[Sadgirl]

From the sounds of it, I was doing lots of things wrong. The first time he growled (very low quiet growl) he had been lying awake on his bed on our bedroom floor (yep- in our bedroom right away- I’ve since learned that was wrong too!) I sat down next to him to pet him. He also has growled, maybe 5 times, upon my approach while I was just walking towards where he was in the hallway, to get to a room. Although I was not intending to go to him, I WAS looking at him. He has done the same thing to me when he is in the garage (my husband’s hangout) getting attention from my husband. He loves my husband so when I came out the door, (heading their way) he growled. Not sure if that’s protection of my husband or what. He also growled at my husband during certain times though, just more so at me. He more excitedly greets my husband too. In no way is this a constant thing- I don't mean to make him sound so ornery! We would both respond to his growling at me with verbal “no” which did nothing but make him continue or escalate. Like I said before, if I would command him to sit he’d stop, but the overall interaction was still negative. I read the “gift of growling” and that was helpful.
Fortunately I feel we can avoid and/or alter the situations that make him growl. I also won’t take his growling at me as such an affront, or a sign that I can't get the upper hand in our relationship. From what I'm hearing I don't have to feel so pessimistic about it. I've never been challenged in any way by a dog in my home so I was knocked off balance I guess. He's definitely got a different personality than I'm used to so I've got to keep that learning cap on!