[thor wgsd]

It seems everytime I post in these forums I am asking for something so I am going to start and try and give something back! (from my very limited experience)

Training your puppy to bark is useful for plenty of reasons, for me I mostly wanted to do it because then I can teach him shut up

I read loads of places (including here) that if you have a toy or something that he always barks at it's easy, I never really found one untill the other day;

He was out playing with an old skateboard in the back and was barking like mad at it, so I ran to the fridge, sliced up a hotdog and went out and played with him. As soon as he started to bark I said "speak" and afterwards I gave him a piece of hotdog.

He couldn't believe it as I normally don't like him barking so he thought I was mad and to be safe barked constantly for 5 minutes getting a piece of hotdog everytime.

10 minutes later all I need to do is say speak and he barks!

The same night that came in handy when some cheeky kids were annoying a cat in the park, they didn't listen at all when I told them to leave it alone, but as soon as I told Thor to speak they were all ears

-thomas-

 

[Sherush]

Originally Posted By: thor wgsdIt seems everytime I post in these forums I am asking for something so I am going to start and try and give something back! (from my very limited experience)

-thomas-

thanks for contributing....

 

[Halen]

Huh, I'd like to teach Apollo to bark on command, but really the only time he barks is when he sees someone near our fence, or hears something unusual outside. I'd like to teach him to bark when I tell him to so I can "deter" people I am leary of!

 

[thor wgsd]

So you could use the same technique;

Get someone to help you out by passing outside your fence again and again and everytime he barks you give him a treat (and add your command word). After a few times of doing this he should be more than happy to bark on command

 

[Halen]

Excellent idea! I keep thinking that one of these days I'm going to have my brain power back and be able to think of these solutions on my own! (I think maybe when the kids go back to school I'll be able to think straight again!)

I will try this! Thanks!

 

[GSDOwner2008]

thor wgsd great idea! Thanks for contributing!

 

[Gunnarsmum]

I found out today that Gunner likes a jingle kitty ball so I've been using it to teach him to speak. He barks if I don't give it up so I hold it til he starts getting antsy and right before he barks I say "Speak" (he barks) and give him the ball.

 

[nysirk]

We taught Libby to bark by having a friend stand outsdie my door and right before she knocked i would say "speak" and then the knock she would bark i would reward, she picked it up pretty quickly.

We taught Dexter the 6month (very vocal) how to Speak (we use the word "alert") by barking at him myself i just barked like a dog and got him excited enough to bark back. I had a few set backs with jumping thing he added to his barking at first but trained that out I agree tho to anyone who wants to teach their dog to speak to Also teach a "quiet" or "Shhh" along with it so you can turn it on and off.

Also with Dexter's Barking often he would snap his teeth and make no noise( Whisper) So I used a clicker while i had him "alert" and was able to catch those air snaps and train out the Whisper command Its very impressive I like to show him off and ask him to alert which is always loud and then have ask him for a whisper and do his teeth snapping, its my #1 fav command/trick he can do, I would love to teach him how to Howl on command as well but i can't find a trigger to get him to howl just yet, I tried howling at him it worked like twice then i just felt crazy making all these howling nosies and getting no response, but oh well maybe someday. I figure if you can teach your dogs sounds (especially with a Talker vocal pup) Then you can control them and even make them look pretty smart!!

 

[Nikkia]

wish I could teach Nikkia to bark on command but she doesn't bark at all the only times she ever barks is in times she senses ether her or I are in danger I kind of like that though because then when she barks I'm not like "There she goes again." it's "Okay what is she barking at so we can get away from it."

 

[frillint1]

I taught my dog to bark by standing on his old dog house which was like 6ft tall. It was a huge hand made wooden dog house. When he was a pup I stood on the top and had some cheese(he loved cheese) and I said some here Smokey come on over and over a again and he tried to jump up, but he couldn't, so he barked. Every time he barked I said speak and he got it in about 10 minutes.

 

[cassadee7]

Is there a way to teach them to bark ONE time on command, but keep barking for a different command?

nysirk, I taught my dog to howl by meowing at him. Somehow when I meow like a cat he thinks he should howl. Some dogs howl when they hear a siren. You could try that!

 

[VChurch]

Minna loves the 'speak' command!! I think it's her favorite.

 

[squerly]

Everytime someone would come to the door Shep would start barking. And I would say "Who's here?" "Who's here boy?" So now all ou have to do is say "Who's here and he goes nuts...