Teach Your Dogs to Paint: Best Ways to Build Artistic Skills in Your Dog

We love dedicating items to pay homage to our dogs and decorating our houses with articles that celebrate their lives. We often commission hand painting or even teach ourselves how to paint dogs. We do this to decorate our houses with artwork to commemorate the lives of our beloved dogs.

Now, you can decorate your house and celebrate your dog’s life by showcasing the art created by your dogs themselves. That’s right! One new sensation that’s going viral on social media applications is dogs attempting to paint beautiful pictures on canvases. These budding artists are getting love and support from worldwide viewers who praise and congratulate them for their exceptional talent.

You may have wondered how dog owners taught their dogs to paint like that, especially if you are one yourself. As a pet lover, you must be curious to know how to train your dog to paint on cue to have a great artist in the family!

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You are then in the right place! This article will be a detailed guide regarding teaching your pet dog to make beautiful art pieces. It will also cover the safety measures you must follow to ensure a safe and secure painting session for your dog.

Before Getting To The Painting Session

An art project with your dog is definitely going to be fun-filled and unforgettable. But, before you get right into it, you must only get non-toxic paints for them to paint with.

Paints are mostly made with chemicals that sometimes have toxins that can cause health issues in your dog. These issues can range from skin irritation to stomach issues if accidentally ingested. So, it is best to get your dog, safe paints that are pet and child-friendly to explore its creative freedom.

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You should also always have your eyes on your dog as he is freely painting to avoid any accidents. In case your dog accidentally ingests paint, even if it's non-toxic, take it to your vet immediately for a thorough examination to make sure the pup isn't in any danger.

What you are going to try to do is train your pet to paint. As you can imagine, the training process will be messy, with paint spilling everywhere. So, taking the painting session outside the house is best to avoid ruining your floors, carpets, or any home decor.

Train Your Dog To Paint or Draw With a Brush

The key to making your dog paint or draw on a canvas is to train them to hold a paintbrush or a marker using its mouth and then project it onto paper. If you can train your puppy to do this on cue, you have completed teaching it how to paint or draw. However, this is the main challenging part of the training session, and it can take a lot of trial and error to finally get your dog to hold the brush or marker.

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The supplies you will require to start your training session are:
1. Non-toxic paint colors or markers.
2. Paper towel or toilet paper tube to make a handle.
3. Paper or canvas for your dog to paint or draw on.

1. Create a Handle

The first step to training your dog to paint or draw is to create a handle for the paintbrush or marker to help the dog grip it better in its mouth. You can make the handle using PVC pipes or various wooden dowels. But, the easiest and cheapest way to make one is by using an empty toilet paper or paper towel tube.

Using a pencil, make a hole in one side of the cardboard tube where you must put the handle-end of the marker or the paintbrush with the brush-end sticking out. This creates a T-shape with the brush, making it a great handle for your dog to grip. This also makes it easier for you to switch between different color paint brushes or markers without making multiple handles.

2. Teach How To Hold

The next step to train your dog to paint or draw is to teach it to hold a paintbrush or marker on cue. The best way to train your dog to do this is to use a clicker or a verbal marker with the word 'good' coupled with its favorite treats whenever your puppy does it right.

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Step 1

Show your dog the marker or paint brush attached to its handle, holding it as close to them as possible. If your dog does as little as look at the item with surprise or sniffs it, give a treat to make your dog more curious.

Step 2

Your dog must be curious now, nosing the paintbrush constantly. Hold your treats and praises this time until the pup tries to pick up the brush. Give them a treat if it tries as little as holding the handle with its mouth.

Step 3

Now your dog knows you will give it treats when it puts the handle in its mouth. So this time, when your dog puts its mouth on the handle, you must keep giving the pup a verbal cue, '"grab", "take", "hold", or any other word of your choice that is synonymous with these. When your dog starts lifting the brush, give it a treat for encouragement.

Step 4

Now, it's time to teach your dog friend how to hold the paintbrush for a longer duration. To do so, wait a few seconds after the dog lifts the paintbrush to praise and give it treats. Each time, increase the duration before encouraging the dog with praises and treats.

