My friend has a puppy that is 4 months old. She’s from a reputable breeder and was raised in a home environment with a great deal of care.
Ever since friend got the puppy, she has gotten growly when she gets tired. It typically happens if she’s touched when falling asleep or if she’s in the pre-sleep frantic state that puppies get into and she has to be restrained.
Any ideas? In general she is not a pushy puppy - will roll over and expose her belly and isn’t overly dominant with other dogs.
Obviously I understand “let sleeping dogs lie,” but I just wouldn’t want there to be an incident where she snaps when jostled while sleeping. I don’t know if the answer is to teach her to go to a crate to sleep, but she lives with another dog who has dog beds everywhere.
Sounds like puppy is getting cranky when overly tired. The witching hour. Safely confine the pup in a quiet place when -ideally before- she gets to that point and let her rest.
Puppies need just as much rest as activity. I think we forget that in today’s culture of promoting enrichment, exercise, socialization. Go, go, go. They need rest, too.
Is it growly, or moany-groany?
Our pup gets pretty vocal when she’s tired and honestly we just ignore it. If we’re moving her, we just continue despite her moany-groany protest. She’ll even do it when she gets up to reposition. We laugh and call her a little whiner and move on.
And yes, I agree with @Bicoastal. It’s called the witching hour for a reason, lol.
In general she’s vocal, but it’s definitely a growl
I’d leave it be, so long as it isn’t coupled with anything else. That’s me, personally. Young dogs are weirdos.
That’s good to hear! They are weirdos. I took her on a ride yesterday and she was falling asleep with all kinds of moaning and groaning. 
I am not sure what is so dramatic about her puppy life.
Crate for naptimes for sure. Never want to discourage or punish a growl, that’s how you get dogs that bite without warning.
One of my dogs growls when he is not content with something. Like if he’s tired, and asking him to move. It was quite concerning to me as a puppy, and I approached it in different ways, including being quite stern with him. If I raised my voice or otherwise tried any come-to-jesus response, he would act very apologetic and submissive, but he would still make the grumbling growl.
I finally decided I just don’t think it means anything; just the out loud version of my other dogs being equally discontent but silent. (I used to compare him to Kreacher in Harry Potter, muttering under his breath - if you’ve read the books. I don’t think he realizes we can hear him!)
He’s going on 8 and still does it. I just think he’s more vocal than the other ones.
If the behavior escalates, I would change my opinion on it - e.g. snapping or baring teeth - but if it’s just noise I think it may just be personality.
If it is only when she is trying to go to sleep then I wouldn’t bother her then. She is tired, she is cranky and does not want to be bothered. At her age I wouldn’t worry as long as it doesn’t happen when she is awake or being handled.
My new puppy growled when I suddenly disturbed his sleep. Was OK right after when he realized it was just me.
lol i growl too if I’m sleeping and someone bothers me. Puppies are still babies, and they need to be managed as babies. Someone else posted about rest and crating her for naptime before she reaches maximum saturation of play or whatever she is doing. Dog babies need their naptime and rest just as human babies. As others have said, as long as it’s just a bit of grumbling when disturbed and not accompanied by anything else (like snapping) I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
The Monks of New Skete have a great timeline set up in their book on crate training and creating a solid schedule for your pup.
wake up
pee/poo
eat / drink
play / engage
water
pee
nap in crate
wake up and repeat.
may be helpful to schedule this pup’s activities to help her get a routine.
