How To Train A Dog To Growl On Command
3

How To Train A Dog To Growl On Command

This tutorial is part of The Ultimate List Of Dog Trick Ideas which contains 99 other tricks like this!

Teach your dog to growl on command.

  1. Growling is a sound that your dog will offer usually as a warning. You can however teach him to growl on command and you will be able to tell the difference between his play growl and serious communication.
  2. Show your dog a treat and wait for him to respond. He may perform a repertoire of the tricks he has learned so far but simply wait for him to offer a bark and concentrate on any tone of that bark that could become a growl. Reinforce and reward.
  3. Now shape the sound with reinforcement to become a growl, this will take practice and you will need finely tuned timing to catch exactly the right pitch that you need to reinforce.

Top tip; if your dog growls at random noises then you can utilize and reinforce this growling to learn the command.

Dog trainers love this trick because it’s unusual to see a dog growling at his handler in order to obtain a treat.

Jean Cote
 

Jean Cote is an animal lover and the founder of Success Dogs. For more than a decade, he has served as a coach to thousands of dog owners around the world to better train, communicate and forge a stronger bond with their dog using positive and force-free training methods.

  • Cyndi says:

    Hi i like your approach but my dog is too nice. She is about 2 and i never heard her growl before she barks if someone gets to close to the house at night. And i mean close, i live in a bad neighborhood. The problem is i have an annoying neighbor that she knows but i don’t like him and my attempts to scare him off didn’t last long. I want my dog to be able to jump to the door or window that he’s bothering me from and scare him with a mean growl on command. Please help i hope you can or at least direct me to someone who can.

  • jake says:

    I’m trying to teach my dog to growl on command and he wont growl people say its hard because hes a pitbull mix lab

  • Liza Manross says:

    What if my dog doesn’t growl. He is 7 months and I haven’t heard him growl yet. Any tricks to getting him to growl?

    Thanks,
    Liza

  • >