Growling in dogs - aggression or something else?

Run a YouTube search with keywords like “dogs” and “growling” and you get a list of video titles that include: “pit bull attack”, “aggressive dog", “reactive dog”, “it’s me or the dog”, “solve dog aggression”, “dominant dog” and so on.

Zoomed-in thumbnails of dogs growling (like the one below) immediately influence the viewer to believe how a trainer will magically “tame” the dog to the docile, obedient pet dog we all want.

Images sourced from Google Images

Are growling dogs "aggressive"?

Unfortunately, aggression and aggressive have become labels rather than describing a state of mind. Let’s look at a few definitions of aggression:

“Aggression can be normal, and is only an indicator of underlying disease when feelings become excessive, all-consuming and interfere with daily living.” - Wikipedia

“Feelings of anger or antipathy resulting in hostile or violent behaviour; readiness to attack or confront.” - Oxford Dictionary

I find that the operative word here is feelings - it’s a state of emotion that can be triggered by multiple reasons. But with our dogs, we seem to be more concerned about outward behaviour than the internal state of mind.

Think of the last time you had a spat with someone. Did you raise your voice? Did you bang the door? Or if someone rashly crossed you while driving - did you curse at them loudly? Did you thump your fist on the steering wheel?

Aren’t these feelings of aggression?

For the most part (unless the safety of someone is at risk), when humans display aggressive behaviours, we ask them to “calm down”, “take a breath”, and “go get some fresh air”. In fact, sometimes when we see women being assertive, we go to the extent of labeling them as "aggressive" too.

But when our dogs display aggressive behaviours, our reactions are quite different. Snarling, growling, lunging, biting - these seem to represent something wild and animalistic about our dogs, something that deeply discomforts us. It’s discomforting enough to label them as “problematic” dogs or "aggressive dogs" (sometimes even labeled as unfit for homes), dogs that we should be scared of. We put them through coercive and punitive training methods to remove this “wildness” from them. And if that fails, we put them up in even kill shelters. Imagine if we did that to human beings every time they displayed aggressive feelings.

Understanding growling as communication

What if, when we see growling, instead of labeling it as aggressive, we see it for what it is - a communication between dogs and human beings. We know dogs use somewhere around 30 calming signals to actively communicate amongst themselves and with humans. But did you know that they also use a range of distance creating/increasing signals to communicate the need for space?

Here’s an example:

I was once walking Mutton when she was extremely excited and curious about a few bushes close by. She seemed to sniff something that got her attention. When we went closer, I heard a growl from the bushes. There was a streetie lying right in the thick of , those bushes, resting away from the sun.

The streetie we encountered in the bushes

What did Mutton do? She turned away, and so did I.

Did the streetie come attacking Mutton? No.

Did the streetie chase us down? No.

Did the streetie ask for space and stay in his spot? Yes.

Can you imagine what would have happened if we had ignored this communication and still gone up to the streetie? I would have put both Mutton and myself at risk, all because either I didn't know better or I wanted to prove some bizarre point about approaching growling dogs.

The role of stress

Turid Rugaas in her book, 'On talking terms with dogs: calming signals' describes aggression in the following way:

‘Aggression or defense is a symptom. Very often a high-stress level, because of the environment, is the cause.’

When our bodies perceive thereat or experience stress, the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) is activated. In simple words, the ‘fight or flight’ response is turned on in the body. When some of us are stressed, we could choose to “fight back” and protect ourselves; some of us may choose to escape and remove ourselves from the stressful situation altogether.

The same is for our dogs. While some may exhibit an incredible amount of fear and display ‘meek’ behaviours, some may choose to fight and display ‘aggressive’ behaviours.

Disease, pain, the frustration of unmet needs, limited freedom, and agency, unpredictable households, consistent use of punitive and coercive methods, and inappropriate diet - all this could lead to an extremely stressed dog, which in turn could lead to a demonstration of aggressive behaviours.

It's helpful to look at this video to understand how stress responses can escalate for our dogs:

What is important to remember is that the progression of stress responses isn't linear. Some dogs may skip the smaller signals like calming signals and move to the louder, bigger ones like showing teeth and growling. It all depends on the dog's state of mind - the more stressed the dog, the more impaired is their ability to regulate their emotions and cope effectively.

Let's take Mutton for example. Food and bones are prized resources for her, special enough for her to guard them fiercely. When she’s chewing at a bone, and if Luchi happens to be in the same area (they are always fed separately but sometimes, dogs move from their designated spaces), Mutton freezes and lets out a low growl. She’s letting Luchi know not to come close, and that she wants her space.

Is she on high alert mode at the time? Given her food guarding, yes. At that moment, Luchi knows to back off and I know to split between the two and make sure that there is no escalation.

Mutton, our pit bull

So how do you respond to a growling dog?

You give them space. And reassure them that you understand their need for space. If it’s a pet dog or a dog that you know, you also spend some time thinking about - why is my dog triggered? What have been the stressors in their day? How can I help them calm down so that they are not on the edge?

If you find that your dog is growling while eating and you are near them, give them space; if your dog is growling when another dog is approaching them, maybe the other dog is too close for comfort and your dog doesn’t want to interact - walk away or stand in front of them and the other dog; if you find that your dog is growling when you are touching or approach to touch a specific body part, consider that they might be experiencing pain or discomfort and don’t want to be touched.

In some cases, a dog could be extremely worked up, and despite giving them physical space, they may still feel threatened and continue growling. This could be the case with unknown dogs. In moments like these, it might be best to absolutely freeze and make no big movements at all. We want to avoid any escalation of responses, which in this case, could look like lunging and if not careful, even a bite.

Is reprimanding a growling dog the answer?

What you shouldn’t be doing is scolding your dog or punishing them for growling. Dogs learn by association too. If they learn that every time they growl, there’s a negative consequence associated with it, they might learn to stop growling but also find other escalated ways to communicate their need for space. Dogs are not inherently violent, savage animals - for the most part, they want to avoid conflict as much as possible and use a number of signals to actively de-escalate situations.

When you stop dogs from growling, you are taking away one of their expressions and pushing them to resort to louder ways of asking for what they want.

I have sometimes seen folks hold the dog’s mouth when they are growling or even flicking at the mouth. Imagine if you were feeling angry and were shouting, and somebody did that to you. Would you calm down? Or would you get angrier? The answer is probably the latter. So then, why do we expect differently from our dogs, then?

The next time your dog growls at you, first, thank them for letting you know that they need their space, and then work at identifying and minimizing stressors in their day or life. Remember that all of us can be aggressive when triggered and cornered. It’s a natural response that stems from protecting ourselves. And the same is true for our dogs.