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.
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.
SisMorphine wrote:And with well behaved and well trained dogs it is a lot harder to teach them to bark.
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?
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.
Demo Dick
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.
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