growling at a dog?

There's a neighbour's dog I play with and feed. It's only a small dog but recently I've started going woof, woof at it or growling. It get's a little excited and sometimes starts barking back. I thought it was only fun but now I'm worried I might be tormenting the poor thing. I was only trying to play with it but someone told me I'm "making it vicious". Is this correct? I hope not....

_ZeeK_

wow. barking. you must be going mad... hehe, joking I do it all the time.

you should be able to read from its actions how it interprets it. if it starts bearing its teeth, then its interpretting it as aggressive. if its wagging its tail while barking, then he's just being happy.

i beat my dog about the place (metaphorically)
he's a 35kg dog, so he can handle it. we wrestle and stuff. but only because i know, he knows, its messing and a bit of fun. whenever i stop, he stops immediately.

if the dog enjoys it, its all fair game. read the body language, I say.

smilerf

Deleted User wrote: »

There's a neighbour's dog I play with and feed. It's only a small dog but recently I've started going woof, woof at it or growling. It get's a little excited and sometimes starts barking back. I thought it was only fun but now I'm worried I might be tormenting the poor thing. I was only trying to play with it but someone told me I'm "making it vicious". Is this correct? I hope not....

yes my father was growling at our dog for a few weeks
i put a stop to it cos i noticed he was getting very snappy and he felt he had to growl in response even if we just hugged him

cojomo2

smilerf wrote: »

yes my father was growling at our dog for a few weeks
i put a stop to it cos i noticed he was getting very snappy and he felt he had to growl in response even if we just hugged him

one time in Thailand, myself and my girlfriend had to catch a train early in the morning, the streets were very dark and there was no1 about...we were nearly there when we saw this big viscous street dog snarling at us...

we had to pass by it, as we got closer it started barking, drueling and approaching us....i started to bark at it and it went ****ing nuts... i started waving my hands above my head and growling/barking ,stamping my feet..the dog retreated but then would run towards me bit and then retreat again etc..,the dog was totally focused on my so i told my girlfriend to pass, she did and it played her little attention...i was ****ting it as it wasnt really backing down and I was thinking it had rabies...

anyway I kept it up and didnt back down, kept stamping, kicking and braking as i tried to pass, i was 50/50 expecting the dog to have a go in which case i was ready to give it one good hard kick which i recon would have stopped it it its tracks...anyway we both got by safely ...

not much help to the op's question but just reminded me of a funny story...if any1 saw me they would have assumed i rabid one!

mymo

Playing with the dog is fine but you are encouraging it to bark, how do the owners feel about it? Rough play can be fun with a dog but you need to know the limits. This isn't your dog, how would the owner feel if the dog behaved like this with them? You are teaching it this is an acceptable way to behave.
Personally there's some idiots where I live who think its fun to do this to my dogs(when I'm out walking them or in the garden with them), and it is upsetting them, making them bark and growl. It really pisses me off as I my dogs aren't barkers and are usually very happy. It obviously upsets the dogs but they still do it, even when I've told them to stop.

Sigma Force

There's play growling and narky growling our pup play growls running around with his kong in his mouth (the growl echos through the kong very cute) it's not a nasty growl it's like he's pretending to be so there is a difference but you don't want to over do it or growl back in a narky way if you know what I mean.

I don't tend to he's not a real barker so I try not to encourage it dogs will react playfully to other noises you make anyway...yes we all have made those silly noises even if we won't admit it.

boxclever

Guineapigrescue wrote: »

There's play growling and narky growling our pup play growls running around with his kong in his mouth (the growl echos through the kong very cute) it's not a nasty growl it's like he's pretending to be so there is a difference but you don't want to over do it or growl back in a narky way if you know what I mean.

I don't tend to he's not a real barker so I try not to encourage it dogs will react playfully to other noises you make anyway...yes we all have made those silly noises even if we won't admit it.

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