My puppy is about 4 month old. She has begun to growl at you when shes sleeping/doesn't want to get picked up.She is a good puppy other than that and listens well. I am wondering what to do and why she does this. I am worried we may have to give her away if her behavior doesn't improves (because of kids). I love her to death and she is part of the family and don`t want to. P.S We have another dog also and she is a Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso. Please respond with any help or etc.confused

Dogs always growl for a reason - is the growling one the Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso or is that the other dog? Sorry I'm not quite clear :)
One thought is that smaller dogs can be picked up way too much and not surprisingly they get fed up with it. Also, if a dog is disturbed when
sleeping and growls, it could be because she is expecting to be picked up.

Reading very much between the lines, it sounds as if she is not enjoying being picked up, either due to some pain somewhere or because she just
dislikes it. (Of course this is based only on info in your post). If she growls when approached when sleeping, I'd ensure she is not disturbed when asleep.
I tend to be a bit grumpy if I'm woken when I'm sleeping :P

She could be growling then as she is anticipating being picked up from her sleep, again that's a fair reaction on her part in my view :)

I'd suggest not picking her up as much, if you think this could be part of the problem. but also ensurging that when she is handled, and picked up,
it is turned into something she really enjoys! So use tasty food and toys to help her associate being handled and picked up with something pleasant.
For help with this you could get a trainer in for a one to one session, try www.apdt.co.uk for one near you. Ask them if they've helped with this kind
of problem before.
Also, check your children are holding her carefully and not hurting her in case that has some bearing on the problem.
Good luck,

Lindsay
x

The old adage of let sleeping dogs lie comes to mind. She is letting you know that she is unhappy about something. If she is growling in her sleep that is a different matter. All dogs make some noise at some time during sleep (humans do it too, it's called snoring ;) or just talking in your sleep :) ) Unless she is being disturbed for a reason, ie to go outside, then I would leave her well alone.

Why do you have to pick her up? I know it's so easy to pick up a toy breed as they are so cute, but some dogs just don't like it. If the children (or even yourself) have picked her up and she was hurts in some way then she also won't want to be picked up again.

Usually a dog growls when they see a threat of some sort. A huge monster (sorry, but I mean people ;) ) comes along and picks it up what else would you expect it to do? Bite? That's the next stage if you don't find out why the growling has started. Sorry if I seem to come over judgmental, I don't mean to, I'm just trying to help by seeing it from the dogs side of things. :)

Remember too that picking up a dog and standing up quickly with them is very unpleasant. I think it generates a force comparable to us being in a plane and experiences 3 or 4 G of force. That's enough to make most people sick. If you must pick your dog up do it very slowly. I don't pick puppies up much. If I want to cuddle I get on the floor and let them climb into my lap at their own pace. :)

I'm sorry but why would someone be bothering a dog when it's asleep?  Also many small dogs do not enjoy being picked up.  One of our Pomeranian's hates it and throws her head back etc so she is very rarely picked up except for safety issues etc.

My dogs don't like being picked up, but it is only ever done rarely, it helps that they are too big to be picked up for long.

I don't think any dog actively enjoys being picked up. At best they seem to tolerate it but mostly it upsets them and can make them snappy.

Exactly and the probelm with small breeds it is all too easy to keep picking them up.

I think certain celebrities have a lot to answer for here. People tend to think small dogs SHOULD be carried about, and always like it. I certainly don't with my Papillons. I carry them from the car into the hall at dog training if it either is wet and dirty outside, or if there are a lot of large unknown dogs waiting to go inside -safest. Otherwise, they're dogs just like my bigger dogs, the only difference is they jump up onto my lap on the sofa when THEY want to. They hate being picked up and not having a say about it.

