Discover how to teach your dog to bark on command. Follow easy steps to train your furry friend to speak when you say “speak.” Start today and enjoy communicating with your canine companion! Your dog is not going to quote Shakespeare, but in reality, one of the easiest tricks to teach is barking on command. So the act is natural when a dog does it, bound to pick it in no time. One of the fun tricks to teach a dog is “speak.”
It is helpful in the way that it tells your dog when it is okay to be noisy, i.e., barking at the front door, playing with his ball, etc. I am going to outline everything you need to know to be able to teach your puppy how to speak on command.
Things You Should Know
- Start training with tasty treats or a clicker nearby.
- Use times when your dog already barks to reward them right away.
- Introduce the ‘Speak’ command once your dog understands that barking gets them a reward.
- Keep practicing to connect the word and the behavior. Have short, repeated training sessions to avoid getting tired.
Table of Contents
1. Use a Clicker for Training.
Clicker training is not a must, but in case you want to do it, you can click with the clicker instead of giving out a treat. Clicker training is optional, but you’ve been doing it at home, so you can continue using it. Use the sound of the clicker to reward your dog instead of giving him a treat.
If you are a beginner in clicker training, you can continue using the treats in conjunction with the clicker. This helps reward your dog until he or she establishes a relationship between the sound and reward.
2. Hold a special treat.
Get some of those treats your dog loves. If you have some regular treats that your dog likes, it’s alright to go with those. You can even substitute it for regular food if they happen to be on an empty stomach, and you also want to avoid feeding them unhealthy treats. Pick something your dog really loves; the better the reward, the easier it is to teach them.
If your dog enjoys playing, use their favorite toy as a reward for barking. Most people find treats work best.
Avoid giving your dog human food as treats too often. It can upset their stomach and make them want human food more.
Mix it up sometimes. Use different treats to keep them interested.
3. Attract Your Dog’s Attention
Show the dog the treat, and it had better be something very attractive for the dog, and guide the dog to you. Let it notice the treat and briefly hold it out as it gets closer, giving it a head start on the reward.
If your dog loses interest and leaves quickly, the reward is probably not that great. If you train with other commands, have them sit to reinforce training for more than one behavior.
4. Wait for Your Dog to Bark
The dog would just bark, enticed to the hand with the treat in it. The treat is there, at a visible and reachable distance for you. In this case, the dog will either look confused or, worst case, even whimper to try and sit, lie down, or roll over to reach the treat.
Persist in holding out the treat until they bark. Avoid teasing or provoking your dog; simply hold the treat up. If the dog doesn’t respond by barking, wait a moment and try again, or try another way to prompt barking—such as ringing the doorbell or making a sudden noise.
5. Use Consistent behavior reinforcement
Practice in short sessions and continue to shower your pup with love for barking. Long training sessions for this behavior are not needed to reinforce it.
Dogs will bark, so five to ten minutes of training are all that’s needed. Show the dog the treat; wait for the pup to bark. Then give it to them as a reward.
If in the past you needed to raise your voice or make the dogs bark by doing something, now start very slowly to change it so that you will just be showing the treat without any other stimulus.
If you are introducing other commands that go with “speak,” then begin to introduce the “speak” command when your dog starts to bark after being shown a treat.
6. Reward Your Dog
Once it barks, reward your dog and praise it immediately. After one bark from the dog, reward it immediately with a big pat and say, “Good dog” or “That’s so good!
Make a huge deal out of this, and certainly, you want to get your dog excited about what he’s doing. Otherwise, you delay the treat too long, and your dog may not immediately associate the barking with getting a treat.
If you’re using a clicker, press it as soon as they bark. If you’re using edible treats, give the treat and press the clicker at the same time.
7. Practice Command Word Reinforcement
Use the treat and command steps again with your pup. Once your dog has associated a word with barking, say the word you have chosen and then wait for the dog to bark.
Make sure that you say the command once only so as not to confuse the dog. Reward your dog once he has barked. Repeat this process until your dog starts to understand.
If the dog doesn’t, please do not repeat the command; the dog may think the command word is “speak speak speak” rather than just “speak.” If your dog doesn’t catch on right away, look away, lower the treat, and take a break for a minute or two before trying again.
8. Introduce the command word
Start using the command word “speak” or “talk” to associate the behavior with the given command word.
Now that your dog knows barking leads to treats, give the behavior a name. Say “speak” or “talk” just before they bark.
You might want to try reinforcing it with a hand signal, such as a point upward or a clenched fist, since visual cues are actually as good for dogs as those based on sound. Practice a few times: just say the word “speak” or “talk” right before the dog barks.
9. Stop Giving Treats Gradually
Then, replace that treat with the command word when your dog gets better. Then, once the dog gets the idea that “speak” means “bark now,” it’s time to quit giving the treats.
You want to continue to say “good dog,” but to gradually phase out the food treats. You may also become less and less inclined to say “good dog. If you’re doing clicker training, you can begin to phase out the clicker here.
10. Teach More Commands, like “Quiet”
Once your dog has the “speak” command down, you can teach him some more things. They will return to “speak” a lot at first to make sure that they remember it, and that will give you a great opportunity to introduce the “quiet” command.
This one is the opposite—make a noise that makes them bark, then wait for them to stop. Then reward them!
11. Practice in Other Locations
Practice the command in more and more distracting locations. For example, ask for “speak” from the front porch or sidewalk, where the birds are visible and many other noises are heard.
After they learn there, try the park where there are more things to see and smell. You can also practice around other dogs or toys.
Once they know “speak” everywhere, they’ve fully learned the command! Now that you have been able to put a command to your dog’s barking, you can now teach it to bark at anything or time when you wish.
Use “speak” anytime a stranger is coming by or before you let them outside to go to the bathroom.
Conclusion
Teaching your dog to bark when you say “speak” can be a very pleasant experience! All that needs to be done: To have some treats or a clicker at your disposal! Every time your dog barks, give it to the dog immediately. Keep doing this until your dog knows that barking gets them a reward. Practice this a lot to make sure they remember.
Keep your training short to prevent your dog from getting exhausted. Praise him or give him a reward whenever he barks. Practice in different places where other things might attract attention so that it is ensured the dog really gets to know the command well. Once your dog is trained to bark on command, then teach him some other tricks also.
