[Dailydrool] A menacing growl-need help

[Midwestmaid at aol.com]

I have a situation and I need some insight.  We  previously owned a female 
Bagle, Abbie - no problems...loved her and lost  her to chronic liver failure.  
We adopted Murphy who is full-fledged  Basset, the most lovable and responsive 
dog we have ever owned - needy....very  needy, friendly as all get out and 
loving EXCEPT - this is the third time when I  have been talking to Murphy and 
petting his head  and down his back that  he starts with a low warning growl 
and on one occasion escalated to him  actually baring his teeth and snapping at 
me, throwing his head back towards my  hand resting on his back.  Are male 
bassets more prone to this type of  aggressive behavior than female bassets?
 
I am devastated.  Murphy is assumed to be between  five and six.    He almost 
didn't make it when the rescue found  him because he was in HORRIBLE shape 
and had to be treated by loving people  twice for heartworm.  He was certifiably 
ready to be with us in  January and we adopted him in March of this year.  I 
don't understand why  he has growled at me while petting and talking to him, 
and once he really went  for me, although I don't think he would have bitten 
me, when I was petting him  and he was sort of in a drowsy state.
 
Is there something about the heartworm treatment that  he went through twice 
that would cause him to react to me that way?  I  can't have an animal in my 
home that doesn't trust me or that I'm becoming  afraid of.  It happened this 
morning and I scolded him.  While I was  scolding him, he wagged his tail a 
little bit.  
 
I just refuse to give up on Murphy.  We love him  so much, but it's killing 
me and because he bared his teeth and really snapped  at me, I am now afraid to 
pet him.  He loves to sit on our lap and he loves  to press against us, 
looking up at us and saying "just love me."  He runs  the full length of the house 
when my husband arrives home and is generally a  very happy dog.  But this 
situation is puzzling to me and downright scary -  hostile behavior from a very 
loving dog - can ANYONE HELP ME?  
 
I'm showing him that his response is not acceptable  and that I'm the boss 
and not afraid of him, but that's not really true when his  growl causes me to 
be fearful.  Are we just not giving him time or could  there be something about 
going towards his backside that he will not tolerate  from anyone?
 
Charmaine

My face is a mask I order to say  nothing about the fragile feelings hiding 
in my soul. (Glenn Lazore - Mohawk)



**************Get fantasy football with free live scoring. Sign up for 
FanHouse Fantasy Football today.      
(http://www.fanhouse.com/fantasyaffair?ncid=aolspr00050000000020)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20080718/a274aa67/attachment-0002.htm>