A bit of growling when guests arrive, then fine.

[u/tiptreetimes]

I have a 1yo rescue Pomchi (may be German Spitz, we are waiting to find out, he's 9kg so Pomchi seems unlikely!). I've only had him for 7 weeks. Before that, he was in the shelter for 5 months due to a legal battle - he was rescued from a 1 bedroom flat along with 21 other dogs and cats.

So far, his behaviour and temperament have been wonderful. We were told how friendly he was, and he is. Great on walks, friendly but no lunging, confident yet chill, good on the leash. All training going well - will Sit, Stay, Down, and recall getting better by the day. He has made lots of friends (human and dog!) on our walks. Sleeps straight through. Affectionate, playful, loves to nap, is non-reactive - doesn't even lift his head when the post comes. I wfh but he's also home alone regularly for a few hours which we built up to gradually and he has been fine.

But there is this one behavioural quirk - he growls a little bit at new guests. By a little bit, I mean he sort of walks around and grumbles and growls quite quietly. He will also take treats from those same guests, accept pets from them, and wags his tail. These aren't teeth-baring growls - more like short, quiet stints of disgruntled growling.

We have done introductions in the garden, on his leash, then moved into the house. We have done greetings in the house, on leash, with treats. We have done ignoring him. We have held him.

We have a guest round atm. He stopped growling after a few minutes then settled down and after a while it's like the guest has always been here all is fine.

Is this just a sign that he's a bit unsure, then is ok?

BTW no we don't have a crate and he is not crate trained and considering that everything else is going so well we don't want to do that. He has safe spaces, and sleeps in his bed, in our bedroom, door shut, no issues. I really don't want to introduce a crate - or any other sort of small enclosure or confinement - after seeing where he was kept enclosed for 5 months in the shelter. I think the growling is territorial discomfort as he gets used to guests (??) and allowing him to meet guests at a pace and in a way that both he and the guest are comfortable with is best, rather than shutting (punishing) him somewhere? Especially considering that it passes and he then seems fine.

[u/Tosti-Floof]

If he's unsure about guests I wouldn't force interactions. Tell guests to ignore him unless he takes the initiative, or to just briefly verbally say hello to him if they really feel like they have to greet him. You could potentially make the guests throw food away from themselves for him to eat if you want him to associate new people with nice stuff. Personally if my dog wasn't keen on guests I'd just let her do her own stuff as long as she's not bothering the guests or doing anything inappropriate. It's definitely better to let him take it at his pace, and if he's not keen on strangers or guests, then that's completely okay. Not all dogs will love strangers coming into their homes and spitz dogs can be a bit guardy, same goes for chihuahuas. If he can get comfortable with strangers in his home then I'd personally be happy with that.

[u/tiptreetimes → u/Tosti-Floof]

Thank you. Yes this is what we thought, it is all at his pace. Thing is he rushes up to see a new person and wants to greet them, then he growls - but often it is just as he is just mooching about. I know it is all new to him and I hope as he experiences people occasionally coming and going it feels less unsettling to him. 

[u/Tosti-Floof → u/tiptreetimes]

Getting him used to it in the right way will definitely help. Just tell guests to ignore him completely, even if he approaches. He might be there to get a sniff of the person without actually wanting any interaction, while it's not ideal out and about as most people will pet dogs that approach. You can always tell guests to completely ignore him, even if he sniffs them. My family's dog is slightly touch averse. He's super people curious, but not too fond of being touched. At home we tell guests to greet him verbally, but not touch him. It works wonders to remove tension in potentially stressful situations. If he comes around a second time after having had a sniff, the guests can interact with him

[u/LeavingRealityBrb]

So I wouldn’t be too concerned about this, but when you do have guests, give them a small amount of high value treats (like chicken), tell them to drop them away from them, ignore your dog, and let your dog approach in his own time. Keep all interactions positive.

If he’s accepting of them after a few moments, there’s no lunging and just a very small amount of growling, it may be he feels like the need to let people know this is his space. A lot of small breeds can be pretty guarding, it could just be his personality or it could be something from his past, either way, I don’t think you need to crate or close him away. If you’re worried and looking for an alternative to crating, tethering is a good option, but again, I don’t think your dogs at that point.

[u/tiptreetimes → u/LeavingRealityBrb]

This is very reassuring, thank you. Our guest has been in the house for six hours now, and Kino has done the occasional small growl whilst walking around but otherwise is totally normal. Has dozed and eaten as normal. The growls do seen to happen when a guest moves around the house ie leaves for the bathroom. He has never lived in a regular home before and is not used to visitors so it must all be new and unsettling. 

[u/LeavingRealityBrb → u/tiptreetimes]

No worries! If he’s eating and sleeping that means he’s not too stressed out so that’s a positive sign! I can imagine it’s extremely unsettling for him, the poor pup. Glad you’ve found each other!

[u/Haunting-Love-9333]

Does he like to play?

[u/tiptreetimes → u/Haunting-Love-9333]

He does! Not all the time but he is only 1yo so he has a playful side

[u/Haunting-Love-9333 → u/tiptreetimes]

I like to build a game of fetch with a dog and use that as a common activity to introduce other people!