Bark vs Growl
 

I was thinking about my dog last night and I realized that I have heard him growl only VERY rarely! He is a male GSD 5+ yo and has had a history of a little DA toward certain aggressive male dogs and sometimes has reacted very suspiciously toward a very few individuals. He is usually very friendly to both dogs and people.

My question is this - has anyone seen much information between a dog growling or a dog barking at something? I.E. is there much of a difference identified in what the doggy language means?

About the only time that I have heard my guy do much if any growling was during a session with a pro trainer when we were attempting to teach him that he had to be able to co-exist with another male GSD in our small social group. A very impressive series of ferocious sounding growls came out of him when he was made to down!

Only other growls I have ever heard from him have been one or two maybe mixed in with barking at something he might consider a threat (hard to tell if these were really growls however).

Just interested in what a growl vs a bark might mean in doggy language?

Now I do realize that there are a variety of different barks that dogs (mine too) will do - from the excited "Whoof" = I want to go out!" to the staccato deep Big Boy bark that is a warning to those targeted by it (i.e. the one toward the ScH helper).

IMO a threatening growl comes deep from within the pup. I can't really describe it but Smokey growls playfully ALL the time. I'll try to record this for you today. I've only ever heard a threatening growl from him a couple times when I tried to take away his bone and believe me I felt the difference. I also think you can sort of distinguish a growl by the situation the pup is in. For example, Smokey playfully growls as a complaint when I ask him to do something. But he means business if a dog gets too close or I or Zeeva try to take away his bone. Hope that makes sense? Maybe when I can get a video for it, it'll make more sense c:

From what I've seen, dogs have variety in their growls just as they do in their barks. They growl when they play, but growling can also be a precursor to a bite. Dr. Ian Dunbar (who I would consider an expert) puts the growl at a 'Level 1' on his Bite Assessment Scale - where the bite hasn't actually happened yet - it's basically just intimidation, along with snarling, lunging, air snapping.

A very low pitched growl, I take in doggie language to mean, "C'mon. Make my day" lol. It's a warning but you have to ask for the bite. Then the nasally growl, which is more panicy and fearful, is more of a promise that you'll get bitten. This is what I've observed anyway.

I have seen mine growl then go into a bark on occasion. Sometimes its a bark then a growl, but most of the time just a bark.

lol!! :d