# How to teach barking?



## Tara123 (Nov 16, 2008)

How can i teach my dog to bark when i command him like : voice! and he starts to bark? 

Thanks


----------



## JoelSilverman (Oct 21, 2008)

There are few different ways... the most common way is called "capturing". You just find a time that your dog barks, and just "pair" that with a word like "speak". 

For example, if your dog will bark when he sees other dogs running by, as he barks, say "speak" or any other word that you would like. Just keep it the same word. Your dog being on a leash is also a key factor. The frustration of wanting to chase the dog creates that excitement and the bark.

It is amazing how quickly a dog will eventually catch on to the word, without the dogs running by.


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I like to pair it to an excited bark, more than a territorial or frustrated bark (not that Joel's advice isn't excellent). If you can get him so riled up over a toy or a cookie or a game that he can't contain himself, that's a great moment to pair it with a command. The advantage to that is you recreate the situation on command (same spot in the house, same toy, same tone of voice), which makes it easier for the dog to learn.


----------



## nixietink (Apr 3, 2008)

I would tease Vito with something he really liked like food or a toy. Eventually he would bark and I gave it to him. He caught on REALLY fast and I always ask him to speak in a really excited high pitched voice to get him excited.


----------



## kjarv24 (Nov 7, 2008)

We used the tease trick with our dogs, Tease them with something, they bark & that's when you chime in Quickly "Speak". 
Even the treat you plan to reward him with, teasing him with that relentlessly will probably eventually get a bark out of him..lol..It did for us anyway LOL..
Ruben my old golden mix learned in two days. Of course he would try to use it at times when, we didn't want him to, then would sit in front of us for a treat LOL
Good Luck!! :crossfing


----------



## jnmarr (Mar 7, 2008)

I agree.. this is the way to do it.. But I am adding.. really think about teaching this. After Buckwheat speaking to us for everything he desired for 12 1/2 years, D/H has forbidden me to teach it again! :doh:


----------



## FlyingQuizini (Oct 24, 2006)

Just be forewarned... sometimes when you teach them to bark, you open the door to barking even when you don't ask for it. It's a very self-rewarding behavior for many dogs.


----------



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

FlyingQuizini said:


> Just be forewarned... sometimes when you teach them to bark, you open the door to barking even when you don't ask for it. It's a very self-rewarding behavior for many dogs.


The BEST advice from Quiz. I taught Tally "speak" way too young, and now he is kind of a chatty fellow if a bag of treats are in hand bc he offers it as one of his behavior repetoire. 

Also, I agree with Brian that you want a friendly bark, not to click on/reward the wrong type of barking. 

All three of my dogs know Speak, Whisper, and Sing The Blues. Whisper is by far the cutest, just a Mphhhhhhh noise. Like Joel, I capture the noise I want either with a clicker or the word yes as it happens naturally. Also,I ask them to sit, and then hold a treat in my hand and say "speak" in an excited upbeat tone, (and sometime WOOF! speak-just silly so that they do a friendly bark spontaneously)clicking any sound and throwing a party over it.Once they get it, they really get it. Amusingly, I had in mind to teach them "growl" also, only to discover that they dont actually growl - except Finn at the two puppies when they really overdo it.


----------



## vrocco1 (Feb 25, 2006)

jnmarr said:


> I agree.. this is the way to do it.. But I am adding.. really think about teaching this. After Buckwheat speaking to us for everything he desired for 12 1/2 years, D/H has forbidden me to teach it again! :doh:


I agree with that. Don't encourage them to bark, unless you really like it. LOL


----------



## Tara123 (Nov 16, 2008)

Thanks for all the advices. Ill try thoese with toys,... And yea i am kiddna afraid that it will become a dogs habbit and he will bark when ever he pleases :/ 

*Ljilly28* and your dogs bark only on your command or do they bark when ever they want? (like they wait for toy and they start barking?)


----------



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Tara123 said:


> Thanks for all the advices. Ill try thoese with toys,... And yea i am kiddna afraid that it will become a dogs habbit and he will bark when ever he pleases :/
> 
> *Ljilly28* and your dogs bark only on your command or do they bark when ever they want? (like they wait for toy and they start barking?)


