How'd you teach your dog to bark?

[binka_nugget]

I'm just curious how others went about teaching it.. I'm always amazed at the things people do to teach them to bark.

When Kai was a puppy, he would bark everytime I sneezed. I took advantage of that and started going "ACHOOObark!" Then I started saying "bark!" in that tone you use when you sneeze and throwing in a hand signal. Then I phased out the high tone and left it at "bark" + hand signal.

So what about your pups?

[KatieDog]

Our story's not nearly so clever as that! I just got Katie excited (not hard to do) until she barked, and then I'd say "speak" and reward her. It didn't take long. The HARDER task has been teaching her to be quiet on command.

[ParNone]

Murph, I never could get to bark on queue. He's just never been all that barky.

Maddie, I use to excitedly say "speak" and it didn't take her long to figure out if she barked back, she'd get a cookie. She's much more communicative in barking and making all kinds of vocal sounds to me, which Murph never has been. So it made teaching her to speak very easy.

Oz, I can not for the life of me get him to bark on "speak", but if I say "Where is your ball? Where is that ball?" or "Where is Moo Boo?" (which is Murph's nickname), then he'll bark. It's almost as if he's only going to communicate if there's a question involved. Doesn't see the point in barking, just to bark. Gotta be answering me.

Par...

[lizbud]

I've given up trying to teach Smokey to bark on command, or
to bark at all. He's just not a barker. Smokey might bark once
a week tops and that's just maybe two barks, then nothing.

I guess some dogs just aren't barkers. He does have an
awesome, low growl when he sees something strange out of
the front or back window.

[tikeyas_mom]

i basically barked at oscar till he barked with me ahahhaa

then i would tell him to speak and i would bark ..

then he would hahaha

now he speaks on command !!!

[primabella]

Mickey still can't bark on command but if he's excited and I say "Speak" he'll bark or make growly noises. I just sort of gave up on teaching him, lol.

[wolfsoul]

I just kept saying speak until Timber barked, and then I'd give her the treat. I'm not sure how my dad taught Leather...

[GoldenRetrLuver]

I honestly forgot...lol
Molly's a pro at it. Daisy is on the quieter side, so she doesn't always speak on command.

[wolf_Q]

I think I mostly barked at Nebo myself and tried to get him excited with food and toys.

He's a very quiet dog, when I tell him to is pretty much the only time he really barks.

I never taught Reggie speak, but he figured it out from watching Nebo. The difference is, Nebo makes a solitary bark, Reggie just goes nuts.

[Kfamr]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
I think I mostly barked at Nebo myself and tried to get him excited with food and toys.

I never taught Reggie speak, but he figured it out from watching Nebo. The difference is, Nebo makes a solitary bark, Reggie just goes nuts.

Same here.

And the difference between Simba & Nala is with Nala you may have to wear ear plugs!

[Moose]

I've never really been able to teach Moose to bark on command...he just stares at me like I'm crazy. Of course, he's always more than willing to bark when I sing.

[b0bth0ny]

my first response was "Why would you want your dog to bark" So far lady has only barked once when we picked her up from the shelter and once when our neighbor came by to see our new friend. She seems very protective of her home, but when we run into strangers on walks she is very friendly.

Lady doesn't seem to be a barker and I'm glad she isn't.

[pit chic]

Any time I try to teach my dogs to "speak" my smarty pants foster Dalmatian (who came pretrained when we found him) barks. One of my Pits will give his woo, woo, woo when I say "what are you doing white boy?!" and when someone walks into the room he's in. All 3 of my Pits think it's their time to "speak" when I ignore them though. So I guess if you want to teach a Pit Bull to speak, act like you are ingoring them and give them a treat when they tell you off with their smart mouths that they seem to be notorious for.