Recently I had a very long argument with another person about if you should punish a dog for growling at a human for doing something to them. They said if a dog growls at a human, then they are aggressive and therefor need further training to correct that action.
Now here is the deal. Dogs do not speak. They communicate by growling, barking and by body language. A dogs growl is a pre-warning sign to back off, as you are making them uncomfortable. Growls are not bad, growling does not make a dog aggressive. Even during play dogs growl, but this is just to say they are having fun pulling on the rope or when they rough house with other dogs.
Would you tell a child to be ok with everyone wanting to touch them, pick them up, take away their toys, take away their food, etc? Telling a child to not to voice their discomfort would be wrong. It's the same thing with a dog. Why can't a dog voice it's discomfort? Why punish a dogs voice of discomfort when it is their way of saying "hey, back off, you're frightening me/making me uncomfortable"
NOT growling leads to biting. Growling is an early warning system that they are uncomfortable. Take away the warning and you get a dog who skips the warning and just bites because no one ever respected the warning anyway. Never punish a growl. If the dog growls you find the cause and fix the problem, then the growl goes away.
Dogs should get a choice. I don't even pet them unless they want to be pet. If they walk away, they have every right. There are rules and structures, things they're not allowed to do, but consent is important in animals as much as it's important in humans
