Doberluv!

[Charliesmommy]

Two things:

First, I wanted to say thank you for all the great training advice you have given me these past few months. Charlie has really come a long way, in large part due to your advice. I'm really getting the hang of breaking things down into steps and figuring out HOW to train him. He is much smarter than I ever gave him credit for!

Second, do you have any ideas how I can get Charlie to "speak"? He never really barks at anything, except in the middle of the night if he hears a noise (not the most convenient training time). I've tried to get him super excited with toys, treats, etc, but I just can't get him to bark.

 

[Doberluv]

Thank you Charliesmom. You're way too generous in your exaggerations. LOL. But I appreciate that something here and there helps you. I love it when I hear back because it's so nice to get a visual of someone having difficulty and then having something work. I can so relate to that....the smile, the feeling of making progress. It's just so rewarding for both dog and owner when things finally start to click. I too love getting little pointers from some of the better trainers and reading things that never occurred to me and having a big ah-ha moment.

With the barking...it's really hard if you can't rev the dog up somehow to elicit a bark. The only thing I can think of is telling him "goooood" when he does bark in the middle of the night at something and maybe reaching onto your bedside table for a treat to throw him. But of course, it will probably happen that he begins to bark more in the middle of the night until you get to the place where you can start adding a cue when he barks (after he gets the idea that good things happen when he barks.) So then, when he barks, you will say, "speak"....then praise/treat. When and if he barks when you do not elicit the behavior with your cue, he will get nothing...no attention, no treat. It could be an arduous and unrestful time until he makes the distinction between barking on cue...and not barking excessively. You may also need to teach him "enough" when you need him to stop if he does a lot of unnecessary barking. Simply ignoring the barking that you didn't ask for will porbably not be enough to discourage that because barking in itself can be rewarding to the dog.

Personally....that's one trick I didn't mess with. Lyric too, doesn't do a lot of barking unless there's a good reason for it. I never could get him excited enough to bark just for the fun of it. Toker, on the other hand does do this trick. She also does a lot of unnecessary (to my point of view) barking. But you can say, "Who's here?" excitedly or a number of exciteable things and she barks and it's LOUD. Ugggg. My son taught her that. With four dogs, two of them Chihuahuas and Toker, with such a loud, startling bark....I don't have a strong desire for that particular trick. LOL. But I am sort of a nervous person so maybe that's just me.

Again...that which I described is only me making up something. You might want to check with some trick websites and see if there is any better way.

 

[Charliesmommy]

Now that I know what a quick learner he is, it is exciting to teach him new things!

I'd like for him to learn "speak" but I'm not going to get myself up in the middle of the night for it. I was trying to think of something else I can do to get him to bark but there really just isn't anything. He occasionally will bark at another dog, but when that happens he is so crazy excited jumping running going psycho that I might as well not even exist.

Oh well, I guess I'll just continue working on Dead Dog for now and then decide what else to move on to!

 

[Tami'n'Charly]

Charly doesn't bark much either but we were eventually able to teach her to "growly-howl" (our weird name for "speak"). We noticed that when we were training Charly and she got frustrated, she would give a little (often very quiet) growly-type bark. We rewarded her immediately whenever she did this. Eventually she caught on and we added in the cue word.

Unfortunatley, she's associated it with "down" as well, so when we ask her to "growly-howl" she hits the floor and does a little chewbacca (sp?) type growl. What a crack-head.

But this is a great example of "caputuring" a behavior. Just thought I'd throw my 2-cents in

 

[Doberluv]

He occasionally will bark at another dog, but when that happens he is so crazy excited jumping running going psycho that I might as well not even exist.

Yes, and you wouldn't want to reinforce that. It's really hard for dogs to seperate one behavior or part of a behavior. In other words, you might mean that you like the bark part. He will figure you like the barking at other dogs. LOL.

That sounds really funny Tami. My little Jose` has a very funny growly bark/howl too when he gets excited. Sometimes he talks to me that way when he's being silly. It's great how you captured that. I'm working on that with Jose`. It definitely is cuteness to the max.

 

[Doberluv]

My son just asked me if someone knocking on the door makes Charlie bark. If so, there's a way you could get him to bark...knock on the door. And the same principles apply....after a time, switch to only rewarding for cued barking.

 

[Charliesmommy]

He does usually bark when someone knocks, but not me. I've tried. If I go out and knock he just sits there and I can see him through the window looking at the door like "why is that idiot knocking on her own door?"

When someone else knocks at the door he will bark twice and go to the door and sit, then that's it. I have reinforced this with "speak!" and a treat and good boy, etc. but I think it is only reinforcing the bark-once-when-there-is-a-knock thing.

He used to bark when my cell phone rang and I tried a lot to use that but then he just stopped. Now when it rings he just runs back and forth from the phone to me and does not bark. I've even tried changing the ringtone to something more "barkable". LOL!

When he was about 6 months old he would do the growly-thing at the hair dryer if I blew it in his face, but now he actually likes when I do that and just stands there and basks in it!

 

[Spirit2010]

Hershey doesn't bark much either, unless he sees someone, or an animal. Whisper on the other hand.... :lol-sign:

 

[Rosefern]

Flicka and Pepe both know speak and quiet...I taught Pepe "speak" before "quiet", however...don't recommend doing it in that order...:lol-sign:

-Rosefern

 

[Doberluv]

I love these posts.

"why is that idiot knocking on her own door?"

What a hoot! My dogs bark no matter who knocks at the door. Chulita use to bark if I set a coffee cup down too hard on the counter is she wasn't right in the same room. LOL. She's really settled down though.

I taught Pepe "speak" before "quiet", however...don't recommend doing it in that order...

Agreed. LOL. In fact, in my house...the decibles made by my four dogs if they're all barking at once....divided into the square footage equals......unacceptable central nervous system disorder.:yikes:

:lol-sign:

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

If Charlie will make ANY noises that are precursors to barks, like "chuffing" noises, or sneezes, snorts, you can start marking and rewarding these, and progress from there to barking.