Teaching the Bark

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Postby maberi » September 3rd, 2008, 12:54 pm

How have people taught their dogs to do this?

I taught Earl how to bark on command by capturing the behavior. Earl caught on very quickly as he does with most things.

I'm starting to work with Kayden and he doesn't bark much but will bark at certain things (vacuum, vibrating hand massager (don't ask)). Is it ok to use something to incite the bark and then mark the behavior?
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » September 3rd, 2008, 1:05 pm

I have a certain face I make at Inara and she barks. I've never taught her to do it on command, but I would assume that once you find something that makes them bark, you do it and then click/treat or praise or whatever. After a while start adding the cue ("speak" or whatever) in.
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Postby SisMorphine » September 3rd, 2008, 1:05 pm

Yes it's okay to use things to encourage them to bark, but no I wouldn't use the vacuum ;)

Take a toy he really likes and tease him with it. Don't give it to him until he makes a sound (like a whine). As soon as he makes the sound he gets rewarded with the toy. Now you have to shape it from there into a full on bark. Continue to tease and he'll whine, but don't give him the toy just keep teasing. So he'll whine louder (HELLO! Did you not hear me?) and then reward. Keep doing this build up until he has a full on bark. Once he has the bark you want then you can assign a name to it.

The reason I wouldn't use the vacuum or such is because usually in those cases there is an element of forward fear involved so you don't want to be marking that fear also.
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Postby maberi » September 3rd, 2008, 1:13 pm

Hmm, I'll give it a try. He will sit and wait for his toy forever and I've never heard him make a peep unless he is trying to kill the vacuum, lawn mower, etc.. but I see what you are saying about him being amped up with some level of fear.

By teasing him with a toy and not providing it to him until he whines are you not also marking frustration?

SisMorphine wrote:Yes it's okay to use things to encourage them to bark, but no I wouldn't use the vacuum ;)

Take a toy he really likes and tease him with it. Don't give it to him until he makes a sound (like a whine). As soon as he makes the sound he gets rewarded with the toy. Now you have to shape it from there into a full on bark. Continue to tease and he'll whine, but don't give him the toy just keep teasing. So he'll whine louder (HELLO! Did you not hear me?) and then reward. Keep doing this build up until he has a full on bark. Once he has the bark you want then you can assign a name to it.

The reason I wouldn't use the vacuum or such is because usually in those cases there is an element of forward fear involved so you don't want to be marking that fear also.
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Postby SisMorphine » September 3rd, 2008, 1:15 pm

maberi wrote:Hmm, I'll give it a try. He will sit and wait for his toy forever and I've never heard him make a peep unless he is trying to kill the vacuum, lawn mower, etc.. but I see what you are saying about him being amped up with some level of fear.

By teasing him with a toy and not providing it to him until he whines are you not also marking frustration?

SisMorphine wrote:Yes it's okay to use things to encourage them to bark, but no I wouldn't use the vacuum ;)

Take a toy he really likes and tease him with it. Don't give it to him until he makes a sound (like a whine). As soon as he makes the sound he gets rewarded with the toy. Now you have to shape it from there into a full on bark. Continue to tease and he'll whine, but don't give him the toy just keep teasing. So he'll whine louder (HELLO! Did you not hear me?) and then reward. Keep doing this build up until he has a full on bark. Once he has the bark you want then you can assign a name to it.

The reason I wouldn't use the vacuum or such is because usually in those cases there is an element of forward fear involved so you don't want to be marking that fear also.

Yes, but it's easier to deal with backing off from frustration than it is with fear.

And with well behaved and well trained dogs it is a lot harder to teach them to bark.
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Postby maberi » September 3rd, 2008, 1:18 pm

Agreed

Now for a what if :wink:

If he will not whine/bark from me teasing him with a toy (which I highly doubt he will as I have done this with him before to teach him to sit and wait), am I basically at the point where I need to capture the behavior?

SisMorphine wrote:And with well behaved and well trained dogs it is a lot harder to teach them to bark.
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Postby amazincc » September 3rd, 2008, 1:29 pm

maberi wrote:
If he will not whine/bark from me teasing him with a toy (which I highly doubt he will as I have done this with him before to teach him to sit and wait), am I basically at the point where I need to capture the behavior?


Yes. :wink:
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Postby hey21jude » September 3rd, 2008, 2:07 pm

Thanks for posting this, Matt. I was thinking of asking the same question. I want to teach Dex to bark on command so I can then teach him a quiet/enough command. :D
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Postby Malli » September 3rd, 2008, 4:38 pm

I've been wanting to teach Oscar this FOREVER so keep me posted ;) Of all the tricks he does, I've never been able to figure this out!

I'm worried it will teach him to bark at me for stuff?
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Postby airwalk » September 3rd, 2008, 4:51 pm

Scooter "speaks" and he rarely barks. We (as in the collective we at the office) used treats and also captured the behavior.

