[LE Wilson]

Alas, Teddy has finally pulled a no-no.

A male friend came over Friday night to visit. Teddy has interacted with him on at least 4 prior occasions and has never had a problem with him. Each time he's come over he's greeted him with his wagging nub and lots of wet kisses. Everything seemed fine. The doorbell rang, the friend came in, Teddy greeted him, smelled him, allowed the friend to coax him several times. When Teddy decided he had gotten enough attention he left the room. The friend and I continued to stand in the kitchen and chit-chat. A few moments later Teddy appeared around the corner with his ears up looking at both of us. I told him to come in and visit. He then looked at the friend and proceeded to grumble in a very low tone. I was caught completely off guard as he has NEVER EVER done anything like this before. My friend has a female Rott so he his experienced with the breed. He called Teddy into the room. Teddy again very softly grumbled and stood there. I then told him to come, which he did. My friend then proceeded to coax him again, as well as myself, and he then seemed fine, everything was normal again.

My question is this: WHY WOULD HE GRUMBLE AT THE FRIEND?

In my house it's just me and my furry children. Was Teddy jealous of this person? Did he perhaps feel threatened by a man in the house? I'm stumped.

Teddy has had basic obedience classes and is very obedient and mindful. He is also a well-socialized dog. We (Teddy, O'Malley and myself) spend several hours a week at the dog park with other dogs and humans, both male and female, we go to PetSmart, we walk in the neighborhood, we go to granny's to play with his Labrador sidekick. We are very active and have always had nothing but positive experiences.

If this was aggression, this was his first display of same. I would appreciate some insight and any and all suggestions on what to do to curb this behavior should it ever happen again.

Thanks.