Skye loves being pick up, if she wants to be picked up she puts her paws on my shoulders and tries to climb up on me. I am so glad she is a small rottie and only weighs 25kg or I wouldnt stand a chance being 5' 1" and weighing just over 7st. I think it comes from when she was a puppy as when she came to us she was really small and didnt have her jabs until late so to socialise her I carried her everywhere I went. Upside to her liking being picked up is that when she hurt her shoulder and couldnt put any weight on her front leg she didnt have a problem with me carrying her back from the park, not an easy task as its a ten min walk home(we got some strange looks of people, me sweating like a pig and her happly sitting there like it was the most natural thing in the world).:rolleyes:
Mary

                             

For the OP.
 
I certainly don't think your pup is 'mean'  She probably wears herself out, as pups do, then flops into a deep sleep, again, as pups do.  She is still very young, she's growing and needs her sleep, just as children do.  As people have said, lots of dogs dislike being picked up too, I imagine it's quite alarming for them, my Mum's small crossbreed hated it, she'd go stiff, then struggle and throw her head.
I wouldn't dream of picking my dog up (though that's almost physically impossible) and I wouldn't wake her either unless there was a real need to do so.

If you're concerned, have her checked over by you vet.  Other than that, leave her to sleep, and teach your children to do the same.

Doglover,

Many dogs will growl if you try to move them when they are asleep.  If you need to move your puppy when she's asleep my advice is to speak her name softly first and then as you say "move" shift her to where she belongs.  If she growls, ignore it and move her anyway.

My dogs know "move over" - and they will shift over and let me sit where they are or whatever.  (My two are allowed on the sofas and also sleep on my bed on top of the duvet.)  One of my dogs (Rudi) loves to sit on laps - my husband calls him a "lapaholic". When he falls deeply asleep if the owner of said lap dares to shift their position Rudi will show his displeasure by launching himself off and growling at the same time.   My sister's dog also does much the same when he's asleep and needs to be moved - he growls and snarls.  He also gets ignored and is moved anyway. 

we have a small dog that at one stage the kids thought they could pick her up when they wanted(we have two medium sized dogs too who they never try to disturb) be it when she was sleeping ,eating or even doing her buisness,kids were told umpteen times to leave her but they carried on then she growled at them for disturbing her then they were told,  seriously about the cute little dog factor turning into nasty little dog and that if they carried on annoying her they would be banned from even stroking the dogs , my two have respect for dogs(we have always had largish dogs so no lap dog tendencies) but once i introduced a little cute thing into the household they turned into paris hilton but were soon stoppped. maybe the dog is fed up of being toyed with , no disrespect meant but have seen it first hand here . puppies soon grow and do not want to be toyed with .

I too think children should learn to respect dogs from a very early age. Dogs don't speak, it's there way of telling you to stop, try not confronting the dog when she is asleep. I find bribery works well, in the past if I wanted to take something like a bone from one particularly fiery terrier, I would offer her something else for it. She would have growled if I hadn't chose to do that. When she awakes tempt her from her bed, train het to sit & give her a little treat & a bit of fuss. I now have a terrier who is the complete opposite, she gives my GSD hell, but she has never ever growled at us. She adores fuss & loves to be picked up, if you tried to pick her up while she was asleep, she would lick you to death & her tail would not stop wagging. All dogs are different, a bit like people! Good luck.

My papillon didn't used to enjoy being picked up as a young puppy so I always gave her a titbit when I did and also taught her to jump on my lap for a treat.She now loves being picked up and carried.Its also worth desensitizing a puppy to being grabbed by children using the same method so even if a dog is caught by surprise or woken up it has positive associations with being handled.

HI, i HAVE READ SOME REPLIES AND AM PROBALBY REPEATING, but do leave puppy to sleep...also, make sure that they have a space that is theirs and theirs alone...I have terriers, and they can be notoriously grumpy at times, but in all our years NEVER were any of our four children bitten, nor has my grandson, because we have followed basic rules. ie leave them alone when sleeping, do not play tugging games !! Especially with household things or clothing!! dogs cant tell difference between old slippers and new!!..Dont allow children to use them as playthings theres nothing worse than watching children tug puppies around and then slapping them and shouting ''No'' at them once the puppy has retaliated!! its sometimes a case of puppy and children training!!!