The theory that “growling is good” has gone viral and, like many concepts that go viral, it has been liked, shared, misinterpreted, exaggerated and distorted but, in spite of all that, there’s still a worthwhile message in there. We just need to dial it back into the realm of common sense.
“Wait, I don’t understand. How can growling be good?”
Oh, you haven’t heard about this yet? Ok, let’s start from the beginning.
What is the “Growling is Good” Theory?
There are variations on the “growling is good” theme but let’s break it into two basic groups:
- The Balanced Message
- The Positive Message
The Balanced Message
The balanced message is basically that “growling is good” in the sense that when a dog growls as a warning, or a threat, it is better than the dog biting without giving any warnings at all. Hopefully we can all agree with that and hopefully we can also agree that it does not mean we jump for joy saying, “Yay, my dog is growling!”
Clearly, a dog growling threateningly is not a good thing. It’s a behavior problem and something needs to be done about it. Perhaps a more accurate translation of “growling is good” would be “growling is less bad” but that doesn’t quite have the same pazazz, does it?
Accurate or not, the slogan that has gone viral is “growling is good” and you have to admit, it’s kind of catchy. It’s provocative, it’s reminiscent of the slogan “greed is good” from the 1987 film Wall Street. So, for all of those reasons, “growling is good” is what we’re going with.
The first point is that the growl is “good” because it gives us a warning that something needs to be done and buys us time to take action before a bite occurs…whatever that action might need to be. (see video: The Six Ways to Modify Behavior)
The second point is that the growl is not the problem, it is the symptom of a problem, and awareness of this should guide us towards a more holistic and balanced approach to understanding and rehabilitating dog aggression.
The balanced message suggests that, rather than simply punishing the dog for growling, which was the old school way of handling things, the more enlightened approach is to also look into why the dog is growling in the first place. Then we should take steps to remedy the root cause of the problem, rather than simply suppressing the symptoms of the problem.
Essentially, the hope is that we can use more holistic and nonaversive protocols in order to dramatically reduce punishments or possibly even bypass punishments completely. The most likely treatment plan, realistically, will be a balance of mild punishments that amount to what most of us would call corrections or interruptions or what I call “corrective interruptions” being used in concert with protocols such as management, redirection, desensitization, counterconditioning and extinction.
If all of the above resonates with you, you can probably just stop here and let common sense prevail. However, if you’re hungry for the whole enchilada, please keep reading.
The Positive Message
The positive message (the version promoted by “positive” or “force-free” dog trainers) takes the “growling is good” message to another level by proposing that, since growling is actually a good thing, we should never discourage a dog from doing it.
“That’s absurd! I don’t believe this could be true!”
Well, there may be doubts as to whether the message is true but there is zero doubt that it has a following of true believers. Here are some social media comment section quotes that I encountered recently as evidence of how “viral” this message has gone:
“Growling is a dog’s way of warning that he is not happy and to discourage it is to risk a seemingly unprovoked attack.”
“No savvy trainer would ever advise disciplining a dog for growling.”
“The growl is good, it is a warning that gives you all time to react and de-escalate.”
“Never ever train a dog to not growl as a warning.”
“Dogs who are trained not to growl and snap as a warning will go straight to biting!”
“Don’t correct the growl, it will make him unpredictable.”
Clearly, this narrative has succeeded in going “viral” because those comments are way too similar to be mere coincidence. I have also found eerily similar statements echoed all over the internet. It always comes across with the same condescending tone of certainty, which implies that the believers have a very strong faith that what they are saying is some sort of universal truth. It’s not, of course, but I’m guessing they didn’t get the “growling is less bad” memo.
Blind faith, it’s a thing, a very powerful thing, and I would never presume to change the minds of those who already drank the Kool Aid. However, for those readers who dare to drink from the cup of independent thinking, I offer the following question:
Is Growling Truly Good or Relatively Good?
There are many types of growling, which I wrote about in The Six Types of Growling way back in 2014, and some of those growls are truly good. However, in this article, we are talking about threat growling and aggressive growling. We are talking about growling that is part of an aggressive sequence or a precursor to biting. In other words, this is serious business.
Obviously, aggressive growling is not truly good, it is only relatively good. I’m pretty sure everyone would prefer that the dog was happy and friendly and not displaying any threatening behavior at all. But, relative to biting without warning, we can safely say that growling is “good.”
My very, very, very strong recommendation would be this: Whenever you hear the phrase “growling is good” simply replace it with the phrase “growling is less bad” and everything will make more sense. This simple yet profound interpretation will help shield you from erroneous beliefs like this one:
“A growl means ‘uh oh’, give him space and then gently get him to a safe space and give lots of praise for communicating well.”
As you can see, the “growing is good” theory has gone from growling is less bad than biting without growling, to growling is so good that we should never discourage the dog from doing it, to growling is so holy-moly-guacamole-super-stinking-good that we should actually praise the dog for doing it.
Hmm, is it just me or does it seem like this has gone a tad off the rails?
Here’s the problem with a catchy slogan, it can be taken way too literally. If we were to take the phrase “growling is good” literally, it would make perfect sense to reward the dog for displaying a “good” behavior. On the other hand, if we can accept that “growling is good” is nothing more than a provocative way of saying “growling is less bad” it becomes fairly obvious when a reasonable concept has taken the koo koo train to Crazy Town.
“Ok but what about all the warnings that corrections will cause my dog to go straight to biting without any warning or start attacking unpredictably?”
Oh yeah, there’s always that. The short answer is that just because something might happen, does not mean that it will happen. It doesn’t even mean it’s likely to happen and, in fact, it could be that it’s highly unlikely to happen. But, if it’s in the realm of possibility, it deserves a much longer answer, which I am currently working on in a separate article.
New Article Coming Soon: Will Correcting a Dog for Growling Lead to Biting Without Warning?
Chad Culp – Certified Dog Trainer, Canine Behavior Consultant, Owner of Thriving Canine.
© Thriving Canine 2025
We offer in-person training in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as virtual consults anywhere in the world.
Thriving Canine University private Facebook group. (please read the rules before joining)
Related Topics
Balanced Dog Training: Best of Both Worlds
https://www.thrivingcanine.com/blog/the-growling-is-good-theory-in-dog-training/
