Any idea how to teach a dog to speak?

[Taverner]

Our beagle is a mellow beagle. She loves to smell, romp and play. But she doesn't bark much. Any idea how to teach a dog like this to bark on command?

She does bark when people knock on the door.

[RagAss]

1. Rosetta Stone.

[unpossibles]

2. meat treats

I taught my old dog to howl if someone asked her if "the pope wears a funny hat" or if she "wants a defenseless baby" and also how to snarl on command and bear her teeth (that one she did already on her own but she did learn to do it when I made the right hand motion.

That last one was a real gas when we were at the park.

[Taverner]

3. So how do you do it?

How do you tell the dog you want them to howl?

[unpossibles]

9. well, to be fair she was not hard to teach to howl, so she probably wanted to any way

it started when I was teaching her how to do something else, like sitting. She'd get all antsy for the treat and start making noises for it, so I switched what I was teaching her. I started with a combination of hand gesture and vocal cue (for instance the howl was my hand (with treat) near my shoulder, whereas the command for sit which she later learned was hand palm out, and pointing at the ground became "lie down") and eventually dropped the vocal cue. Sure, sometimes she accidentally did it, like it I scratched my shoulder but for the most part she learned it pretty well.

The teeth gnashing was the same sort of thing - she already would get wound up, and after teaching her those other things, used the same idea to bring out what was in her already. The hand cue for that one was making teeth gnashing gestures with my hand.

If your dog is quiet now, try barking at him/her or howling with her (preferably in your house not the dog park). Encourage her to make noise at first, then shift that into only getting the treats at certain times. This may be by rewarding her for being quiet at a certain signal, like a shush. At early stages of this sort of thing I've used more bodily contact (not hitting or anything, just holding her to get the idea across to be still or whatnot).

I'm not a dog trainer by any means, and I admit my dogs have been a bit rowdy at times, but I do seem to have a decent rapport with them. Figure out the dog psychology - that you are the pack leader and that you love them. Don't use fear or violence as I've seen that turn dogs on their people, although with some dogs you need to be just aggressive enough to let them know you're the boss. I've actually had to pin a big dog on the floor by holding it's chest/neck (again, not hard nor causing any real pain, just simulating what dogs do to each other to express pack order*) because he was huge and crazy, and it got the idea across along with other training to calm down. And it does tend to work. Dogs like learning things usually or having a "job" to do even if a simple one. One dog I used to have had a little backpack and would bring beer back and forth at parties in exchange for petting and jerky treats, and this was an amazing change since she was from the pound and was afraid of people, especially drunks, when I first got her. After a couple of years she realized that not all people or drunks are bad, and many will feed and pet her.


* I suppose you could hump it too, but I don't recommend it for many reasons. :D

[pacalo]

11. I taught mine by saying "speak" while holding a treat, then showing him what I wanted by barking.

It didn't take long before he got the idea. And you're right when you say, "Be careful what you wish for". He's quite demonstrative with his speaking when he wants treats.

Especially with his piano playing. I can be on the phone talking to someone when, all of a sudden, a thunderous rendition of what-the-hell starts coming from the piano, which never fails to amuse the person with whom I'm talking.

If anyone's interested, teaching a dog to play the piano is one of the easiest tricks to teach. I placed his favorite treats along the keyboard, then praised him. It took only a few times.

Good luck, Taverner!

[trackfan]

4. Yes. Here's my dog answering a question. Turn up the volume:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPDYz9GJiEE

[Crystal Clarity]

15. I had to listen a second time

But it was definitely there... Obama. Your dog knows who the President is! That's so cool! :hi:

[TorchTheWitch]

5. why do you want her to bark on command?

If you want her to bark as a warning to you (like someone is at the door or in the yard, etc.) having her bark on command isn't going to do that because she'll need your command before she'll bark, and if you already know there's someone at the door it isn't going to serve as any kind of warning to you. Other than that, I can't figure out why you would want her to bark on command... what's the point?

[Kablooie]

6. Our dog didn't bark for the first year.

It took her that long to be relaxed enough to start barking.

[ChoralScholar]

8. Our Ginger didn't either

when she came along, she was second-fiddle to a coon hound mutt that barked all the time.

But one night she was laying on the bed with us and we were watching 'The Parent Trap' (with a pre-drug-addled Lindsay Lohan) and a dog on the movie barked, and Ginger stood up and let out the meanest, bassiest bark we'd ever heard, from this little fuzzball of a dog.

Now she's old and cranky, and she barks at everything, but that's ok. She hushes when she's told to.

[cherokeeprogressive]

7. Speak boy... Speak! (smack) Speak boy... Speak! (smack)

You fucking KNOW I'm kidding.

I couldn't tell ya. I have a Golden Retriever and a Chihuaha and neither one EVER barks.

Edited to add: Neither one has EVER been hit, nor have my two cats. We live at the end of a dead-end street. No foot or car traffic whatsoever.

[unpossibles]

10. one more thing

after teaching my dog Macy to speak and howl, she often never shut up. She started singing along to the passing ambulance, then to the ice cream truck, and would do the Scooby Doo noises when she wanted something. be careful what you wish for.

[Orrex]

12. Take him on the bus with you and ask someone to move.

[marzipanni]

13. The trick is, teach the "silent bark"

Two dogs I've had learned how to speak before getting a treat, but they then had to lower their voice until it looked like they were barking, but the only sound is a quiet "ruh".
You make the sound of what you want them to do over and over, and they catch on. These good students were a standard poodle and a border collie, known to be smart breeds, other breeds might not be as teachable.

[pacalo]

14. Mine generally has an "inside-voice" bark, too.

It's when I'm ignoring him if I'm busy that he speaks with a sharp tone.

My dog's breed, Boston Terrier, is a smart breed, too, but I believe, generally, that any breed would be eager to learn if they are shown a lot of love, gentleness, & patience. :)

[Redstone]

16. Rosetta Stone is good language-learning software. But seriously, if

you expect to be able to get a Beagle (I've had two of them) to bark on command, you're baying up the wrong tree.

As my cousin said, "beagles are great dogs, and intelligent, but when they go outside their brains fall out of their noses."

My beagle is four years old, and I've just now been able to get her to understand the concept of "walk" versus the concept of "sniff and drag." To get a Beegee to howl on demand is an unrealistic expectation.

Redstone

[Old Troop]

17. Which language?

[old mark]

18. My dog never does tricks like that. I got a special dog ball for him, bounced it

right in front of him. He ignored it completely.

The drive in bank clerk gave him a dog biscuit in the return envelope...he held it in his front teeth for a half block, then spit on the seat.

He does things in his own way when he wants to.
(My wife says that he is a "willful dog.")

mark

[pinstikfartherin]

19. We taught our Jack Russell....

by barking at him and telling him to bark. When he would bark, we would give him a treat or throw his toy.

Now he barks at us to get our attention. :-)