Puppy grumbles

Lois is almost 15 weeks and since we have got her she has always grumbled if she is made to do anything she doesn't particularly want to. I was wondering if anyone else has heard of this with their puppy? We always correct her so we don't encourage it but I wondering is this common. Our other cavalier didn't do this.

What do you mean 'grumbles' and what are you doing to correct her? Normally one shouldn't really be scolding or punishing behaviour... especially in a little puppy. Personally I really hate the whole concept of 'correcting' and the word itself, as mainly it means punishing a dog in a useless way (because the dog has no idea why you are scolding or what it is supposed to do as an alternative).

What do you want her to do? Why isn't she doing it? Does she even clearly understand what it is you want? And at only 15 weeks -- this is pretty young to expect too much; most young puppies don;t really have great memories for remembering and are only just beginning to learn things.

Do you mean she is growling? If a puppy is consistently growling then something is wrong -- either with the technique of training, or with the puppy medically, or with the puppy temperamentally. Almost always, the problem is the first option. The issue is not to stop her growling, the issue is to figure out why she is doing it in the first place as this isn't a normal behaviour and scolding wil not resolve it and isn't the right approach to take. Are you working to motivate her to want to do what you are asking?

Karlin said:

What do you mean 'grumbles' and what are you doing to correct her? Normally one shouldn't really be scolding or punishing behaviour... especially in a little puppy. Personally I really hate the whole concept of 'correcting' and the word itself, as mainly it means punishing a dog in a useless way (because the dog has no idea why you are scolding or what it is supposed to do as an alternative).

What do you want her to do? Why isn't she doing it? Does she even clearly understand what it is you want? And at only 15 weeks -- this is pretty young to expect too much; most young puppies don;t really have great memories for remembering and are only just beginning to learn things.

Do you mean she is growling? If a puppy is consistently growling then something is wrong -- either with the technique of training, or with the puppy medically, or with the puppy temperamentally. Almost always, the problem is the first option. The issue is not to stop her growling, the issue is to figure out why she is doing it in the first place as this isn't a normal behaviour and scolding wil not resolve it and isn't the right approach to take. Are you working to motivate her to want to do what you are asking?

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It is probably more of a growl. It happens when we pick her up or take her away from anything she shouldn't be getting into such as chewing a magazine or something. Just to put things straight we would never hurt our puppy and I never said such a thing. We correct the bad behaviour by saying no and distracting her away onto something else. When she is doing what we want she is praised. When I used to word 'correct' I did not think for one minute anyone would think I punished or hurt my dog.

by grumble do you mean like she's talking back to you? my terrier does this sometimes if he's sitting on a chair and someone moves him off, more of a back sas in my opinion. and Karlin never said you hurt the pup, but the pup may be hurt (fell playing, pulled a muscle) and you might not even know. Cavaliers are to be trained with positive reinforcement rather than scolding, scolding the dog generally confuses it, unless they are cought in the act. plus your pup is still very young, my golden was a down right menous untill she was about a year old!

Cavalier puppies love to please you, so whenever your puppy is doing something like chewing the magazine, just say "No", but give her something like a chewtoy straight away and tell her "chewtoy".

I think it is always a good idea to let the puppy know that although it may be doing something inappropriate at that moment, e.g. tinkling on the carpet - the word "outside" is good, and she can be encouraged to go outside, whereas if you just say "No" it is not as educational. Ian Dunbar's book "Before and after getting your Puppy" is absolutely fabulous. Many thanks to Karlin for recommending that.

She will quickly get the idea that magazine chewing is not allowed, but she is still allowed to chew - and this will be the appropriate thing of your choice.

If she is growling when you pick her up, it may be that she is being hurt unintentionally, but cavvies are very vocal when they feel any pain.

A house-line is a very good thing to have on the puppy around the house and you will have control over her without any misunderstanding on the puppy's part.

I hope that the training goes well - clicker training is ideal for cavaliers. Your puppy will also learn from your older dog - so if this one shows good example then you have no worries.

I have just redirected Max when I catch him doing something I don't want him to do (chewing on furniture) and that seems to work. The other thing that works wonders with him is telling him to "come". He has 100% recall without me teaching him (and I make sure I reward him for it). I'm not sure if this came from the breeder or he learned from Mindy but it always stops him from doing what he is doing.

I have never heard him growl and he only barks when he is trying to get Mindy to play with him and she is ignoring him.

We got Molly at 8 weeks, then inroduced Dougall a week later at 9 weeks.
Dougall used to make growly grumbling noises, we realised it was his way of talking and laughing at us and Molly. We were a little suprised as Molly never made a sound. I am sure the noises you are hearing are playful.

Thanks for all your replies. I agree it could be her way of talking to us and its her little voice. She is never nasty with it. If we lift her off the chair or pick her up if she is sleepy she makes the sound. I hope she is not hurting so I will mention it to the vet when we go next week for weighing and worming. Otherwise she is doing great.

Lois is perhaps going to be more like my Ellie in temprement....As your Sally, and my Ellie are best friends, its easy to see they are very different in temprement.... Ellie growled as a puppy and like you I worried she might turn out to be a handfull....She knows I am leader of the pack and she still growls somtimes if she gets annoyed ...BUT thats all she does .. I just think, they might all be caviliers, but they all have their own funny little ways ....
Your Sally is a very laid back girl, but I think Lois is just more forward, and (speaks ) her mind.....But they couldn't wish for a better Mommy than you....so try to stop worrying.....

ann said:

Lois is perhaps going to be more like my Ellie in temprement....As your Sally, and my Ellie are best friends, its easy to see they are very different in temprement.... Ellie growled as a puppy and like you I worried she might turn out to be a handfull....She knows I am leader of the pack and she still growls somtimes if she gets annoyed ...BUT thats all she does .. I just think, they might all be caviliers, but they all have their own funny little ways ....
Your Sally is a very laid back girl, but I think Lois is just more forward, and (speaks ) her mind.....But they couldn't wish for a better Mommy than you....so try to stop worrying.....

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Thanks for your reply Ann. I think you're right and they all just have different personalities. I love them all (including your Ellie) for their own little habits and their individuality. It's like children they can't all be the same and they are all unique. Sally is much more clingy than Lois and very much a velcro dog and a softy. Lois is miss independent who lets nothing get in her way. I love them both and couldn't be without either :lotsaluv: