Teach Your Dog to Speak

No, your dog won’t be reciting Shakespeare anytime soon, but barking on command is actually one of the easiest tricks to teach. You’ll also want to teach your dog the “quiet” command to keep her barking under control. And once your dog has those commands down, you can teach her more complex speech behaviors like barking to be let out to go potty or barking to announce visitors at the door.

Steps

Teaching Your Dog to Bark on Command

1. Choose your reward. Pick something your dog really loves; the better the reward, the easier it will be to teach your dog. If your dog loves to play, you can try using her favorite toy and playing with her when she barks. Most people, however, will find that treats are the most effective way to teach a dog. The best treats will be ones your dog loves, and which are also easy to carry, easy to break into pieces, and healthy. Use a variety of treats so your dog doesn’t get bored. Try:
   • String cheese sticks.
   • Cooked chicken.
   • Meat rolls (available at pet stores).
   • Broken-up dog biscuits or store-bought training treats.
   • Baby carrots or frozen green beans (for dogs on a diet).
2. Consider clicker training. In clicker training, you use a sound (the clicker) to let your dog know when she has done something right. The clicker is very effective because it is a consistent, unique sound, different from your voice. However, you can also say “good” or “yes” as a signal if you don’t have a clicker.
   • Load your clicker first. Get a treat in your hand. If your dog tries to get it, just close your hand. Click and offer it to your dog. Repeat a few minutes later. Then again. Continue until your dog comes immediately at the sound of the clicker and expects a treat.
3. Get your dog excited. This will make her more likely to bark. Play a game that gets her excited like fetch or tug.
4. Grab your reward. Now that your dog is primed for barking, grab the reward. Let your dog see it, then hide it behind your back.
5. Reward barking. Hopefully your energy, your dog’s excitement, and the treat behind your back will result in a bark. If not, you may need to show the treat again, or even hold it out but not let them have it. Your dog will be confused, which often leads to barking, but be prepared to wait. It may take 5 minutes or more. Be patient. When your dog does bark, click or say “yes” and reward her with the toy or treat.
   • If your dog does not bark, you might try your own barking to encourage her.
6. Name the behavior. Now that your dog knows barking will get her treats, name the behavior. Try to say “speak” or “talk” just before she barks. You might also consider adding a hand signal, since dogs learn visual cues more quickly than spoken ones. Practice several times saying “speak” or “talk” just before your dog barks.
   • Be sure to keep your voice at the same tone and volume each time you say “speak.” They will associate that tone with the command, making it easier to learn.
7. Try the command by itself. Now that your dog is starting to associate a word with barking, say “speak” or “talk” and wait for her to bark. Be sure to say the command only once. When your dog barks, offer a reward. Continue doing this practice for about ten minutes a day until they have mastered the command. Be sure not to practice too long. You dog will learn better if training is fun. If she starts to lose interest, stop.
8. Phase out the reward. Treats are a great way to teach a behavior, but once the behavior is learned, continuing to give treats actually distracts your dog and slows response time. Start phasing out treats as soon as your dog responds correctly.
   • Gradually increase the number of correct responses before you give a treat. Begin by offering a treat only every other time. Then every third time. When you feel your dog has mastered barking on command, see how many responses you can get without a treat. Work your way up to 10 or 20.
   • Also increase the amount of time you wait before you reward. The idea is to break gradually break the link between completing the command and food.
   • Substitute other rewards for food. Once your dog can bark on command 10 or more times without a treat, start working in short training sessions with no food. After several successful responses, praise your dog, pet her, and play with her. The goal is to start replacing treats with other rewards.
   • It is okay to keep giving occasional, unpredictable treats to sharpen behavior.
9. Practice in different places. Once your dog has mastered barking on command in the calm of your home, try at the park or on walks.