Finn and Tango are both really good, and only bark when asked- or once in a while outside. Tally though, will sometimes try whisper/sing/ speak to see if it will win over a treat. It's not a nuisance now, but it was for a few months after he learned. The forum here helped me teach him the word Quiet /


----------



## beargroomer (Jan 2, 2008)

Ljilly28 said:


> The BEST advice from Quiz. I taught Tally "speak" way too young, and now he is kind of a chatty fellow if a bag of treats are in hand bc he offers it as one of his behavior repetoire.
> 
> Also, I agree with Brian that you want a friendly bark, not to click on/reward the wrong type of barking.
> 
> All three of my dogs know Speak, Whisper, and Sing The Blues. Whisper is by far the cutest, just a Mphhhhhhh noise. Like Joel, I capture the noise I want either with a clicker or the word yes as it happens naturally. Also,I ask them to sit, and then hold a treat in my hand and say "speak" in an excited upbeat tone, (and sometime WOOF! speak-just silly so that they do a friendly bark spontaneously)clicking any sound and throwing a party over it.Once they get it, they really get it. Amusingly, I had in mind to teach them "growl" also, only to discover that they dont actually growl - except Finn at the two puppies when they really overdo it.





Oooh, whisper! How do you make them whisper? I never taught Gaius the bark command (I agree with Quiz' advice.) and don't plan to with Gibson, but I'd love to teach some sort of a grumpy noise. I just don't know how to get the sound out of him in the first place to tag/name it with.


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I love "whisper!" I call it dog-purring 'cause both my guys do it when you rub any of their sweet spots. I haven't taught it on command, though.

_Any_ behavior you reinforce with food or affection will get done spontaneously, especially by an immature dog. Comet does the whole repertoire if he hears to cookie jar open (come, sit, down, woof, stand up, beg, give paw, all in quick succession). But once you teach the dog to do a thing on command you can ignore or gently correct it when it's not asked for. 

Comet woofs if you ask him "What's on top of the house?" (Roof) or "Who's the greatest baseball player of all time?" (Ruth). Getting him to wait for the end of the question before barking was the hardest part, since barking (as was said earlier) is self-reinforcing. But after a lot of repetition, he is learning that an early bark makes me look away, lose interest, and hold onto the treat, whereas waiting for the end of the question and a little head nod from me gets the treat and the affection.

Spontaneous barks ("play with me, dammit!") are ignored or get a gentle negative (a soft "no no" does it for him), so they're currently extremely rare.


----------



## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

beargroomer said:


> Oooh, whisper! How do you make them whisper? I never taught Gaius the bark command (I agree with Quiz' advice.) and don't plan to with Gibson, but I'd love to teach some sort of a grumpy noise. I just don't know how to get the sound out of him in the first place to tag/name it with.


I taught Finn whisper initially bc it was his lazy form of "speak"- he'd try the "mmphhhhhh" noise to see if it would fly as a full-fledged bark. Tally is so chatty he makes all kinds of hilarious small noises, so he was easy. Tango is very quiet and I never heard her bark-voice until she was past six month. She's still iffy on "sing". To get whisper with her, I knelt down and held a tiny piece of string cheese in my hand. Anyone onlooking will think you're insane, but you can woof at your pupper. Woof? Woof? REALLY, Woof? Woof. This worked on Tango and she made a small noise back to me- Mmmmphhhhh. Click/string cheese. She's got it.


----------



## beargroomer (Jan 2, 2008)

Ljilly28 said:


> I taught Finn whisper initially bc it was his lazy form of "speak"- he'd try the "mmphhhhhh" noise to see if it would fly as a full-fledged bark. Tally is so chatty he makes all kinds of hilarious small noises, so he was easy. Tango is very quiet and I never heard her bark-voice until she was past six month. She's still iffy on "sing". To get whisper with her, I knelt down and held a tiny piece of string cheese in my hand. Anyone onlooking will think you're insane, but you can woof at your pupper. Woof? Woof? REALLY, Woof? Woof. This worked on Tango and she made a small noise back to me- Mmmmphhhhh. Click/string cheese. She's got it.



Thanks, I'll try that! I thought Gibson was going to turn out to be a more vocal dog than Gaius because the first few days, he let out playful barks throughout the day, but he's SILENT now. He doesn't even bark when he's playing with other dogs. I'll try woofing at him with a piece of cheese.


----------



## Merlins mom (Jun 20, 2007)

I taught merlin to bark when he was a puppy.....I barked at him and encouraged him to do the same, then gave him a treat when he did. I'm sure I sounded really stupid and it's probably the wrong way to do it, but it worked. LOL! I haven't tried it in a long time though.


----------