Teaching him to speak did not increase his random barking at me.
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Postby Wyldmoonwoman » September 3rd, 2008, 5:51 pm

I am laughing here...only because we did teach thorne to speak and she will bark with a slight finger command and respond to random questions (she looks really smart)....but....she is also a girl who knows what she wants and will go to where we keep her treats and bark and she will bark when she is frustrated because it is the easiest "trick" she knows. She was a dog who didn't have a voice when she came to live here and teaching her to use her voice backfired, lol :)


Anyways...we had to wait for her to bark and capture the behavior until we realized that her most favorite game is tug and we could get her to bark with a hyper game of tug...we marked her behavior with a verbal and a big hand wave at the same time...with the ultimate goal of reducing the size of the hand gesture to a subtle finger wiggle...we are still working on getting her to bark with a wink of the eye by doing the finger wiggle in front of our faces.

Good luck! Fingers crossed that once kayden finds his voice that he doesn't act like Miss Thorne!
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Postby katiek0417 » September 3rd, 2008, 10:40 pm

I would capture the behavior if teasing with the toy hasn't worked...how are you using the toy?
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Postby Hoyden » September 3rd, 2008, 10:43 pm

This is the biggest struggle with Birdie too.

The damn dog won't bark. There can be 10 dogs around her barking and she could careless.

She'll bark at the doorbell at home ONLY (not in my office, friend's house or anywhere else).


I guess I'll have to give it a try with our door bell. Gremlin will LOVE that chore!
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Postby DemoDick » September 4th, 2008, 1:03 am

Matt, based on the video you posted of this dog he looks like a prey monster. Very high prey dogs will often "lock" onto a focus point to the exclusion of everything else. Teaching anything at this point is tough, if not pointless. Connor was like this for years in protection and simply would not bark. He would just strain and pull towards the bite endlessly. It was only though teaching him to bark in different contexts that we got him to understand that bark=reward. Then we put it all together in the context we wanted. We now have a dog who barks at the time and for the reasons we want him to.

I would try to teach him the "mechanics" of barking at a lower level of drive with another reward, if he will work for it. If you want to meet up to work on it give me a call.

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Postby demolitionic » September 4th, 2008, 5:38 am

When Bunny really has to pee, she will stand at the back door, and if you continue to not let her out, she will bark. (Not a continuous yapping - a single "bark" and wait.) She knew a "shutup" command, so I could stop the behavior relatively simply. From that point on, when she would bark, I would say "speak" and praise/treat. When she barked when she wasn't given the command, I ignored it. She now will "speak" only when given the command, or her kidneys are about to explode.

Well, that, and when there's "stranger danger".
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Postby maberi » September 4th, 2008, 8:47 am

I have tried teasing him with a toy by shaking it in front of him, pulling it across the ground etc.. You can really shake anything in front of him and he will want to go after it but if you withhold it from him his eyes just bug out of his head and he just stares at it forever. He also has a habit of jumping straight up in the air next to your head over and over again if you withhold a toy. I have taught him to sit for his balls, tugs, etc.. so this behavior has been reduced but if he doesn't get the toy he will continue to jump, run in circles around you, etc.. (but will not make a peep). I have only heard him bark a few times (lawnmower, someone approaching the house, etc..)

He seems to get agitated with things that vibrate (again, don't ask). If I could create a toy that vibrates (something soft that he could bite) would this be ok?

Outside of that, I am at a lose and might take you up on your offer Demo.





DemoDick wrote:Matt, based on the video you posted of this dog he looks like a prey monster. Very high prey dogs will often "lock" onto a focus point to the exclusion of everything else. Teaching anything at this point is tough, if not pointless. Connor was like this for years in protection and simply would not bark. He would just strain and pull towards the bite endlessly. It was only though teaching him to bark in different contexts that we got him to understand that bark=reward. Then we put it all together in the context we wanted. We now have a dog who barks at the time and for the reasons we want him to.

I would try to teach him the "mechanics" of barking at a lower level of drive with another reward, if he will work for it. If you want to meet up to work on it give me a call.

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Postby katiek0417 » September 4th, 2008, 9:20 am

maberi wrote:I have tried teasing him with a toy by shaking it in front of him, pulling it across the ground etc.. You can really shake anything in front of him and he will want to go after it but if you withhold it from him his eyes just bug out of his head and he just stares at it forever. He also has a habit of jumping straight up in the air next to your head over and over again if you withhold a toy. I have taught him to sit for his balls, tugs, etc.. so this behavior has been reduced but if he doesn't get the toy he will continue to jump, run in circles around you, etc.. (but will not make a peep). I have only heard him bark a few times (lawnmower, someone approaching the house, etc..)

He seems to get agitated with things that vibrate (again, don't ask). If I could create a toy that vibrates (something soft that he could bite) would this be ok?

Outside of that, I am at a lose and might take you up on your offer Demo.






they have soft toys that vibrate...
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Postby SisMorphine » September 4th, 2008, 10:57 am

Jeez. I really wish my dog was at quiet as yours!! Why the hell would you want him to bark :crazy2:

Teeny'll bark if a leave falls in the neighbor's yard, or if she feels like it. I swear half of the time there are curse words coming out of her mouth, pushy broad. I'll trade ya.
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Postby maberi » September 4th, 2008, 11:21 am

Well I would like to embark on some of the dog sports I have yet to get my hands into yet and want to get enough things under my belt now, so it is one less thing I have to work on later down the line.


I usually can do without barking but would like it to be available when needed
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Postby katiek0417 » September 4th, 2008, 2:40 pm

Lyss, both Greg and I have noticed that female (especially intact ones) seem to be a bit more suspicious than males...so they tend to bark more...
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