A fun question and a serious one

[shana]

So first the fun question. My male pup is 5mths old and 41.5lbs is that normal or large for the breed at this age? Ok now the serious qestion lol I also plan to ask my club members but I want to take adavantage of some of the knowledgeable people on the forum. When he is tired typically and I go to move him he will sometimes growl at me now I don't back down and make sure he follows through with what I told him to do. I'm just wondering of anyone has had similar behavior in a pup? If so how did you work with it? What did you find worked best? It's only when he's really tired he usually gets wired acts crazy and then gets cranky. If I had to describe it I'd say it's a temper tantrum lol in all aspects pup is amazing very social gets alongs with everyone dogs included and has super nerves

[karenz]

I can't remember my guys exact weight at 5 months but that seems pretty close the best I can remember.

My guy would go PSYCHO when he was tired. He would make Chewbacca noises, growl, bark, bite (when he had those little pointy baby teeth), run full speed through the house, land in his water bowl. I soon figured out he was like a three year old child who hadn't had their nap. It was him him fighting sleep and having a temper tantrum. I would put him in his crate and he would be out in 2 minutes, snoring, belly up. When he woke up he was fine. Not sure if you have this exact problem but thought I'd throw it out there.

[shana]

He does that and then if he crashes somewhere he's not supposed to and I go to move him he gets all growly

[Mobil]

I don't know what the norm is, but my five month old pup is 43 pounds.

Why are you trying to move him when he's fallen asleep?
I would imagine you are probably scaring the crap out of him just grabbing him from a dead sleep. When my girl gets surprised out of a dead sleep, she growls.

What do you mean when you say you don't back down when he growls?

[karenz]

Once I realized what was happening I would take Xander to his crate for a nap before it got to he psycho mode. He grew out of it around maybe 7 months old. He still does zoomies but we do that outside now, it is a game we play. Try to make sure he gets a few nap times a day and hopefully he won't go into overly tired psycho mode. Hope this helps

[HeatherH]

Growling is their way of saying they don't like things right up there with the chewbuka noise. Dutch is now 2 he still gets growly when he's tired he may mouth my hand but never bites. Trust me I've taken food/bones away from him but he's never bit me. He knows his spots for napping in the house. He still tries to get right underneath me when I'm in the kitchen trying to catch yummies. As for is weight I think now he's about 75 lbs 41 sounds about right. Dutch's weight will fluctuate depending on the year. He's always been lean and muscular. He gets a lot of exercise.

Heather

[karenz]

Growling is their way of saying they don't like things right up there with the chewbuka noise. Dutch is now 2 he still gets growly when he's tired he may mouth my hand but never bites. Trust me I've taken food/bones away from him but he's never bit me. Heather

I assumed Chewbacca noises was the case here since it was stated that he does that when I described Xander's psycho mode. And that he crashes into something he isn't suppose to and then gets growly when you move him. If it is not Chewbacca noises then different advice is needed. Xander would literally bite me with those pointy needle sharp puppy teeth when he was in psycho mode. I finally determined it wasn't aggression but the only way he knew to play as a young pup of 2, 3 months old. He was taught that was unacceptable. Now he will mouth my hand but not bite. For some reason when I rub him he will put my hand in his mouth and just hold it there, gently, not biting or using pressure.

I guess you need to determine if his growls are Chewbacca play growls or something more. That will determine how to handle it. What is his demeanor and body language when he does this?

[Dutchringgirl]

Any noise they make is a communication with you, so the growling is telling you they dont like what you are doing to him, then you figure out if its acceptable or not. Sadie is super cranky at night, but I leave her alone because she isnt doing anything wrong. If I do need to move her, she may moan but she does know that I am the boss and If I say move, its move.

for the pups, they need their naps just like people, if they pass out somewhere, unless its in a dangerous place, I would leave them alone.

[Mobil]

I don't think the Chewbacca noises are indicative of something they don't like..Mobil does them whenever he is excited to see someone, when he is playing with the other dog, or when he really wants something. I consider that just talking.

[shana]

He will usually try to crash on my bed when I need to go to sleep this doesn't happen often I try to be ahead of him but I can't catch him every time I wake him up to move him so I can also go to sleep and I don't do it surprisingly I call his name and ask him to move if that doesn't work I will try a treat enticement but when he's ready to crash he doesn't really care about them and if all that doesn't work I will calmly grab his collar and ask him to move if he's tired he will growl which i ignore and tell him "off" he will usually get down at that point then I reward him tell him he's a good boy as soon as he's down not backing down to me just means not always giving him his way or giving in to everything he wants having clear boundaries

[shana]

Im mostly just curious as to if the behavior is a common occurrence in dutch pups and checking to see if anyone has better advice as to how I'm handling it or validation that were in the right track

[Owned-By-Hendrix]

My guy growls and whines for certain things. I know the difference between his aggressive growl, don't want to growl, play growl, and just talking growl. For example, he growls at me when he has something in his mouth he isn't supposed to and doesn't want to give it to me, that's his "don't wanna" growl. I don't let him have it but I coax him into giving it to me by talking in calm even tones and if needed stroking from his ears to his shoulder (this is a calming thing for most dogs). He knows I won't let him have it and eventually he'll give it to me.

He used to do the same thing so the second I saw him getting tired I would put him in crate. I wouldn't let him crash on the floor. As he's older I'm letting him choose a bit more but he still wants to crash near mom, which is fine.

[Dutchringgirl]

for the most part, you are the boss, and thats that, but get to know his sounds and when he makes them. You dont want to let him get away with alot now so as he grows you dont wind up with an agressive dog who will not under any circumstance let you move him.

[Hygom]

In my oppinion you are doing the right thing..
Don't let him get away with growling.. You are the boss
Resy used to get really annoyed with me, if I wanted to move herwhile she was sleeping.
But now she knows it won'T help, and when I ask her to move, she moves