How to Train Your Dog to Stop Growling

How to Train Your Dog to Stop Growling
Hard difficulty iconHard
Time icon4-12 Weeks
Behavior training category iconBehavior

Introduction

You love your dog to pieces, but are considering putting him up for rehoming. Unfortunately, the dog recently growled when you tried to remove his food bowl. You have children, and it's just not acceptable to have an unreliable dog in the house. 

A friend advised you to make a point of removing the food bowl and to smack the dog if he growls. The friend said something about teaching the dog who's boss, but in all honesty, you're too scared of the dog to try this. What if it backfired?  You could get badly bitten.  Common sense tells you that it's best to respect the message the dog is sending out, rather than challenge him. 

Happily, you spoke to a knowledgeable trainer who uses reward-based training methods. They were horrified by the idea of removing the dog's bowl as a sort of test. Instead, they explained the complexity of why dogs growl and what to do about it, so that the flashpoint of food can be avoided and the dog can continue to live with you. 

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Defining Tasks

Superficially, training a dog to stop growling is easy. But methods involving a punishment each time the dog growls are definitely NOT the way to go. Inhibiting the growling creates a more serious problem--a dog that bites without warning. 

Instead, it's essential to analyze why the dog is growling (is he in pain, stressed, possessive, or territorial?) and then correct the underlying problem. In the short term, how you react to the growling makes a big difference, so it's important to know what to do (and not to do) when faced with a growling dog. 

This is unlikely to be a quick fix, so be prepared to put time and effort into consistently retraining the dog, improving his co-operation, and helping him overcome deep-seated anxieties. 

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Getting Started

Teaching a dog to stop growling isn't so much to do with special equipment, but represents a mental challenge. You need to think through why the dog is distressed (growling is, after all, a sign of inner conflict or tension) and diffuse the situation. 

Helpful items to have include: 

  • A longline
  • Treats
  • An understanding of why dogs growl. 
  • Patience
  • The help of an expert

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The First Aid Method

Most Recommended

6 Votes

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Most Recommended

6 Votes

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1

Have a plan prepared

A growling dog is a short step away from biting. If your dog growls at you, then it's important to know what to do next, so that accidents don't trigger an attack.

2

Stop what you're doing

Stop in your tracks. Avoid making direct eye contact with the dog. Wait until he relaxes slightly, then slowly back away (so that you are rewarding his relaxed behavior.)

3

Think about triggers

Now analyze what happened and what you were doing that made the dog growl. For example, where you about to remove his food bowl, move him from the couch, or put his lead on? This can give you valuable clues about the motivation for his behavior.

4

Accomplish the task in another way

Rather than confront the dog, try to accomplish a task that can't be postponed by doing it differently. For example, if you need the dog to get off the sofa, try tossing a tasty treat on the floor so that he has to jump down to get it.

5

Minimize threats and stress

If the sofa is a flashpoint, then think ahead about how to avoid a confrontation. Perhaps don't allow the dog in that room, or have him wear a longline in the house so that you can remove him from a distance.

6

Call in the experts

Consult with a registered animal psychologist and behaviorist. They will watch your dog's behavior and put a plan in place to retrain the dog and remove triggers.

The Understand Why Method

Effective

5 Votes

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Effective

5 Votes

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1

Understand the idea

A growling dog, in his own way, is communicating something to you. Simply preventing a dog from making a physical growling noise does not address the underlying emotion that is driving the growl. The ideal scenario is to work out the cause of the dog's ruffled emotions and work on reversing his distress. Once the dog feels comfortable with the situation, his need to growl evaporates.

2

Determine the cause: resources

A dog's resources such as his food, toys, or bed are precious to him. If he feels these are under threat, he may become protective. As a first-aid measure, avoid flashpoints by never trying to forcibly remove his toys or food. In a multi-dog household, make sure each dog has their own resources so these are not threatened by the others. In the longer term, work on obedience training with commands such as 'give', and retraining the dog to tolerate people near his food bowl.

3

Determine the cause: pain

Problems such as toothache, earache, or arthritis are painful. A dog may growl to warn a person off from approaching as he fears they will touch the painful area. If your dog is usually placid but starts to become short-tempered then ask yourself if he could be in pain. If you suspect the answer is yes, then get a vet checkup.

4

Determine the cause: fear

A fearful dog has limited ways of protecting himself. One option is to flee but if he is prevented from running, such as when on the leash, then instinct tells him to protect himself. Do your best to avoid situations stressful to the dog, while he undergoes behavioral retraining. A slow, low-key exposure to the feared situation, where you reward his calm behavior, is a good way ahead. Be prepared to seek the help of a qualified behaviorist to do this.

5

Determine the cause: territorial

The dog that growls at visitors may be afraid of them or he may be defending his territory. The same can happen when the dog is defending a favorite sleeping spot on the couch. This is potentially dangerous behavior so don't challenge the dog. If necessary, seek the help of a behaviorist.

