# Teaching speak to a dag that doesn't bark



## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

I've tried numerous times to get Hope to speak, No success.

She's not a real barker, and the only way I can get her to bark is to raise her alarm, then she's not thinking about training.

I know if I could get her to bark about three separate times for food, that's all it would take for her to get it, but she just won't bark at me, never has once since I got her. If she gets frustrated she'll whine, but she'll just lay down at look at me quietly and won't bark for anything.

Any ideas?

The only way I can get her to bark at anything at all is maybe a squirrel or a dog or a person outside the window, a habit I do not really want to reinforce, and even then it takes some coaxing.. How would I use that without reinforcing her to bark at stuff through the window?


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

I never had barky dogs.. never. I don't like a lot of noise. The cats don't like a lot of noise. We don't encourage barking. 

To that end I do not have dogs that bark but I do want a dog to bark on cue. 

Soooo.. I went to the training room downstairs (mostly so no one could see ME ) and I put Atka in a sit.. and then I said speak and I barked at her. I tried to get her fired up a bit with a toy and and I looked right at her and then *I* barked at her. Got silly.. etc.

Now maybe she is smart or maybe I am good at imitating dogs.. but that got the "pump" primed and she now barks on a cue. She also barks other times since she discovered her voice.. like when I am feeding and I am not fast enough or when we are training and I am trying to get her to do something new and she has just offered me her entire repertoire and not gotten a treat... 

I have to say that teaching a dog to speak may secondarily force you to tteach the dog to be quiet.


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## apoirier594 (Aug 30, 2009)

If your dogs loves something like fetch my way might work, but I don't know.

My dogs love fetch, so they love their ball. I hold the ball in the air in front of them, and they bark, then you train them to "speak" sorry, it probably never really helped, but it might just work


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## emily445455 (Apr 8, 2008)

be careful what you wish for.


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

If I read that right you want her to bark for her food? That's called Demand barking and one of the less desirable forms of barking. While the Alert barking ('intruder' outside the window) can be a real nuisance, most of would prefer the watchdog type of barking.


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## TxRider (Apr 22, 2009)

Well I'd like her to bark on cue, not necessarily for food.

She won't bark for a toy, or food, she doesn't bark when people ring the doorbell or knock. I have been training her to to be calm and trust strangers.

She only barks when someone walks by outside and she can see them through the window, and even then not much and it seems that behavior is going extinct as well.

I tried barking at her, but she seems to take that as me alerting her to something outside and distracts her from me.

I have a second dog as of yesterday though, and she seems to be a lot more barky and much easy to teach, maybe I'll teach her and see if Hope picks it up watching Monica do it.


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## KBLover (Sep 9, 2008)

Wally used to NEVER bark.

Then one day he just started barking, but not enough to get it on cue.

I found that if I just kept saying "Good boy" while he was just standing there looking at me, he'd bark. 

I could see that tail getting "wound up" and then he'd start barking.

I quickly click and treated him, then it turned into a shaping session. After about...oh...a minute, he actually barked. Quick c/t.

Then...30 sec, another bark. C/T.

Then when he started getting faster, I would say speak just before he barked. Now it went back to square one.

So what I did was get him SOOOOOO wound up into barking that he would bark right after I said speak. Then it was C/T, then say "speak". He barked, I C/T him, and that's how I got him to speak on cue. 

He still isn't a barker, but now he'll bark in situations. Like when he needs to go out he won't sit there like he's an idiot shaking because he's trying so hard not to pee on his bed in my room. He'll bark to get my attention, then spin around (his usual "I need to pee/poop, NOW" signal) I didn't have to teach to bark to go pee - he learned barking is a way to communicate his needs with me. I just have to read the context of the barking to know why he's barking at me and then I can act accordingly (either ignore it which is my Quiet "cue" or act/check out his perceived need or what he's seeing).


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