How I got my 5 mths old to sound/look vicious ;)

[SouthernThistle]

Okay, we all know that a 5 mths old German Shepherd is about as goofy as anything, but we taught Grimm (among other things) how to bark on command

We have been associating hand signals with verbal commands since training him, so teaching him to speak is no different.

We don't need a trained "attack" dog or a dog to "bite on command" to ward off strangers. We merely say, "SPRECHEN!" (probably the wrong form) and move our hands like a mouth, OR....just say "Grimm!" and move our hands.

He is usually sitting, but he'll have get up like he's a big bad vicious dog, put on his "big boy bark" and WOOF! WOOF! and while barking, barks "forward."

We had a friend over last night who is fine around dogs, and even she said, "wow - if I didn't know how goofy he was, I'd think twice about attacking you or breaking in."

The trick was NOT rewarding him for barking when it was inappropriate, but rewarding him when barking was appropriate. He's not a barker, by any means, unless you tell him to bark.

As a matter of fact, I think we got a pretty good pup: no excessive barking, he never bit us when playing as a little guy or now, he doesn't jump, he waits patiently until we tell him "okay" when it's feeding time. We have been working really hard and diligently on his manners since day one.

Luckily, teaching him to bark on command and not rewarding random barking to get our attention, hasn't turned into a bark-fest with an uncontrollable bark

I'll have to shoot a mini video of him

[Liesje]

I taught Nikon "pass auf" basically using prey drive and his favorite toys. In SchH I tap on his side while the helper is waving the rag or whatever and he would bark, so we would calmly praise (this was how he was worked as a puppy). Then at home I took that idea and would hold his collar, throw a ball or toy out in front of him, pat his side and say "pass auf" and he would start barking for the toy. Then I'd let him go get the toy. Now, I just hold his collar, give him a tap and the command, and he barks