Male Standard-- growling

Question
We have a 10 month old male standard.  Since the day we brought him home at 8 weeks of age, he has been growling.  We have consulted: our vet, a professional dog trainer, dog lovers, the breeder, and a veterinary nurse about this.  Answers range from: submissive, shy, bored, aggressive, danger.  He has been neutered.  We don't use any type of physical punishment.  We play "alpha", make him sit/stay for everything, walk him with an easy walk harness, walk him for a total of an hour or more each day.  He has never bitten us, but has snapped in growling incidents that have become escalated.  He will growl and challenge almost every day, at random times (evening, morning, after a meal, after going out for a walk, when the house is quiet or everyone is home, etc).  We have tried flipping him on his back, Cesar Milan's "poke", a water bottle, stern reprimands, and ignoring.  It continues.  Breeder cautioned us that he may bite next because he thinks he's in charge.  Any thoughts on why he's doing this and how we can work through it?

Answer
Hello June,
As you may well know, this CANNOT be allowed to continue to happen or it will just get worse.  You need to dominate your dog and let him know that YOU are his boss, NOT him.  Not just you need to do this, but all members in your household.  He needs to realize that he is at the bottom of the human pack.
If he tries to growl at you, you need to hold him down on the floor and make him submit to you.  By growling at you, he is telling you that HE is your boss, not the other way around, and that he doesn't like what you are telling him.  You always need to be your dogs boss because in a dogs mind a dog can either be boss or have a boss.  They do not know anything in-between.  If you don't establish to your dog that you are his boss, then he will just assume that he is your boss.  This may not sound important, and many dog owners never have a conflict with their dogs (even though their dogs are the boss of their family# but your dog may start demanding to be fed, let out, or may get snappy or bitey when you want to take him for a walk and he doesn't want to go.  Some dogs will even start marking in their owners house because they are trying to tell the owner that its THEIR house, not your house.  
You need to hold your dog down on the floor with his head down, until he will relax and lay still.  He CANNOT be allowed to growl at you or attempt to bite you.  You need to stare him in the face until he will look away and you need to be firm about it.  If he tries to bite, you need to just let him bite you #you can wear gloves or some other kind of protection if you need to# until he realizes that the biting won't affect you.  If he thinks that growling or biting you will scare you off, then he will know that he has something over you and he will only get worse.

You also need to be firm in the way you move throughout the house.  Walk around with a calm yet assertive posture.  You KNOW that this is your house, act like it around your dog.  Walk with your head up and with meaning.  If your dog is in your way, walk through him #in other words, don't stop to let him move away, keep going and make him move when you want him to).  This makes him move out of YOUR way, not you waiting for him to move out of your way.  When you feed him, you need to make him sit and wait until the food is placed before you let him eat it.  Get a leash if you need to to make him wait.  This also goes for being let outside.  Don't let him rush the door or bolt outside.  Make him sit and wait for you to give him an "OK".  This may sound mean, but in dog language, it is telling the dog that you are his boss.  He understands why you are doing this.  You don't want to be mean about it, but you DO want to be FIRM.  He needs to understand that you aren't going to back down to him.  Otherwise he will see weakness and he will try to assert himself.  

You can also do the "Doggie Exam" with him to help him understand that you are dominate over him and to help build a better relationship with him.  It shows him that you are dominate over him  in a non-aggressive way because your head is over his and he is on his back in the submissive position.  It also builds Trust because he IS in a very submissive position and he has to trust that you won't let anything hurt him while he is with you.  It also is a good time to build a relationship with him because this is just some relaxing one-on-one time between him and you.  

Start with you sitting on the floor or couch with him laying in your lap on his back with his head towards your stomach.  At first, get him to lay still by rubbing his belly and talking to him (just don't let him up).  Next, you can start to examine his head.  Look in his ears, eyes, and in his mouth.  Praise and pet him if he will let you look at him.  Next you can look at his coat, skin and start to familiarize yourself with how his bones feel. (this is also good if anything ever were to happen to him, you would know if something didn't feel right)
Next, play with and mess with his feet and toes.  Go in-between his pads and toes with your fingers to check for mud or rocks, and gently put pressure on and click on his toenails to get him used to having his feet messed with. (really good for getting him used to having his nails clipped and/or shaved).  Finally, go over the rear end of his body.  Check the skin and coat for fleas or ticks, small cuts/bruises and for seeds, stems or leaves.
After he gets used to the Doggie Exam, you can do the exam part once a week and just pet him and get him to relax with you for the other days.  You can even drop it back to every other day once he is more comfortable with it.  Though I do have to say that with my boys, if I am sitting on the floor, they put themselves in my lap because they really enjoy the belly rubs and the time with me.

You should also look into Obedience classes for him.  Obedience training is another way for you to assert your dominance over your dog in a non-threatening way.  Your dog learns to take commands from you in a fun exercise rather than you being forceful towards him.  He also learns manners that will help him be a better member of your household.  I would start with a Private lesson so the instructor can work one-on-one with you and your dog until you get some exercises down, then I would move to a group class.  You might also want to put your dog into some other forms of Obedience such as Rally or Agility classes.  Your dog sounds like he is high energy and what better way of getting rid of some of that energy and possible boredom than by fun exercises.  

I hope this has helped you some.  Please feel free to ask me more if you need more information or have other questions.  

Thanks for using AllExperts.com,
Kim