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3. Teach How To Touch

The next phase of training involves teaching your dog to touch the paper or canvas on cue. You can use the following steps to teach your dog to touch the surface.

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Step 1

Show a piece of paper to your dog. When the pup sniffs the paper, shower it with praises and treats.

Step 2

Repeat this process several times and make sure the dog sniffs the paper for longer durations before praising and rewarding with treats.

Step 3

This will make your dog more confident and act as a reward when the pup pushes against the paper instead of simply sniffing it.

Step 4

You can now start using verbal cues like "touch", 'boop", "bump", etc., to teach your dog that it is supposed to touch the paper instead of simply sniffing. Reward the dog with its favorite treats when it touches the surfaces on cue.

4. Time To Draw

It is now time to make your dog paint or draw on paper now that they can hold the marker and touch the paper on cue.

Step 1

Show your dog the paintbrush or marker with the attached handle and ask them to hold it. If they do on cue, praise and treat them with their favorite pet food.

Step 2

Make the pup practice touching their nose and face against the paper or canvas now held by a clipboard. Praise and offer treats every time they touch the paper on cue.

Step 3

Next, ask your dog to hold the paintbrush or marker and direct it toward the paper. When the paintbrush or marker touches the paper, offer a treat and shower your dog with praises.

Step 4

Continue asking the dog to do the same, and every time your dog holds the brush against the paper for a longer duration, treat them with their favorite pet food. You can rotate the paper or try pointing to specific places on the paper to get the paint everywhere on it.

Step 5

When your dog has completed painting how you want them to, you have successfully trained your dog to be an artist.

Train Your Dog To Do Lick Painting

Another popular trend in tik tok and other social media apps is budding dog artists making their artworks using the technique of lick painting. Unlike training your dog to hold a brush and paint patterns on paper or canvas, this technique is not complicated and is a fun and safe art project you can get into with your dog.

This trend became so popular because of the ease at which you can make your dog do lick painting. You also only need a few supplies to teach your dog how to lick paint; it just requires half the effort you put into teaching them how to paint with a brush.

The supplies that you require to start your lick-painting session with your dog are:
1. 3 to 4 acrylic paints of your favorite colors
2. Masking Tape (optional)
3. Small Canvas
4. Gallon Ziploc Bags
5. Peanut Butter

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Steps To Follow

Step 1

You can first prep the chosen canvas by taping its sides to provide the final painting with a nice finished look. However, this step is entirely optional; you can ignore it if you feel it is unnecessary.

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Step 2

Next, squeeze some paint of different colors onto different areas of the canvas to make it easier for your dog to lick and spread the colors to mix them well.

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Step 3

Spread some natural peanut butter onto the gallon Ziploc Bag. Please ensure the peanut butter is your dog's favorite brand so they will lick all over it passionately.

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Step 4

Carefully place the canvas inside the Ziploc bag with peanut butter spread on top, and seal it well.

Step 5

Place the bag on the floor carefully and let your dog lick off all the peanut butter. Keep an eye on your dog, and make sure they don't bite the bag off and start licking the paint accidentally.

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Step 6

When your pup licked clean all the peanut butter off the bag, remove it from the canvas carefully, It is recommended to cut open the bag so you get the "brush strokes" intact.

Step 7

Leave the canvas for a few hours or overnight to let it dry. Once you are sure it has dried, remove the tape if you used one, and admire your dog's art piece.

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Conclusion

Dogs have always been favorite subjects of art to depict devotional relationships. Many great artists of all time have also dedicated their paintings to their pet friends throughout history, and some of them have even become famous paintings.

All of us pet owners love taking pictures of our beloved pups and converting them into paintings to capture and immortalize our cute moments with them. With now there being different applications that can convert photos into bitmojis and even paintings of different artistic styles, paying homage to your dogs has become very easy.

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Now, you can also pay homage to your dogs by decorating your house with paintings that they themselves did. You can be a proud pet parent of an artist pet that you taught how to paint! You can follow the steps mentioned in this article to train your pet dog to paint and draw and let it appreciate its own work of art. Help your cute dog feel proud of how he has become an artist, and let him dream of becoming a great artist one day.