Speak And Quite Command

[giraffez]

How do you teach a dog to bark and shoosh on command?

My dog is not a natural barker and even when he get frustrated.

[luvsdogs]

I haven't been able to teach it to any of my dogs but I've heard that while a dog is barking is the time to get it to shush. While your dog is barking have a treat in your hand & put it to the dog's nose. While he stops barking to sniff the treat, reward with the treat. Once he gets the hang of it you add the cue.

While barking you use the hand signal for speak which usually is hold your hand with finger tips together & open fingers at dogs nose, again when he gets the hang of it give the cue.

[pipsqueak]

I'm very much a training novice, but I'll give you my ideas as they may spark yours.

I also have a dog who isn't a natural barker. I taught her "quiet" before I taught speak, so I didn't (hopefully) create a problem of barking but no "off" switch. To teach quiet, I just chose times when she was naturally quiet and gave a "quiet" command and rewarded. And yes, she was probably fairly confused at this point, because she possibly couldn't understand what she was being rewarded for.

She doesn't bark naturally, but she has a very loud yawn, where she actually produces noise. I captured this, put it on command and gradually built it into speak/bark.

[Staranais]

How do you teach a dog to bark and shoosh on command?

My dog is not a natural barker and even when he get frustrated.

First you really do need to find something that gets your dog to bark (preferably something you can control or at least predict). For my girl, I used the windscreen wipers going in the car - for some reason they create a barking frenzy. More conventional ideas are tying the dog up and teasing with a toy until it gives a whine or bark from frustration (used that with my last dog), or playing the sound of other dogs barking on TV to set your dog off, ringing the doorbell, etc. You can use just about anything that will make your dog bark.

Then you want to get your dog's attention and give the "bark" command just before the thing occurs. Mark and reward when the dog barks (I reward by joining in the barking. You can also give the toy that the dog is barking for, or give praise and food, run to the door to see who is ringing it, etc). After a few sessions of this, the dog should be anticipating and barking on the command alone, before the original stimulus occurs.

If the dog isn't a natural barker, you may need to initially to excitedly reward the first little hint of noise, even if it's just a whine. When you're getting that level of noise reliably, you can shape a true bark by witholding the reward until you get louder and louder barks.

I teach "quiet" after "speak", since I believe it's easier for the dog to understand the contrast between bark and quiet, than to just understand quiet. When my girl was barking, I'd lean in and very quietly tell her "quiet". She'd tend to shut up to listen to me, so I could then praise and reward the nice quiet. It only took her a few sessions to work out what I wanted, and I could then use the "quiet" command in circumstances when I hadn't originally told her to bark.

If the dog won't shut up to listen to you when you ask her to "quiet", you can distract her for a second with a food treat to create the quiet. Make sure you praise calmly, if you use energetic/excited praise for being quiet, it will razz some dogs up and they'll start to bark again. In contrast, my praise for a bark is always really exuberant and excited, to encourage her to keep barking.

[whatevah]

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=9497

[Teebs]

Kaos talks all the time, so i started to say the word speak as she did it and rewarded, it didnt take her long - but she does have to work up to it, i will say it a few times and she lets out a little growl, like she isnt sure if she should bark, or if it is a trick and she will get into trouble

[gila]

Lol Spencer is the same as Kaos. He usually gets told off for barking at stuff so when I tell him to speak he'll somtimes just open and close his mouth without making any sound. Then when I keep telling him to speak he'll do a teeny little wuff. I have to say "c'mon BIG speak!" to get him to do a proper bark.

He still has no problem barking when I don't want him to though

[Bullbreedlover]

Morgan will speak on command.

She will also speak when it is breakfast time

And she will speak when it is dinner time

Just havent been able to find that off button