Teaching A Dog To Speak

[Riles]

How would you teach a dog to speak who never barks I've had a few suggestions but would love to hear what the trainers on here think too.

Riles

[KitKat]

Put her in a situtaion where she gets fustrated...and click/treat for every vocalisation she makes...eventually she will get louder and louder Then you have to be able to switch her off ;)

I taught Bronx by putting him on once side of a fence and me on the other...and then i acted the twit on my side of the fence - didn't take too long and Bronx was acting the pork chop to be with me and now will bark on command :p

Sabe my pup who loves the sound of his own voice hasn't picked that up as easily...he barks and makes noise...just not when asked

[Riles]

:rolleyes:

Thanks Kitkat was along the lines of what I'd been told but I'm yet to work out what frustrates Rosie *sigh*

[squeak]

I'll add what worked with our girl, who I think I had heard bark a grand total of twice (in 3 months) before I taught her to "speak". I will add that she is a very, very laid-back dog and what worked with her I probably would not consider using with a more "dominant" dog.

Stormy has a naturally very loud yawn. She also yawns loudly when she gets frustrated with clicker training or cannot work out what you want her to do. So, by combining these two, we managed to get her to make a yawn noise - not what I wanted for speak, but somewhere to start, so rewarded the loud yawns. From there, I realised that when she yawns, she also sits and stares at you, so I stared back, and got the response of her opening her mouth, but no sound coming out - she made the effort, so was rewarded. We worked on this for over a couple of weeks, and one day, I got the tiniest "woof" you have ever heard - it was a true bark. I don't know who was more surprised, me or Stormy. It is still a work in progress, but now I am getting a very, very clear bark, a lot of the times I ask for it. Still required a lot of encouragement, but we are getting there.

The other thing that I made sure to do, was to teach the "quiet" command at the same time I was teaching speak. Yes, speak will get you rewarded for obeying, but quiet gets a bigger reward. I think I actually started teaching "quiet" first, since I wasn't getting any sound :rolleyes: So, when I was teaching, and getting sound it was "speak", (barked in response) - "yes, good speak", then "quiet" and then a food reward was given.

I don't know if any of this makes sense, or helps, but I figured no harm in putting it out there. As I said, I might be hesitate to use the staring with a dog I didn't know was a laidback as Stormy.

[MrsD]

Riles I presume this is related to Rosie's herding as you posted in the other thread?

Does she know the "walk up/walk in" command? If not I'd be teaching her that & how to get sheep out of a corner rather than teaching her how to bark, but that's just me - maybe you want her to bark on command for other situations as well :rolleyes: .

[Riles]

Thanks Squeak, Rosie sounds quiet similar to Storm, I'll start tonight and let you all know how I go She is just such a quiet girl and the only time you hear noise is when she is asleep and she groans ;) ;)

Does she know the "walk up/walk in" command? If not I'd be teaching her that & how to get sheep out of a corner rather than teaching her how to bark, but that's just me - maybe you want her to bark on command for other situations as well

She does, would you believe at the trial she had her head resting on the back of the sheep trying to push them up and they just stuck her up because she is such a soft worker ie. hard sheep don't take her serious.

I got THE phone call last night!!!! Come on Mrs D, you should know what THE phone call would be.............

took your advice and have been lucky enough to get into one of God's clinics at the end of October ;)

:D :p

[MrsD]

Ahhhhhh Riles you will have an absolute ball, I worship the ground he walks on, how sad am I? If you listen & do your homework, your dog & you will go ahead in leaps & bounds like we did - he's a great teacher :D & you'll learn heaps.

You'll see him before I do - we have another clinic with Colin up here at the beginning of December, it will be our third clinic with him, each one has built on the previous one & I can't wait .

[Riles]

Ahhhhhh Riles you will have an absolute ball, I worship the ground he walks on, how sad am I? ;) If you listen & do your homework, your dog & you will go ahead in leaps & bounds like we did - he's a great teacher & you'll learn heaps.

Yeh I can't wait!!!! We have so much to learn and I'm really looking forward to it.

You'll see him before I do - we have another clinic with Colin up here at the beginning of December, it will be our third clinic with him, each one has built on the previous one & I can't wait .

I'll be sure to tell him Mrs D is waiting with baited breath when I see him

[MrsD]

Ahhhhhh Riles you will have an absolute ball, I worship the ground he walks on, how sad am I? If you listen & do your homework, your dog & you will go ahead in leaps & bounds like we did - he's a great teacher & you'll learn heaps.

Yeh I can't wait!!!! We have so much to learn and I'm really looking forward to it.

You'll see him before I do - we have another clinic with Colin up here at the beginning of December, it will be our third clinic with him, each one has built on the previous one & I can't wait ;) .

I'll be sure to tell him Mrs D is waiting with baited breath when I see him

he doesnt know me as MrsD, only as Robyn, just mention Jarrah the Superstar, Im just the hanger on groupie ;) . He knows us very well :D .

I am actually part of a Yahoo group that has recently started of people who train using his method so I can talk to God whenever I want .

I've got our first trial this weekend & I am so desperate to do well so I can tell him about it . I have entered both Started A & B Course - of course the fact that I've never even so much as walked a B Course let alone penned sheep in the middle of a paddock didnt put me off, they say stupid is as stupid does, don't they? ;) .

Edited to add the bit about the pen.

Edited September 4, 2007 by MrsD

[Riles]

Good luck chooka, I'm sure you'll go great guns Make sure you post up how you go, we should start a "herding" thread for all things herding :p

[MrsD]

Good luck chooka, I'm sure you'll go great guns Make sure you post up how you go, we should start a "herding" thread for all things herding

:D <--------- how I feel about this weekend

A herding thread would be great, I think someone tried to start one once before but no-one posted in it - or when they did it got ignored, a bit of the "my type of herding is better than yours" syndrome I think :p .

But hey, we could just talk to each other, who cares if no one else listens or contributes ;) .

[Riles]

:D <--------- how I feel about this weekend ;)

Ahhh fooeeyyy........ You'll be great

A herding thread would be great, I think someone tried to start one once before but no-one posted in it - or when they did it got ignored, a bit of the "my type of herding is better than yours" syndrome I think .

But hey, we could just talk to each other, who cares if no one else listens or contributes ;) .

There is a type Well my type is "I have no idea" :p

[MrsD]

There is a type Well my type is "I have no idea" :thumbsup:

I'll tell you if I have any idea after the weekend .