# Teach "snarl?"



## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

A friend of mine in high school had taught his sweet-as-sugar golden retriever to snarl on command. It was awesome! I also saw it mentioned on another board today. I'd like to teach it to Renji but without associating aggressive tendencies, obviously. I'd be happy with just lip-lifting that shows off his teeth.

How does one go about teaching this? I'm pondering how to teach this myself but right now I can't think where to start.


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## Catu (Sep 6, 2007)

I taught it to my always friendly Border Collie by playfully squeezing the nose and the clicker.


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## xwildman138x (Jan 11, 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeQ4okHQhYA&feature=related 

this cracked me up


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Some dogs naturally offer the smile - I've seen it in a lot of Aussies and border collies, and even a few goldens. Never seen it quite so natural in a GSD, though, so it may be more difficult. If a dog has the natural behavior and you can catch it and reward it, that's a lot easier than trying to figure out how to get the behavior to happen.

I was working on something like this with Tazer, though. When I tell her "easy" and start to hand her a treat, she pulls her lips back from her teeth before taking the treat. I was marking that behavior but because the behavior is wrapped up with her already thinking that she's getting the treat, it's not coming together as I had hoped. 

She also pulls her lips back when I puff air in her face, so I may try that instead.

Let us know if you figure out how to get Renji to do it! *L*

Melanie and the gang in Alaska


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## AbbyK9 (Oct 11, 2005)

> Quote:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeQ4okHQhYA&feature=related
> 
> this cracked me up










That just had me laughing out loud!


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## DancingCavy (Feb 19, 2001)

Hmmm. . .I wonder what board you found that on.









None of us could figure out how to do it. I know Ris will bare her teeth at other dogs (especially if there's an object of contention around) but I would never want to click her for that. I tried tickling her whiskers to get her to raise her lip but it failed. It was either coupled with another behavior (or two) so that I couldn't distinguish it out. Or she got so used to me doing it she stopped moving at all. I also tried just lifting her lip with my fingers and clicking her for that. But I think all I did there was make her less concerned about me playing around with her mouth.









I guess it's just as well. As much as I think it would be cool to teach her such a difficult behavior, with her reactivity, we get enough dirty looks as it is. I'd hate to have her doing this randomly while we're out. Though I may be good enough to realize there's no malice behind it, I know most others are not so good at reading dogs.


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## elly1210 (Jan 4, 2009)

Interesting, I never taught the snarl but I did the smile, because our GSD mix would do the curl of the lip when he saw someone he really loved. As he got older he didn't do it as much but we would aways say Brandy smile and he would.


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## sleachy (Aug 10, 2001)

I can get my dog to lift her lips when I point the vacuum nozzle at her without even turning it on!


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## sleachy (Aug 10, 2001)

OMG...I just watched the video posted above! Too funny!


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## IliamnasQuest (Aug 24, 2005)

Vaccuum cleaner, hadn't thought about that .. *L*

Jamie, I understand your concerns about what the public might think ... I have taught Khana to growl on command and afterwards I thought "is that really a smart thing to do?". To HER it's not a growl, though. It's her "speak" - she does a low GRRRR, because that's what I chose to reward. Chows have an amazing range of sounds that they make. It's hard to explain, but they communicate with more grunts, groans, grumbles and squeaks than any dog I've ever heard. But they're not noisy dogs overall - they just have interesting noises. So when I started "speak" with Khana, I chose the low GRRRR as the sound I would reward. Now she'll look at me with that sweet kind face and go GRRRR in a low voice, and it's a communication with me that has nothing to do with a true growl. But OTHERS would probably think she was growling.

Melanie and the gang


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## JoelSilverman (Oct 16, 2008)

There are actually 2 ways to train it.

The first way is "capturing" the dog doing that smiling action that we see from time to time, or raising their lip. Like in that video. There was a Golden Retriever that I saw trained for movies and commercials that actually made that same smiling action when he smelled Binaca. I know is sounds funny. But the trainers put that on cue.

The other way is to actually build up an aggressive action. This is something that we will train for movies and commercials. But trainers that specialize in aggression (something that I do not do) can be very good at this. Many times a snarl can be built up from the dog just lifting the lip, then showing more teeth.... and so on. The reason that I mention people trainers specializing in aggression is because if you do not know what you are doing, you can develop a major aggression problem.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

That was a great video! I have to admit, the dog reminded me of a tapir.









I can't train it using aggression, I know that much. I don't want to encourage my goofball. There are some good suggestions here, I'll just have to see what I can come up with.


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## JoelSilverman (Oct 16, 2008)

That is a good move! I just was letting you know that way that some people do it. One other way that I did it too, was with a dog that was a little sensitive around his whiskers. If I just touched them lightly he just lifted his lip a bit. And I just rewarded him for that. Eventually I got a little more selective and started asking for more, until he raised it more. That is another way if you have the time, and a dog that is a little sensitive in that area.


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## DianaM (Jan 5, 2006)

I think we'll have success here!

I had Renji hold very still, then I moved my hand toward his muzzle from the top slowly, then touched his whiskers on one side, and his lip curled up a tad- CLICK treat! I repeated this many times over and sometimes I would get teeeeeeny minute lip curls before my hand would even touch his whiskers. We may be on to something here. I haven't yet picked a command, but we're keeping it very calm and happy. I don't want him to think that he should have ANY ill feelings related to this.

If I just have one lip, then I guess the command will be "Show me an Elvis!"


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## I_LOVE_MY_MIKKO (Oct 4, 2006)

ohhh i will have to try this! everyone i've ever asked said do you really want to teach him that behavior, etc. honestly, no i don't want him to be aggressive, but at the same time, it's a trick, and i don't think in his mind it will be deemed as aggressive.


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## DancingCavy (Feb 19, 2001)

I don't think it's so much an issue of the dog thinking it's aggression. I'm fairly certain the dog would see it as just a trick and nothing more. My concern with teaching it is public perception. The average Joe is terrible at reading dogs and if they see flashing teeth they automatically think 'bad dog.' No matter what the body language of that dog says.


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## StephenV (Jan 16, 2006)

I just goofed around trying for this. I'd say "teeth" and flex my fingers at my dog like a claw while holding a treat. During the standard clowning around trying to earn the treat she made a crisp little bite in the air and I caved and treated her on the spot and it stuck. Because it was a normal mannerism for her it made it easy to isolate. Probably like a mild form of "speak" which she already knows - which btw is a trick I have found almost *too* easy to get a dog to do. And yes that flash of teeth does look a little scary to see. I assume I am teasing up behavior that initially comes out of frustration. But once the dog understands this is the desired reaction, it's just a quick ticket to a yummy treat. Some dogs are real talkers and make all kinds of funny grimaces, I imagine these would be glad to comply. But I have found no easy buttons to push for a snarl yet with this particularly sweet canine of mine.


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## Chicagocanine (Aug 7, 2008)

I have the same problem as Melanie... My dog will lift her lip to take a chew stick if I offer her one. However I think if I tried to use a clicker to teach this it wouldn't work well because she already would be expecting the treat since I would be holding it out to her before I clicked!


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