Trick Of The Week 9/05-16/05/04

[whatevah]

Teach Your Dog to Bark (Speak) on Command

Uses : Great Showoff trick, is used in Search and Rescue

Equipment Needed : Dog, treats, and/or clicker

Clicker Method

1. Try to entice your dog to bark.

I was training Moses one day and he let out a tiny little groan so I quickly clicked and treated (C/T) and waited for another. Then (C/T). I C/T ten times, then waited for a louder bark and upped the criteria. I then c/t the louder bark. You might have to wait a few seconds for the next bark to come.

2. Then add the cue word "Speak" and hand signal. Usually a hand opening and closing.

3. Try in various locations. Moses has just learnt this trick in the last couple of weeks, when I go to a new location, he gets confused and I have to go back to the start.

Food Method

1. I had a german shepherd, and I simply wagged the bit of food near her nose. She started to offer me all sorts of sits, then she groaned, and I quickly rewarded that with the food. Repeat several times.

Pitfalls

Once the dog is reliably barking when you ask for it. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER reward the dog if he barks and you do not ask for it. Otherwise you will create a dog that barks to get its own way. Just ignore the bark.

Also teach shoosh to stop the dog barking.

I would not recommend this trick for one of those breeds that never stop barking.

Troubleshooting

My dog does not bark? You lucky person!!

Here are some ideas that might make your dog bark.

waiting while food bowl is filled

trying to get a toy under the couch

playing tug

you picking up keys

chasing a ball

you barking at the dog

Edited May 10, 2004 by bigbum

[Sayreovi]

Hi

Ive trained Nova this already he loves it though

When i ask him to speak he will throw himself down and do it then or sometimes he will jump up but i put him in the drop and only C/T when he has dropped and barked that all sounds confusing

thanks natasha

[FHRP]

A fun extension of this trick is teaching the 'count'. My dogs will bark when I hold up fingers and ask 'how many?'. When they have barked the appropriate number of times I close my hand and reward. Fools people all the time The holding up of fingers was just a slight change to the opening and shutting of the hand.

[whatevah]

Thanx for that, that is a great idea. )

[SlickQannik]

I wanted to teach my two how to "talk" but instead, I found a way to get Slick to howl.

If I stand there with a squeeky toy and just squeek it over and over and over again, after a little while he'll start howling :rolleyes: I never realised what a loud howl he has until that point - the only other times he's howled is when I've left him outside overnight (IE at a caravan park where he's not allowed in the caravan).

[BittyMooPeeb]

My 2yr old has just started to bark at other dogs when he wants their attention and they are ignoring him. Very embarrasing especially in obedience classes or meeting another dog on a walk.

My RSPCA traing book says that to teach a dog to stop barking on command, you first have to teach them to bark on command. So I am very happy to find this thread!

Does this sound like a reasonable thing??

[Guest Pandii]

This is great

Thanks for posting I always wanted to teach this trick

Will practise straight away

[Bea]

My RSPCA traing book says that to teach a dog to stop barking on command, you first have to teach them to bark on command. So I am very happy to find this thread!

Really? Perhaps i should teach Mickey to bark on command then!

[BittyMooPeeb]

yeah - it doesn't say how to progress to the 'stop barking' part though

[HOOVER]

hi it's hooverand my mum tried to teach me to talk but i did not listen, insead i just chased the bike LOL

[O-Ren]

i think i could do this- because o`ren is one of those barkers that if you wont throw the toy/ball she barks at you once... i could roll with that then teach NOT to bark unless i ask her....right??? cos i hate her barking at me to throw the ball- its rude!!!1

[TIPANDUS]

We taught Tippy to bark on command by saying "where's Schatzi ?" ( his best friend), in an excited voice, as we had noticed he would woof once whenever he heard this. So armed with clicker and food we started with "wheres Schatzi SPEAK", then faded the first part, and added our hand signal. Only trouble is he now speaks very softly at first, he needs several goes to get a sound out. So far we have not found anything that will make our BC pup Kira bark on command, but I am sure we will.

[rastus_froggy]

My little staffy Froggy was easy to teach this trick to, but Saxon my big boy has been much harder, all i can get out of him is a very little whimper, not enough for anyone at a distance to hear at this stage. Everyone seems to find this a very impressive trick!!

[Clicking Mad]

"wheres Schatzi SPEAK"

Um ... bit OT ... but did you know you are actually better off swapping those 2 around ... I mean obviously you got the desired result ... but technically the cue you want to replace should come after the cue you want to replace it with. That is, "SPEAK where's Schatzi" ...

The idea behind this is that once you have given the cue they know, they stop listening, whereas if you get their attention and say the cue you want to change it to ... it then predicts the cue they already know.

Also the emphasis should be on SPEAK initially, and fade the emphasis (volume) of the "where's Schatzi"

Just thought I'd mention that

Cheers

Sam.

[TessaBella]

We taught our kelpie x, Sassy, to 'speak' on command when she was working in the yards by simply saying "speak up Sas" when she barked at the sheep of her own accord.

After just 3 barks, she caught on and began to bark on command at the age of 6 months !!!

This has been very helpful in the yards. Which is good because she is basically useless in the paddock because she just runs circles around the motor bikes.

This is a problem in itself and if anyone has any suggestions as to how to prevent her running around the bike, would be greatly appreciated.

She is fine when everyone is on foot or horseback, but not with the bikes. She even obeys commands such as 'go back' and 'go way back' and obeying points in a direction. :p

P.S Will try to get pics of Sassy who is now 11 years old :cool:

[shoemonster]

Taught my guys last night, they think its fun! They not big barkers so I had to act like a lunatic to get them going, and often its a growly talk instead of a bark, but I'm going with those as well cos they are easier on the ear!

They are still offering all sorts of behaviour, but they are getting there and only being praised for a straight bark

[ashan]

This is a trick I have been trting to teach Lear for 2 weeks now. I think I have been going about it all wrong so once we master the catch I think this will come next. Updates as we go

[FGM]

I have just started doing this with Josie,have tried it a few times in a training session.Last night she got it and did about ten barks in a row!Yippee!!!!!

[Andowen]

i taught Bear with a squeeky toy. i just kept squeeking it and she would get so frustrated at it that she would bark. so i put a command with it. now i am trying to teach her to whisper cos her barks are so loud. i am teaching her with her ball, just keep telling her whisper and when i get a wimper or a growl i reward. tis fun...

[Bernadine]

I actually taught my Border Collie 'Remy' to Speak by saying Speak in a very excited voice and then saying " woof" myself....lol

He got the hang of it after I did this about 5 times, so then I just rewarded him with a treat. I taught a friends female Border to speak by having Remy speak, so she got the hang of it from him.