[Mandalay]

I never had trouble teaching a dog to speak. I got all excited, caused the dog to bark, and treated them when they did. Eventually they got it and spoke on command. I would "catch them in the act" of barking and treat them and say speak. This all worked fine. I thought I was not going to have a problem since Mandi has learned everything else so quickly.

I am trying to get to where I can have Mandi speak at the door when she has to go out, so I need to teach her to speak first. The only times she really barks is in the morning when I put her back in the crate when I get ready for work since everyone else is still sleeping and when she is trying to get the cat to play with her. If she is in the crate and has to go out, like overnight, she whines, but does not bark.

I dont want to reward her barking in the crate in the morning when her and I both know she does not have to go out. I also am hesitant to reward her barking at the cat, since she is usually chasing him at the same time and I dont want her to think that I am rewarding her trying to smother him with puppy slobber.

I worked on it this weekend and I think she is now convinced I am insane. I stood in front of her (my pregnant self with a fractured foot and crutches) and hopped and jumped and got all excited. I even got GOOD treats...I cooked sausage and held it out so she could smell it and knew I had something GREAT. Ya know that dog layed down and fell asleep!! I bored her with my antics!!

So I woke her up and tried again. I tried everything I could think of. I even barked at her. She looked around, embarrased, hoping no one could see her owner, who had obviously gone mad, barking and jumping and getting all excited over a hunk of sausage.

At one point she turned her head sideways and looked at me like she was very concerned for my mental health. But I never got a bark out of her.

 

[maxsmom1229]

sorry i cant help you with your problem, my max does the same thing!! i just wanted to say that reading your post gave me a good laugh!

 

[3K9Mom]

Do you have a doorbell? Dogs usually bark at doorbells.

Or have a friend knock at the front door. Dogs will usually bark at that as well.

Doorbell rings. 'Speak!' Snack! Then you quiet her down, and you ring the doorbell again.

The nice thing about doing it this way is that you can train your dog to 'speak' or 'bark' but also 'quiet,' if she doesn't already know that command.

BTW, this is a great example of canine language, when you said, "At one point she turned her head sideways." http://www.canis.no/rugaas/TR06.php

Mandi was definitely trying to tell you something!

Turid Rugaas explains these signs in her wonderful little book: On Talking Terms With Dogs: Calming Signals

 

[SunCzarina]

Originally Posted By: 3K9MomDo you have a doorbell? Dogs usually bark at doorbells.

That is so not a good idea. Luther was doorbell trained by his first owner. ^amn dog barked at every game show buzzer and doorbell he heard on TV. I had to buy a doorbell that played Windsor Chimes and it took a long time for him to stop barking at noises on tv.

 

[Mandalay]

She wont yet bark at the doorbell. She will only bark at the cats and when I put her back in her crate in the morning after I have had her out and she got her breakfast. Thats it. I can go over, take her food bowl out from under her mouth and hold it up in the air where she cant get it and she will just look at me like I am nuts. She might jump up once or twice, but then she remembers that she is not suppose to do that and just looks at me.

 

[Mandalay]

Alright. I finally found something other than the cats that Mandi will bark at. My husband. If my husband barks, Mandalay will bark.

I have told him that now he must teach her to bark when he does and to slowly turn the "Bark" to the word "Speak". ROFL!

 

[ceardach]

Originally Posted By: MandalayAlright. I finally found something other than the cats that Mandi will bark at. My husband. If my husband barks, Mandalay will bark.

I have told him that now he must teach her to bark when he does and to slowly turn the "Bark" to the word "Speak". ROFL!

Haha, thats funny

Playing with large balls, like soccer balls, gets Taedyn barking. But not every color does it - she ignores the white soccer ball, and barks while playing with the blue one. Go figure.

 

[john bono]

When the dog gets frustrated, does she bark? Get a treat she really likes, and tease her with it, and say "Speak". Keep saying it, while dangling the treat, until the dog gets frustrated and barks. Then treat. Do it again and again, until the dog barks at the word speak immediately.

In my case, I trained my dog to bark at "Whaddya say?" this way. I also created a second command called "Quiet", which wasn't be quiet, but let out a quiet bark, so instead of "WOOF!", it was "woof".

 

[Mandalay]

I have tried teasing the dog. This weekend I found that she will also bark at my daughter if my daughter says "Woof". I had my stepfather do it and she barked at him. I do it and she still lays down uninterested. I am a little offended that my "woof" is not bark-worthy but my 5yo daughters "woof" is.

I think I am going to have my daughter start to bark at her and then follow that with the word "speak" and treat Mandalay when she barks. I guess there is just something that I am completely uncapable of teaching to Mandi. My daughter will like this since she has been feeling a little left out of Mandalays training since she has a hard time being alpha with Mandi and speaking loud enough and forceful enough to let Mandalay know that she is serious about whatever it is she wants her to do.

 

[Mandalay]

Barking at Mandi did not work. She thinks we are all a little odd now. I have, however, taught the cat to meow when I say speak.

*UGH*

 

[Mandalay]

I still have a dog that will not speak on command and a cat that will. Seriously. My cat meows on command. Mandalay had started barking when the doorbell rings, so I tried that. I would ring the bell, say speak and treat her for speaking. I would also treat her for speaking when she barked at random intervals during the day. I have been doing this for months now. When I look at her and tell her to speak she ignores me. Deepdown I think she knows what I want her to do and she is enjoying driving me crazy.

 

[GSDOwner2008]

How old is she?

 

[Mandalay]

7.5 months

 

[GSDOwner2008]

She may be going through a rebellion stage and not want to listen to you. You just have to be consistent with everything. Don't let her get away with anything, not once. You just have to keep at it. Maybe she doesn't realize what you want, do you mark the behavior and treat, or just treat?

 

[Mandalay]

I figured it out tonight. She IS trained to speak on command...just not the command I want her to be. I noticed tonight as I was telling our cat, Max, to stop bugging the dog, that she barked each time I said "Max". So I took her in the other room and tried it. Sure enough...the darn dog has realized that each time I say "Max" the cat is there and that causes her to bark. Now she barks at his name even when he is not there.

So, I continue on trying to teach the "Speak" command by now telling her to "Speak Max". Eventually, I will remove the "Max".

 

[GSDOwner2008]

That's good, at least she learned the command. You want to add a visual, it might be easier to switch the command, but if what you're doing works, stick with it.