Growling Dog

I just purchased a 5 month old Shar Pei about 3 days ago. He's warmed up a little bit but he still growls at me when I come in the door sometimes and he always growls and barks at other people that come over. Everything I've read says not to tolerate growling but I'm at a loss of how to take care of this problem. I've just been putting him outside or in his cage and letting him know this is wrong. I've never hit him. Is this normal? I want to have a dog that will be friendly to everyone. Can anyone help? Thanks a lot.

Hey, Flapgreen, sounds like you've got your hands full. Before I venture much advice I'm going to go to a couple of the molosser sites and "bone up" on the Shar Pei temperament a bit.

I the interim, have you read the thread on "puppy fits" and the one about the "overexuberant pup?" Some of the stuff there might help.

I've got Filas, and they've taught me that the breeds with molosser blood can be very different from other dogs.

I had that problem for a long long time with my Golden Retriever because he was scared of them.(It might be intimidating for a dog to see a creature bigger than them walking all over his territory) What I did was give all my friends a small dog treat right before they came into the house. If the dog ever growled than one of my friends would give the dog the treat.

This may or may not work for all dogs. The way to my dog was through his stomach.

Good luck on fixing your Shar Pei's problem.

just a quick tip i have is that when you said you put your dog outside or in his cage after he growls as a punishment and granted as your pup would rather be inside with you, going outside isn't much of a punishment. my golden is an inside/outside dog and so since she spends a good amount of time outside, it's not a bad thing to her (now we lock her in the bathroom for a few minutes whenever she's bad... ie chewing on expensive couch pillows, etc) and that could be the same case if your pup is crate trained; that his crate is actually comforting to him. so yea my suggestion is to find another punishment that's more of a punishment for him. hope this helps and good luck!