my dog is jelouys if i pet any of are other dogs

Question
hi my service dog honney who is a 9 month old golden retriver and my service dog. she the other day when i was petting one of are older fixed females bit me and then today i was cleaning out my bird cage and she growled at me because i wasent paying attention to her. i know its jelousy im just not sure what to do.

Answer
Hi Michelle,  Dogs do not growl at you because they are jealous about you cleaning out a bird cage and not getting enough attention.  The situation with the other female was probably a dominance situation and the dog was trying to bite the other dog, not you.  She is getting to that age where she will want to start taking on the other dogs as leader of the pack (basically second to you) and so she will be more aggressive to them when you are around to try and establish that dominance, but I am very concerned about the growling incident when you were cleaning the cage.  Can you give me a detailed description of what happen leading up to it?  Did she raise her hair?  Had she growled at you before?  My concern is that she may actually be taking you on, not the other dogs, for leadership, and if so, you have a lot bigger problem.  I need more information about the interaction between the two of you as she is coming to a critical age of her life where she would naturally try to establish dominance over the other dogs, but I want to make sure it isn't bleeding over on to you.

Dawn