I'd rather have a dog that gives clear warning than a dog that bites with no warning. A dog that bites with no warning seems like a much more dangerous dog around children than a dog that gives clear warning. I mean, when has a growl ever hurt someone?
Having written that, kids come first. If one of my dogs growled at Chase they would not be allowed around my child ever again and I would re-home them. End of story.
There are situation where adults respect a dog's growl, manage the situation responsibly, and set the situation up for success so that children do not get hurt, and then there are situation where adults ignore warning signs, are neglectful in the management of the situation, and set the situation up for failure which end with children being hurt. Both situations may involve a growling dog, but one doesn't equal the other. Two very different scenarios.
I agree, I hope no children get hurt! And to the OP, don't put your children at risk!
Caleb, I may not have been extremely clear in last post. (It was a bit late...) When I mentioned, "respect the growl". I didn't mean allow the dog to growl or continue growling in instances that are not appropriate for such behavior. I meant if the dog is growling for a reason; it is a good warning to take caution. If a growl is ignored or not valued, then the dog can quite easily move on to something that WILL have meaning for us, humans, - a bite. As mentioned earlier, a growl is one of the very few ways a dog has of communicating to humans that we need to be careful. Unfortunately, most people don't understand and/or completely ignore a dog's more subtle signs of warning (i.e. body posturing, tense tail, raised pile, staring, etc.)
I completely understand your point with y
our dog. You know your dog best. If you know a bite will NOT just be a bite, I can see the need for extra caution. I certainly don't want anyone child or adult to come to harm. As Brad mentioned:
There are situation where adults respect a dog's growl, manage the situation responsibly, and set the situation up for success so that children do not get hurt, and then there are situation where adults ignore warning signs, are neglectful in the management of the situation, and set the situation up for failure which end with children (...
or others)
being hurt. Both situations may involve a growling dog, but one doesn't equal the other. Two very different scenarios.
In situations where there is no valid reason for a dog to growl, "Respecting the growl" does not mean to ignore it and let the growling continue. Of course the dog needs to be taught that that behavior is inappropriate will not be allowed to continue. However, until the dog is "taught" exactly what is inappropriate and/or shown another way, it will only continue with the same behavior. Therefore, initially the best thing to do is
back off. Honor the dog's growl and figure out why it's growling. Do not continue to push a dog that is giving strong warning signs.
Every situation is different and there is always a reason for why a dog does something. Pushing forward into a situation that the dog is clearly upset about and harshly correcting a dog without taking into consideration "why" the dog is behaving in that way will likely end ugly. I agree that inappropriate growling should not be tolerated. A dog should not be pushing me around and tell me what I can and can't do. That is backwards.
There are ways of redefining expectations with a dog, such as changing it's lifestyle, as you mentioned, but unless the dog knows what it did wrong to incur such results, there is no lesson learned. Examine the situation, find the trigger, then find a way to teach an appropriate alternative as in Brad's example of walking by the bowl and adding MORE goodies to it, so he was no longer believed to be a threat.
However, in the end, if kids are in the house. Extra precautions should
always be taken. Supervision should always be provided and the situations that are identified as triggers for the dog should not be allowed to occur in the presence of children. In addition, retraining a dog exhibiting behaviors like we are discussing (aggression) should NOT be done when in the presence of young ones.
I think we all agree with your previous statement :
"Everyone is different, and I can just hope that this all ends well, not only for the dog, but the people involved."
One of the reasons, I enjoy this site so much is that everyone has an opinion and experiences that we can all learn from. I appreciate the opportunity to hear some different perspectives. I think the large majority on hear are able to diplomatically disagree without causing major offense - something else I appreciate. I have already learned a great deal from others on this site. (Sorry for the length of this post)