Teaching Your Dog To Speak, Not Bark

Barking_Dog As many dog owners have come to discover, teaching your furry friend to do something or not to do something requires a consistent balance of rewards for good behavior and the ability to not acknowledge bad behavior. It is important to understand that the behaviors your dog exhibits are usually out of trying to relay some type of emotion that it is feeling, whether it is anxiety, excitement, boredom and so on. One of these common behaviors that are exhibited is barking. While barking levels can vary based on the personality and breed of a dog, it is something that can be tamed and transformed into a trick through teaching your dog to speak on command.

To teach a dog to speak is very different then allowing a dog to bark whenever it would like. Barking does not involve control or commands, whereas speaking incorporates both of these items. When you teach your dog to speak, it should consist of a minimal amount of short barks followed by silence. Learning to speak will also help to control your dog from repeatedly barking at every sound and movement.

So how do you teach your dog not to bark uncontrollably and instead to speak on command? The first time is to find out what it is that tempts your dog so that you can understand what reward will establish good behavior. For most dogs, the reward of food or a treat is used. Try enticing your dog by showing it a treat. Wait until the dog gets into a state of calm and command the dog to speak. Once the dog speaks with a few barks, give it the treat and commend the dog in a cheerful and excited tone.

If your dog is not the type to respond to a treat, you can also try incorporating the association of certain activities with the command to speak. For example, if your dog gets excited when the doorbell rings, you can teach it to associate the action of barking with the command of speaking by asking the dog to speak whenever there is someone at the door. Be sure to emphasize association of the word speak whenever the dog barks so that it begins to learn that this is a command or a trick that will be rewarded.

In order to teach your dog to understand the difference and to learn to speak on command, you must continuously practice and incorporate these techniques into the dog’s everyday life. Incorporating the practice of rewarding the dog for certain actions towards specific commands will also work for teaching your dog how to do other tricks, such as sit, give a paw and heel. Dogs do not learn or understand negative reactions to their actions, so punishing your dog for not speaking on command or performing a trick will only delay the learning process. Just as with human beings, dogs have a learning curve, so remember to be patient and persistent and you will have your dog speaking on command in no time.