Bruno
Hi my name is Nicky, my beautiful lab is Bruno, he has started to growl at the children I look after could somebody pls help as I dont want to re-home him Thanks in advance Nicky :(

Hi Nicky Growling is a warning in 'dog speak' and to be honest, it isn't really a good idea to rely on advice from a forum because people here can;t see what is happening and don't know you, Bruno or the children concerned and haven;t been able to talk this over with you in detail. If you would like to describe a few incidents I'd be happy to give you an opinion on what might be happening - but really any of us here would be advising you 'blind' and that isn't a safe situation where dogs and children are concerned. The first thing I would say is: please do NOT leave Bruno and any children together unsupervised, since something is obviously making him uncomfortable and children can innocently fail to read dog warnings, or poke, prod, tread on dogs, try to take things away from them etc without understanding the potential dangers. Is Bruno a rescue dog? How long has he known the children? What town or area do you live in? Someone here might be able to give you a personal recommendation of a behaviour counsellor who might be able to help you in person.

Please go with Elaine's advice. As she says, without knowing the circumstances when he does growl, it is too difficult to judge. There are many reasons why he may be giving the children a warning. One of them could have inadvertently hurt him at some point and he has developed a fear. Perhaps he is actually a bit under the weather also - it could be a number of things. Can you separate him in the meantime by using a dog gate or using a crate to make him feel secure until you can speak to someone in the know? Wishing you lots of luck.

Lisa said just what I was going to say..Use a baby gate to give him his own space.