Teaching Your Dog to Speak!

Training your dog to do a few simple tricks is great fun for you and your pet. Be sure to always teach your dog basic obedience commands before moving onto to anything more complex. Through teaching the basic commands, your dog would have learned how to pay attention for the more challenging of tricks.

As mentioned in previous blogs, the level of success in dog training relies heavily on learning how to reward your dog correctly. Upon showing the desired behavioural response, your pet must be rewarded in the correct timely fashion. What a dog finds rewarding can differ from dog to dog so work out what it is your dog goes crazy for! Whatever motivates your dog is the best tool to use whether it is food, a toy or simply praise from its owner. Remember to keep training sessions short and sweet; work with your dog in 5 to 10 minute sessions. Always keep the training session fun for your dog. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, end the session and try again later.  Always end the training period on a high note with a reward for a job well done.

Teaching your dog the command ‘Speak’ does not mean you are encouraging your dog to bark all the time. You are teaching a command that your dog will only respond to when asked to do so. Many dog owners state that teaching their dog to bark on command replaced the dog’s excessive barking. The reason for this is clear; barking on command gets him a treat and praise whereas barking when not asked gets him nothing!

‘Speaking’ should come in the form of a few, short barks. Your dog should not continue to bark after this. A sure fire way to teach your dog to ‘speak’ is to rely on situations that you know cause barking in your dog, e.g. ringing the doorbell or dinnertime.

If you dog is highly food motivated, it may be best to start out with a treat. Using a high pitched, excitable voice, ask your pet to ‘speak’. If made to wait long enough for the treat, the majority of dogs will bark as a response to not getting the treat. Should your dog bark, give him the treat and lots of praise. Practice this over a few times. When you are pretty confident your pet understands the command, remove the treat.

If your dog doesn’t respond to treats during training, think about other situations which cause him to bark. Use whatever it is you need to make your dog bark. As you do so, say the word ‘speak’ repeatedly until he makes a noise. Again, as soon as you hear the faintest of barks, reward him immediately with praise or a toy (whatever your dog responds to). Continue the process as above. Be sure to use the ‘speak’ command all the way through the training session but do try to use it less as the training proceeds. In your next training session, try the command ‘speak’ without using the gesture or object that made your dog bark originally. If your pet barks, reward him. If not, return to the original action or movement that causes the barking.

Continue to practice ‘speak’ over and over again. With a happy voice and lots of praise, eventually your dog will understand the command and will readily speak when asked.

The keys to success in training are the 4 P’s: patience, practice, praise, and persistence. Every small step your pet takes in understanding the command should be rewarded as though he had just won the lottery.