’s excellent , he showed no signs of aggression or anything. Then one night , I moved his crate to put the Xmas tree up and in hindsight it was moved to a corner of the room where he may have felt claustrophobic, previously it was in the middle and he could see the door and the whole room . I now realise this could have caused him stress and I am regretful and moved it back and he was calmer . The night we moved it my son ( 14 ) was in the kitchen opposite with me and all of a sudden the dog started growling , a low growl , whilst looking at my son. I said no to him and then he stopped and when my son went over after he jumped at his crate barking ( again I realise he shouldn’t have gone near his crate after and I shouldn’t have scolded him - I had advice after that made me realise I probably made the situation worse ) . So we moved the crate back and the next morning when my son came down he did low growl again as he walked in and out past the crate ( not close ) . We have since worked with him , we have had my son downstairs more as we thought maybe because the rest of the family are always around and my son spends a lot of time upstairs he might no recognise my son as part of the family and might think he’s a stranger coming into the house . We have him space - my son did not approach him - and my son went on walks , we made sure he could see my son preparing food etc but still he has growled a few times when he’s in his crate and my son is walking past .
It’s making my son scared , it’s the noise he doesn’t like and I also think the way my son is now quite nervy may make the dog anxious too.
I’m obviously nervous with him around my son now , people have told me the growl is a warning and that more than anything he’s probably scared , but I feel like my feelings are affecting the situation. This morning my husband wasn’t here ( he’s growled about 6 times now and only one was when my husband was here but we don’t know if he actually saw my husband when he did it , the dog is obsessed with my husband and is calmer when he’s around and I feel like it’s when he’s not here he does it ) so this morning because he growled ( only a small growl , ears were low , only when my son walked past - before that he could see my son in the kitchen and was watching him and blinking slowly at him - it’s not like he went alert and aggressive when he growled if that makes sense ) but because it was just me and my son I left him in his crate whilst my son had breakfast until he went out because I was worried and I don’t like leaving him in there for anything other than sleeping .
My husband thinks he may be protecting me and because my son is very tall , and unpredictable - sometimes he is downstairs interacting , sometimes just stays in his room all night - that the dog is unsure so when my husband isn’t here it’s like he has to protect me and sees my son as a danger somehow . I don’t know , I’m trying to learn but I am not an expert .
Last night I was working at a local club , very quiet club , my husband takes the dog there and he bought him whilst I was there ( my son was there too and he was around him, taking no notice ) but I was behind the bar serving a man and the dog was looking over and when the man approached the bar he looked quite alert and didn’t take his eyes off him , when the man left the bar he lay back down. Later , I was outside with him and my husband and a man came out carrying things - the dog immediately ran over to me and stood in front of me , no aggression or growiling but then kept running between me and the man , then just walking up and down near me , until the man had walked over to his car and couldn’t be seen and then he sat calmly. At that point my husband said it looked like he was anxious about strangers being around me .
When he is out of his crate he’s fine , he will approach my son less than everyone else but he will approach him and have fuss off him , lay down by his feet etc . He did bark and growl once , didn’t go toward him or anything , but this was when my son was sat on the chair behind him and absent mindedly kind of stroked him with his foot and I think he poked his bottom ! He just turned and barked , ran over to my husband and turned and looked at my son , lay down and did a low growl and my husband just kind of said it’s ok and stroked him . Then he was fine .
Any advice with this ? I don’t want my son or my dog unhappy and I don’t want my son at risk - I haven’t seen aggression but the growling unnerves me and I don’t know how to approach this . We have spoke to my son about not putting his feet on him , waiting for the dog to come to him etc .
I’m after some advice . Firstly, I’m trying my best to make this work and help our dog be settled- I just ask for advice , not criticism. If I’m doing something wrong I appreciate any advice given.
We have a Labrador , he’s 2 , we have had him about a 2 months now . He came from a home with children and other dogs . He sleeps in a crate , he used to sleep in a kennel outside at his old home . Here , he has the run of the house - we don’t lock him away - the crate is his safe space to sleep.