The What NOT to Do Method

Least Recommended

8 Votes

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Least Recommended

8 Votes

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1

Never punish a dog for growling

This sounds counterintuitive, after all the dog is doing a bad thing (growling) and should, therefore, be corrected. However, this is a dangerous route to take. Punishing a dog may inhibit the dog from growling because he is fearful of you, but it won't soothe his feelings of frustration. You now have an agitated dog who has learned not to growl, in effect removing an early warning sign that you are in danger. This is exactly how dogs get a reputation for biting without warning and should be avoided.

2

Don't ignore the dog's warning

A growling dog is warning you he is outside his comfort zone. If pushed further, his next line of defense is to bite. Do not ignore the warning growl and continue to approach or force the dog to do something against his will. Instead, try to diffuse the situation by backing away, avoiding eye contact, and making appeasement signals such as yawning.

3

Never leave children unsupervised with a dog

Children are poor at reading dog body language and often fail to respect warning signs such as growling. Many times, an anxious dog will feel threatened by the erratic movements of a child. If the dog growls and the child keep approaching, the dog is liable to feeling increasingly anxious, with the end result being a defensive bite. Adult supervision is essential in order to protect the child from the dog and vice versa.

4

Never force a growling dog to face his fears

If a dog is growling because he is afraid, never force him to face those fears. This is known as 'flooding' and can do great psychological harm to the dog.

5

Never confront a growling dog

Never try to intimidate a growling dog into backing down. This will end badly in one of two ways. Either the dog will feel forced to attack and bite, or the dog may back down but be even more conflicted internally and make him unpredictable.

Written by Pippa Elliott

Veterinary reviewed by:

Published: 11/17/2017, edited: 01/08/2021

Training Questions

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Training Questions and Answers

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Bailey

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G/S cross

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2 1/2

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Question

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I think its mostly men /boys but it doesn't happen hardly at all when we are out but at home he gas decided to growl at my children's friends. Plus the occasional man . But in general he is placid happy friendly loves kids plays football with them and has always been brought up around them on school runs and well socialised

May 4, 2023

Bailey's Owner

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Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer

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1128 Dog owners recommended

Hello, I recommend hiring a professional trainer who has a lot of experience with aggression, including resource guarding and fear aggression to evaluate him in person in your home around others carefully, with safety measures like a back tie leash. There might be resource guarding present if it's only happening in the home. It could also be a defensive aggression if he feels cornered inside or less able to escape too much commotion going on. It could be that he is territorial and views your home as his own and is trying to make rules for the home and who can do what inside the home, and the boys are the ones who "break" his rules and due to a lack of respect for them, he thinks its his job to correct them for breaking his rules. This is a sort of control. Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

May 5, 2023

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Nsla

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Cane Corso

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Four Years

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So I have adopted this beautiful female but she was attacked by another dog and now is so aggressive towards other dogs she even growls at dogs on the TV...how can I help her

March 2, 2023

Nsla's Owner

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Caitlin Crittenden - Dog Trainer

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1128 Dog owners recommended

Hello, I recommend hiring a professional trainer who specializes in behavior issues like aggression and has access to lots of other well mannered, dog friendly dogs. I would work with a qualified trainer, with safety measures like a basket muzzle, to gradually desensitize pup to other dogs, using obedience command practice to help pup stay less aroused and in the thinking part of their brain and out of fight or flight. I would begin training at a distance where pup can tolerate other dogs at, rewarding pup's obedience during obedience command practice, having the other dogs just be in the background. As pup improves and becomes calmer and unconcerned about the other dog being in the area, then I would very gradually decrease the distance, practice with the dog moving about more or making more noise in the distance, rewarding pup's continued focus on you and calmness around the other dog. This process would be done over lots of different training sessions, where distance is decreased as pup's body language shows that they are ready. Once the dogs are within a few feet of each other and pup is unconcerned, you could practice having them walk past each other, then eventually go on a walk with each other with the safety of distance and/or a basket muzzle for safety. When pup is okay with one dog, then you would start at the beginning with a new dog, until you had worked up to the walk again with that dog. Once pup was fine with the first two dogs, then you would continue this process with at least a dozen different dogs, until pup is generalizing the training to all dogs, and more relaxed around dogs in general. When working with a reactive or aggressive dog, be aware that a basket muzzle is sometimes needed too, even if the other dog is further away, because an aroused dog will sometimes direct their aggression toward whoever is closest, such as you - the one walking them. Training with an aggressive or reactive dog needs to be done carefully, and ideally under the supervision of someone experienced with handling an aggressive or reactive dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XzwUmSHyIc&list=PLXtcKXk-QWojGYcl1NCg5UA5geEnmpx4a&index=39 Best of luck training, Caitlin Crittenden

March 6, 2023


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