Quote Originally Posted by ParNone
I may be misreading this, but it sounds more like your goal is to be able to get him to be quiet, when he's barking too much. And it sounds like that you're almost there on quiet. When you talk to him, he stops barking to look at you. So I would forget Speak and work on Quiet. When he's barking non-stop, say "Quiet", then when he looks at you and stops barking, give him a treat. Gradually increase the quiet time before he gets the treat. You want to make sure there's enough of a delay that he knows he's getting rewarded for quiet, not barking.

Par...
Well yeah that is part of my goal. My goal is divided into 3 parts all of which are kind of related to each other as far as the reason for teaching the speak command. To teach him when the proper times to bark are, to teach him to be quiet at times & to teach him how to speak just for a cute trick.

I swear he's backwards. I tell him to speak he shuts up & looks at me I tell him to be quiet he just carries on. I've tried other words too like SHHh, soft, easy etc... none of those words get his attention.
It's like he knows that speak means he gets a treat if he does it right but he can't figure it out... yet anyways.

I've been keeping him on a leash in the house so I can distract & redirect him easier and it works but not for long.
He barks constantly when he plays with other dogs & I can't deny him to play with other dogs. I don't mind it cause it's only like twice a day, but it happens early in the morning & although they haven't said anything I'm sure my neighbors don't like that. I can hear him loud & clear outside I know they can too.