As per my other post, Rocky doesn't bark but from time to time, increasingly, he growls when playing - I find this OK if he is playing tug of war with you but sometimes when you are walking about he will go ballistic and run around and growl as if you are playing with him - he is wagging his tail the whole time so i think he sees it as fun.

My dh though doesn't want to encourage this behaviour as he doesn't want Rocky to growl when older.

Is it something we should stop now or just normal puppy play?

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Proud owner of Rocky the Yorkie, born July 2008, who came to live with us at 8 weeks old

My boy used to growl when playing, was like he was talking to us He only seems to do it now when playing a tug game, but I would lay my lifes earning that he would never hurt anyone as he hasn't got an aggressive bone in him body.

My sister has a staffy who when she gets really, really excited she picks up a toy and makes a growling noise, everybody that first hears it absolutely sh!ts themselves but when you notice that she can bearly stay on her feet because her tail and whole body are wagging so hard you know she's just extremely happy. Unfortunately being a staffy people think the worst but this is just her way of talking to you and bursting with excitement.

If there is no aggression there I wouldn't worry too much about it. Dogs do make different sounds that to the human ear just all sound like growling, but they do mean different things to dogs

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Foxy does this.

She will growl when you play tug of war, but she will also run around like a completel maniac and growl at you. Even if you aren't playing. You could just be walking from the living room to the bathroom and she'd run after you barking and growling alot... at first I didn't know whether it was play or what. I do think with Foxy it may have been a dominance thing with me lol.

Saying that, Foxy growled alot. Pretty much most of the time. She'd growl at everything and anything to be honest.

Aw, bless him. I bet it sounds sweet, I think he is just playing though. Perhaps when he starts shout no, and then give him a big kiss! He's a cutey, in your signature

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If there's no sign of agressive behaviour then I think it's just part of normal play. Oscar growls with his toys and shakes his head when he's got them in his mouth. It's cute.

Monty seems to do this aswell.

He is into bitting at the moment but i think this is just play bitting. Although his teeth are like needles!

We're hoping he will grow out of this.

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Previously know as darrenwis

Lilly growls when playing and to get our attention, its just her way of talking too us
If she play bites to hard we yelp and move away from her and stop play untill she calms down - although she's older now and is pretty good

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A dog Possesses Beauty without Vanity,Strength without Insolence, Courage without Ferocity, And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.