I thought this summer captures completely the responsibilities inherent in owning a dog and cannot be repeated too often:

Karen Peak, West Wind Dog Training: https://westwinddogtraining.wordpress.com/2016/01/14/deadly-trust/

"I trust my dogs 100% to be dogs. I trust they will do dog things. They will do things others find gross. They may steal food if left unattended where they can get it. They will chase squirrels. They will growl when something is wrong or when playing. If pushed too far, they may nip. They are dogs. My job is to have them build trust in me so they feel comfortable letting me know what is going on. My job is not to trust but to work to increase safety for my dogs and the community. This means leashes, observation, recognizing situations that could set them up to fail and not demanding them to tolerate unfair treatment. My duty to my dogs is to remember they are a different species with different communication and behaviors trying to exist in my life. I can only trust that I will do all I can to make this a good relationship."

I trust that Kenzi is one day going to haul off and bite the crap out of my husband. (He picks and wallers her relentlessly despite vicious amounts of growling, snarling, and displeasure she clearly notifies him of) I hope she trusts me that when she hauls off and bites the crap out of him that I won't let him beat her for it because he completely deserves what is coming to him.

Good article with great points.

TwisterII wrote:

I trust that Kenzi is one day going to haul off and bite the crap out of my husband. (He picks and wallers her relentlessly despite vicious amounts of growling, snarling, and displeasure she clearly notifies him of) I hope she trusts me that when she hauls off and bites the crap out of him that I won't let him beat her for it because he completely deserves what is coming to him.

Good article with great points.

We think that is why Ami doesn't like to get too close to me - it is my responsibility to keep him healthy, which means - not letting him chew the burdocks and other seeds out of his fur so they don't get embedded in his esophagus, keep his toenails controlled, keep his coat in good condition - no matting to pull at his skin or harbor maggots or shorten his stride. Unfortunately, that means, as my husband puts it, "picking at him". So now, I've been trying to be really gentle, not pull and, when he growls, gentle as the growl may be, I respect that, and tell him "all done" - even if I'm not.

Its a disagreement I have with my son - he says when Archer growls I should firmly reprimand him - I say respect the growling - its his only way to communicate "enough".

Why are husbands such dick heads sometimes? Mine, though not pestering, is treating all the time and I keep telling him we have to watch Ami's weight!!!

I know with my husband he thinks that since he is the human and she is the dog then what she prefers carries no weight and that since she knows better than to bite it is wrong of her to do so in any circumstance. My husband has wider mood swings than a pregnant woman so sometimes he thinks her growling is funny and picks at her just to get her riled up and other times he is irritated that she thinks she needs to growl at him anytime he gets close to her. Frankly, the dog makes more sense to me than he does. I growl at him too anytime he gets close with the intent to pester. It wouldn't surprise me if it wasn't a learned behavior she got from me. I can sleep on top of her and she doesn't care.

@TwisterII I was in the kitchen last night and Avalanche came up behind me waiting for me to drop something; without looking back, I "kicked" him and he grabbed my pantsleg and I almost ended up on the floor - but the kick is in quotes since I didn't intend to (and didn't) hurt him. And I've got more than one pair of jeans where we've been playing and he uses his teeth. But it's all fair game since I start it!! I will note that he doesn't growl, it's all in fun and until I tell him that's enough, he'll come back for more.

I know lots of folks who think that I'm too rough on him - and if I am then why does he, just as roughly, "fight" back? I also know lots of folks who think that fighting with your dog is nothing but just rough play - til they get bit. Avalanche has, a time or two, gotten more than just pants and my "hey, watch it" backs him off. But then that's why he's my forever puppy!

Lee plays rough with ours too. They know the difference between fun play and his pester play. Same as we know the difference between her play growl and her leave-me-the-hell-alone growl. Even if he chooses to ignore that difference.

@Twisterll
"My husband has wider mood swings than a pregnant woman"

I like to wrestle with Mylo but I've never gotten too rough to hear a growl from him. We haven't wrestled in a while since he has a lil friend dog to wrestle with haha. Speaking about growls, sometimes when he's laying down (still eyes open) I reach to lightly pet him and he does a little growl I'm like fine Mr. King I'll let you be lol but I have come to know how his face looks when he's about to do that now...well my gf noticed it and thought me how to tell haha

But yeah this is my ultimate fear...man do I love my 30ft leash! I only use it as a "safety net" at the park just in case he gets out of bounds. We go to the loneliest empty soccer field that's all the way to the end of the park surrounded by bushes, I let go of the leash and we play ball freely, that's it. The rest of the walks I let him roam as much as the leash gives. He has been doing excellent, but boy does he love to sniff up chewed gum that I don't know who just keeps dumping on the grass...But I always successfully take out the gum from his mouth.

I think it's very important to belt up our pups while in the car too. I belt him up and he only has enough range to take out his little head out the window That's it.

We've been very blessed with Red having an extremely affectionate personality. My husband and I have not yet (and hopefully won't any time soon) had an incident where she has growled at us when we reach to pet her while she is resting, or when I bath her or clean her ears/teeth. She has let out a little growl once or twice when I brushed her but I think it was because I caught a knot but she allowed me to continue to brush after I patted that spot I pulled. She absolutely loves rough play regardless of how tired she is. She is like a child that never gets enough of playtime even though her body says sleepy time is needed. Usually when she is really in the mood to play rough and I ignore her, she will start up with her play growl and pant until she catches my attention.

She hasn't had an incidents with other dogs where she initiated aggression. She did however snarl and growl back with all her teeth exposed when an small ankle biter dog tried to take her face off first. Luckily we each had our own dog on our arms during the "introduction".

davecerv wrote:

I think it's very important to belt up our pups while in the car too. I belt him up and he only has enough range to take out his little head out the window That's it.

Dave - do you mean you let Mylo hang his head out of the car? Sorry to be a wet blanket but they can get debris in their eyes, even small projectiles. After Archer's foreign body, don't want to go through that again.

I do have regulations @amymeme
His head isn't ever fully out, and I only let the window down in the streets going below 30mph. Windows up when over 30mph or on the highway.
But thanks for telling me about this, I never thought about debris getting in his eyes…
I don't even want to know what happened with Archer

davecerv wrote:

I do have regulations @amymeme
His head isn't ever fully out, and I only let the window down in the streets going below 30mph. Windows up when over 30mph or on the highway.
But thanks for telling me about this, I never thought about debris getting in his eyes…
I don't even want to know what happened with Archer

We don't know WHAT got into Archer's eye - some sort of organic debris but it stuck stubbornly to his cornea and Mr. Archer was not keen on the vet examining the eye, much less manipulating it to remove so he had to be sedated...and the first light round didn't cut it so we had to take him home and bring him back a few days later. Then, he was sedated sufficiently but when we got home, his heart rate sky-rocketed while recovering. And now, I doubt if we'll ever get that dog to cooperate at the vet.