How to Tame Animals in Minecraft

Written by Jack Lloyd

Last Updated: October 31, 2021 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to tame every animal that can be domesticated in Minecraft. Animals which can be domesticated include horses, donkeys, mules, ocelots, wolves, and parrots, all of which can be tamed on any version of Minecraft including PC, Pocket Edition, and consoles.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Taming Horses, Donkeys, and Mules

1
Find optional resources. While you don't need either of the following items to tame a horse, donkey, or mule, they will help:
- Saddle - A saddle allows you to control a horse after you tame it; you can ride—but not control—unsaddled tamed horses. Saddles may spawn in village blacksmith chests or chests in dungeons.
  - You cannot craft a saddle.
- Apples - Having around 20 apples on hand will allow you to feed the horse before attempting to tame it, which will significantly improve your chances of taming the horse in one or two tries.
  - Golden Apples will expedite this process further.
- Horse armor - Horse armor can help protect your horse from melee or ranged attacks from a player or a hostile mob.
  - Horse armor can't protect horses from fall damage or lava/fire damage.
  - Like the saddle, horse armor can't be crafted; you can find it in dungeon, sand temple, jungle temple, and stronghold chests.
2
Find a horse, donkey, or mule. These animals are most often found in the Plains and Savanna biomes, though you may find horses in NPC villages as well.

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3
Approach the animal with nothing in your hand. Horses, donkeys, and mules are nonviolent, but you'll need your hand to be empty in order to attempt to mount them.
- If you want to feed the animal, equip the apple instead.
4
Select the animal. Right-click the animal (PC), use the left trigger (consoles), press the "Mount" button when you get close to the animal in PE. You will automatically mount the animal.
- If you want to feed the animal, select it with the apple until the animal refuses to eat anymore, then select the animal with your empty hand.
5
Wait until the animal bucks you off. The horse, donkey, or mule will support you for anywhere from a second to several seconds before kicking you off and beginning to walk away.
6
Continue selecting the animal until you see red hearts appear. Once the animal finally stops trying to buck you off, you should see red hearts appear around it; this signifies that the horse, donkey, or mule has been tamed.
7
Saddle the tamed horse, donkey, or mule. If you want to saddle the tamed animal, mount it, press E, and then move the saddle into the "Saddle" spot in the animal's inventory.
- On Minecraft PE, mount the animal, tap ⋯, tap the saddle, and tap the animal's "Saddle" icon.
- On console editions of Minecraft, mount the animal, tap Y or triangle, select the saddle, and then select the "Saddle" icon in the upper-left corner.

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Taming Cats and Ocelots

1
Gather raw fish. You'll need several raw (not cooked) fish in order to tame an ocelot or cat:
- Make a fishing rod.
- Find a body of water.
- Equip the fishing rod.
- Select the body of water.
- Repeat until you have at least 10 fish.
2
Find an ocelot or cat. You can most often find ocelots in Jungle biomes, though their spawn behavior dictates that they'll be found near sea level (or higher) grass blocks. Cats often spawn in villages, though you may be able to find them near witches.^{[1]
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- Ocelots can be elusive if you spook them, so you may have to search for quite a while before you find one.
3
Avoid rushing up to the ocelot or cat. You may approach the feline carefully while it faces away from you, but the second it turns to face you, you must stop.
- A good rule of thumb is to keep around 10 blocks of space between you and the ocelot.
4
Equip the raw fish. The raw fish should be in your hand before you proceed.
5
Let the ocelot or cat come to you. A few seconds after you equip the fish, it should begin to approach you.
- It's very important that you don't move at this point.
6
Repeatedly select the ocelot until it turns into a cat (if you have used these instructions on an ocelot). Once the ocelot is in range, right-click (PC), left-trigger (consoles), or tap-and-hold the ocelot until it changes into a cat. At this point, the ocelot has been tamed.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Taming Wolves

1
Kill a Skeleton to get a bone. Skeletons be found anywhere with a low-light level, such as in caves or at night.
- Be careful when doing this; Skeletons can easily kill you if you aren't properly equipped with a sword.
- You may need to kill multiple skeletons before one will drop a bone.
2
Find a wolf. Wolves are most often found in any Taiga variant, as well as in forest biomes on Java and Legacy Console editions of Minecraft.
3
Equip the bone. Make sure that the bone is in your hand before proceeding.
4
Approach the wolf. Walk up to the wolf with the bone equipped.
- Wolves aren't naturally hostile, though they will attack you if you first attack them.
5
Select the wolf until a collar appears around its neck. Right-click, left-trigger, or tap-and-hold the wolf until the collar appears. You should only have to do this a few times.^{[2]
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- If you accidentally hit the wolf in the process, that wolf will attack you and cannot be tamed afterwards.
- The wolf will also cock its head to the side and sit down once you've tamed it.
- Tamed wolves will not despawn.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Taming Parrots

1
Gather at least five seeds. You can gather seeds by breaking grass tufts, though you'll most likely need to break several grass tufts in order to get one set of seeds. Once you have around five seeds, you can proceed.
- On the console editions of Minecraft, seeds are called "wheat seeds".
2
Find a parrot. Fittingly, you'll find parrots in Jungle biomes. They're small, multicolored, and often fly short distances.^{[3]
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3
Equip the seeds. Make sure that the seeds are in your hand before proceeding.
4
Approach the parrot. If the parrot flies away before you reach it, simply chase it—parrots can't fly very far, and they aren't fast.
5
Select the parrot until hearts appear around it. Using the seeds, right-click, left-trigger, or tap-and-hold the parrot until the red hearts appear around it. This signifies that you've successfully tamed the parrot.
6
Place the parrot on your shoulder. Walking "through" the parrot will cause it to hop up onto your shoulder, where it will remain until you sleep in a bed or mount a horse (or similar).

Community Q&A

Question

Can a wolf kill mobs or animals or villagers?

Community Answer

Wolves (tame & wild) kill sheep and skeletons automatically when they're around. Any other mob needs to first be hit by the player for the wolf to attack, or the mob (if hostile) needs to hit the player.
Question

Where can I get a horse?

Community Answer

Horses naturally spawn in plains and savannah biomes. You can search these biomes for horses, but note that horses can be difficult to find on some maps.
Question

How do I breed a horse?

Community Answer

Find two adult horses and feed each of them a golden apple or golden carrot. Leave them alone for a while and when you come back, enjoy your foal.