All was well. I have a 14 year old son , autistic so may be relevant ( can speak in different pitches , bounce as he walks ) and 2 girls aged 9 and 11 . He settled in so well , he’s the most lovable boy . On walks he’s excellent , he showed no signs of aggression or anything. Then one night , I moved his crate to put the Xmas tree up and in hindsight it was moved to a corner of the room where he may have felt claustrophobic, previously it was in the middle and he could see the door and the whole room . I now realise this could have caused him stress and I am regretful and moved it back and he was calmer . The night we moved it my son ( 14 ) was in the kitchen opposite with me and all of a sudden the dog started growling , a low growl , whilst looking at my son. I said no to him and then he stopped and when my son went over after he jumped at his crate barking ( again I realise he shouldn’t have gone near his crate after and I shouldn’t have scolded him - I had advice after that made me realise I probably made the situation worse ) . So we moved the crate back and the next morning when my son came down he did low growl again as he walked in and out past the crate ( not close ) . We have since worked with him , we have had my son downstairs more as we thought maybe because the rest of the family are always around and my son spends a lot of time upstairs he might no recognise my son as part of the family and might think he’s a stranger coming into the house . We have him space - my son did not approach him - and my son went on walks , we made sure he could see my son preparing food etc but still he has growled a few times when he’s in his crate and my son is walking past .
It’s making my son scared , it’s the noise he doesn’t like and I also think the way my son is now quite nervy may make the dog anxious too.
I’m obviously nervous with him around my son now , people have told me the growl is a warning and that more than anything he’s probably scared , but I feel like my feelings are affecting the situation. This morning my husband wasn’t here ( he’s growled about 6 times now and only one was when my husband was here but we don’t know if he actually saw my husband when he did it , the dog is obsessed with my husband and is calmer when he’s around and I feel like it’s when he’s not here he does it ) so this morning because he growled ( only a small growl , ears were low , only when my son walked past - before that he could see my son in the kitchen and was watching him and blinking slowly at him - it’s not like he went alert and aggressive when he growled if that makes sense ) but because it was just me and my son I left him in his crate whilst my son had breakfast until he went out because I was worried and I don’t like leaving him in there for anything other than sleeping .
My husband thinks he may be protecting me and because my son is very tall , and unpredictable - sometimes he is downstairs interacting , sometimes just stays in his room all night - that the dog is unsure so when my husband isn’t here it’s like he has to protect me and sees my son as a danger somehow . I don’t know , I’m trying to learn but I am not an expert .
Last night I was working at a local club , very quiet club , my husband takes the dog there and he bought him whilst I was there ( my son was there too and he was around him, taking no notice ) but I was behind the bar serving a man and the dog was looking over and when the man approached the bar he looked quite alert and didn’t take his eyes off him , when the man left the bar he lay back down. Later , I was outside with him and my husband and a man came out carrying things - the dog immediately ran over to me and stood in front of me , no aggression or growiling but then kept running between me and the man , then just walking up and down near me , until the man had walked over to his car and couldn’t be seen and then he sat calmly. At that point my husband said it looked like he was anxious about strangers being around me .
When he is out of his crate he’s fine , he will approach my son less than everyone else but he will approach him and have fuss off him , lay down by his feet etc . He did bark and growl once , didn’t go toward him or anything , but this was when my son was sat on the chair behind him and absent mindedly kind of stroked him with his foot and I think he poked his bottom ! He just turned and barked , ran over to my husband and turned and looked at my son , lay down and did a low growl and my husband just kind of said it’s ok and stroked him . Then he was fine .
Any advice with this ? I don’t want my son or my dog unhappy and I don’t want my son at risk - I haven’t seen aggression but the growling unnerves me and I don’t know how to approach this . We have spoke to my son about not putting his feet on him , waiting for the dog to come to him etc .
