My chocolate lab, Cocoa, growls at strangers. This happens if they enter the home, while we are outside and when I take her for a walk. She will be 2 in January. When she was a puppy she would only growl at a person when they were wearing a ball cap or a hood of some kind. I was always taken back at her aggression because most labs I know were always very friendly. The problem is that her growling behavior when she is out of her dog run has been a recent thing. The first time it happened was when I took her on a walk and a person approached and was talking to me. She growled and snapped at him. She also did the same thing when I took her to the vet. The other night we had a visitor at our home and she growled and snapped at him as well. I had a very good hold of her and I was letting her sniff his hand and she snapped. Fotunately she didn't get him.
It is very frustrating and it isn't consistant. Sometimes she never growls and barks at strangers and she is her lovable, playful self. It seems to be a random thing when we are outside but not random when we are inside. She always growls at the people she doesn't know inside. I recently read your section on fear and I think she may be in that category.
She has lived most of her 2 years in the backyard in a dog run but we have been very good with her coming out every day. She came out 3 times a day and got a run every afternoon. We would let her in the house sometimes. She started this behavior before we decided to let her be a house dog. She has only been in the house a few weeks and we understood she would need to adjust. She has adjusted to everything but growling is still a problem. We actually thought that if we brought her into the house it would be easier to help overcome her growling but we haven't had much luck yet.
Please let me know how to help her. Thanks.
Doug