Teaching Quiet

1. Teach “quiet” after you teach “speak.” It’s much easier to teach “quiet” (or “enough” or “hush”) if your dog will bark when prompted. It’s often necessary, too. Once your dog learns that barking on command leads to treats, it may be hard to get her to stop barking. The “speak” command should generate no more than 1-4 barks. After that, you’ll need to be able to ask your dog to stop.
2. Ask your dog to speak. Wait for her to start barking.
3. Say “quiet” and offer a treat. When your dog stops barking, give her the treat. Repeat this sequence, practicing ten minutes a day.
4. Phase out the treat as you did when teaching “speak”. Start by saying “quiet” without showing the treat, but still rewarding after your dog stops barking. When they have mastered this, you can start increasing the number of correct responses before giving treats. However, still give a treat every once in a while to keep your dog interested.
5. Practice in more difficult circumstances. When your dog has mastered “quiet” in a calm room, try the command in more distracting circumstance, like outside at the park or when a visitor comes to the door.

Teaching Your Dog to Bark to be Let Out

1. Teach your dog to ask to go out. Imagine you really need to use the toilet, but you’re in a foreign country, can’t find a bathroom, and don’t speak the language. Welcome to a dog’s life. Teaching your dog how to ask to go outside by barking will help prevent messes in the house and make both your lives easier.
2. Make sure your dog is house trained. Your dog needs to know she has to pee and poop outside before you can teach her to ask to go.
3. Stand outside with a treat in hand and your door open just a crack. Ask your dog to “speak”. When she does so, open the door and give the treat. After a few times, drop the “speak” command. Your dog should bark to come out. Open and give the treat.
4. Remove the treat. Now that your dog knows barking can open the door, you need to teach her to go outside to potty, not for treats. Do this training first thing in the morning, when your dog needs to pee. Stand outside and ask them if they need to come out. When they bark, open the door, praise them, and let them go potty. Praise them again after they pee or pooh. Do this each morning for two weeks.
5. Go inside. With your hand on the door, ask your dog if she wants to go out and wait for a bark. Reward with praise as before. Do this for two weeks.
6. Move away from the door. Sit in the room with the door out, but act as if you have forgotten all about letting your dog out. Wait for her to bark, then immediately open the door for her to go out and offer praise.
7. Try getting your dog to bark in different rooms. Shut you and your dog in a room different from the one with the door she goes out. Be patient and wait for her to bark, then immediately offer to let her outside and praise her when she goes. After two weeks of this, your dog should be expert at barking to go outside.
   • Be sure you also respond to barks when you are not actively training. Every time your dog barks to be let out, she should be let out and praised.

Teaching Your Dog to Announce Visitors

1. Be sure you want your dog to bark when people come to the door. Many dogs will make too much noise when visitors arrive. If your dog doesn’t bark, you might consider yourself lucky. On the other hand, you may want to teach her to bark for security reasons, or because you have a big house and can't hear people knock.
2. Stand by the door and knock on it. Give the “speak” command as you knock. Reward your dog for barking.
3. Drop the “speak” command and knock only. After several rounds of knocking and asking to “speak”, you want your dog to start barking at the knock alone. Reward your dog and give lavish praise if she barks. Practice this over several days to be sure your dog has it down.
   • You can do the same training with the doorbell. Have a friend or family member outside to ring it for you.
4. Have a friend or family member come to the door and knock. You may need to give the “speak” command the first couple of times. After that, drop the command and let the dog respond to the knocking.
   • Again, you can do the same training with a doorbell.
5. Gradually phase out treats. As instructed earlier, start by asking for the correct behavior multiple times before giving a treat. Then work in sessions with no treats.

Tips

• Be careful not to overfeed your dog with treats. Reduce his regular food allotment on training days.
• Make sure your dog actually can bark. The Basenji breed does not bark at all.

Warnings

• Don't overwork your dog. If your dog seems tired or bored, stop training and try again another time.
• Don't ever punish a dog for not performing. Use only positive reinforcement to teach a dog tricks.

Things You'll Need

• Dog treats
• Dog toys
• Training clicker (optional)

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Sources and Citations

See also

• Teach Your Dog to Sit
• Teach a Dog to Fetch
• Train a Dog to Give You Its Paw
• Teach a Puppy Its Name
• Train Your Dog to Walk or Heel Without a Choke Chain
• Teach Your Dog Basic Commands
• Teach Your Dog to Drop It
• Train a Dog to Come
• Train Your Rottweiler Puppy with Simple Commands
• Teach a Dog to Lie Down

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