Last night I took Dixieland's advice and it went really well. She will now bark on command for a food reward.

The reason we wanted to teach her to speak is so we can train her to bark when she wants to go in and out to the bathroom. Right now she scratches and has destroyed a great many screens. We also want to teach her the "no speak" command just for times that it's difficult when she barks (kids sleeping, etc.) I hope I haven't gone about it the wrong way given this goal.

I want to thank you all for the help you are giving!