# No barking?



## MrsFergione (Jul 7, 2013)

Rina is only 6 months, so during protection we just do the flirt pole and such at the moment. But I've noticed even the very young puppy there (14 weeks) barks at the pole. She does not bark ever during protection. She barks in the yard if the other dogs are barking or if a loose dog comes to the fence. Is this unusual or will she begin to want to bark later on? This is my first time training so not sure!


----------



## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

Sounds like she is locked in prey


----------



## MrsFergione (Jul 7, 2013)

Is she not suppose to be while going at the flirt pole? What could I do to encourage her to bark?


----------



## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

frustrate her-hold the ball-if she likes the ball or the tug and see if she will bark for the ball-they are likely working on this in training as well


----------



## Liesje (Mar 4, 2007)

She is young so I would not worry about this now. I would not encourage her to not bark, ie I would not keep doing stuff that locks her in prey. Usually bringing out some defense will get the barking but 6 months is a baby. If she barks in other contexts, I'm sure it will come with time.


----------



## MrsFergione (Jul 7, 2013)

Yes she does bark while she is being protective of my son or our yard quite often.


----------



## Freddy (Apr 23, 2009)

Frustration. Now that she is used to going forward I would have the helper move suspiciously toward her. Low and slow, looking at her but not full frontal presentation. No flirt pole. When you get her to bark the helper needs to act as if he's taken a punch and move back. Various progressions of this will teach her what her bark does and build confidence and be a good transition to the sleeve over time.


----------



## Uniballer (Mar 12, 2002)

Sometimes all it takes to promote barking is having the prey object at the correct distance from the dog (too close = locked in prey, too far = not enough intensity). And sometimes it's just that the dog isn't ready.


----------



## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

MrsFergione said:


> Rina is only 6 months, so during protection we just do the flirt pole and such at the moment. But I've noticed even the very young puppy there (14 weeks) barks at the pole. She does not bark ever during protection. She barks in the yard if the other dogs are barking or if a loose dog comes to the fence. Is this unusual or will she begin to want to bark later on? This is my first time training so not sure!


some dogs are silent in prey drive. some bark out of frustration. the latter is easier to work with as you can show them their bark has meaning. Silent prey dogs, I work the barking after they've matured a bit and can handle pressure to bring out the barking (though its in a different state of mind than frustration)


----------



## Chris Wild (Dec 14, 2001)

As others have said, most likely she is locked in prey and that inhibits barking. The helper needs to make more distance, and also have patience and wait for her to make a sound (even if just a squeak at first) before moving the toy so that she learns noise flushes the prey.

Or, my personal preferred way to teach barking, is to utilize suspicion rather than prey. She may or may not be mentally mature enough for this, and it also requires a very different style of work from the helper than flirt pole work so your helper may or may not be able or willing to do it.


----------



## qbchottu (Jul 10, 2011)

Frustrate her more. I had a couple dogs like this that did not bark. Tying them out and having them watch other dogs helped. Age also plays a factor and she will probably start being more vocal as she matures.


----------

