# Teaching Speak



## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

Speak or "Talk Smack” as some people like to call it, has never been a priority on the training list, so it never bothered me when my previous dogs wouldn't do it.

Now, since Charlie is excelling in his training and doing very well, I'd like to train him to speak, or bark repetitively on command, not a very particular reason other than i want to, and maybe a bit of protection for myself on our late night walks, since his bark is quite frightening.

The only problem is, Charlie is the most quiet dog I've ever had! He never barks except at strangers coming in or strange animals on our property, which is rare, other than that, silence, except for the occasional obnoxious "AHHWAOAH" while he yawns, literally.

I've tried getting excited, jumping about like a fool and having his highest value treats but he quite literally stares at me like I've gone off my rocker in complete silence, even going as far to look disappointed in me for not taking training seriously, shame on me.

Anyways, any advice is welcome lol


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## Squidwardp (Oct 15, 2019)

We have two dogs who go to training once-twice a week. Neither are titled yet, but they are making progress. 

The male, about 6 months younger than the female, learned "gib laut!" or speak about as quickly as he learned "sit." Slight exaggeration, but not much.
He would "gib laut!" anytime, anywhere on command.

The female is a quieter dog, somewhat along the lines of the one you describe. At least much quieter about barking on command.

She WILL bark at strangers or perceived intruders on the farm. We live on a farm now, with cows. She was not raised with cows. So when she sees the cows approaching the interior yard for the house, she barks like crazy. Ditto for delivery people, tradesmen working on the chimney. 

But if I held up a high value treat, or better yet, a ball, she might jaw click, she'd certainly home in on my eyes like a laser, she would platz, sitz, fetch, but she would not bark.

She has been slow to bark in training to approach a helper in the blind, though she will do that now. 

On the whole though, sounds a little like your dog. She barks when she thinks she needs to, and has a real cannon for a bark. The above-mentioned chimney guys saw her and the male, who is larger, and were surprised that most of the barks they heard came from the female. 

But speak, or gib laut, doesn't get any response.


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## melaniep (Jan 28, 2021)

Teaching your dog to "speak" at you I'd say is the easier version. For my dog, he barked when the doorbell rang. So I would ring my doorbell, say "gib laut" (speak) immediately, he'd bark, I'd give him his bridge word and pay up. I literally did this no joke 5 times and it stuck.

We're trying to teach him "pass auf" to bark at an object instead of me now which is a little more tricky. The only advise I can give on that is building frustration is key.

You just gotta find something to frustrate your dog to the point that they bark.


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## Bearshandler (Aug 29, 2019)

You can use frustration or you can use a trigger. Using a trigger if you can find one is much easier.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

I use a ball and build frustration by holding the collar while "teasing" with the ball. Backtieing and building frustration will work too.


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## Squidwardp (Oct 15, 2019)

Putting the girl in "the box," a trojan horse looking contraption with a backtie, generated some good barking. 

When she is in protection training, facing a sleeved helper, she will light up barking on command now.

But around the house, "speak" or "gib laut" will get the male to bark if he is in hearing distance.


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## Honey Maid (Dec 25, 2020)

Crud, my problem is how to teach him to SHUT UP! HaHaHa


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

I'd think twice about teaching a GSD that he gets treats for barking personally. So many other great things to teach beyond "tricks" with no purpose


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## CeraDean (Jul 9, 2019)

I used prey frustration with a squirt bottle. Vandal loves hoses and squirt bottles so I squirted and waited for him to make some noise, any noise and rewarded. It eventually developed into a cued bark. It sounds nothing like his booming defensive bark. 
He wasn’t the easiest to get to bark but once I found the right motivation, he learned quick. It’s still difficult for him to get a nice bark for a toy alone, especially with his ball throwing buddies (husband and son).


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

I use, "Who is it?" My dogs go ballistic over those words. It scares the crap out of anyone who comes to the door. Then, I say, "Enough! Good girl/boy, enough!" The reward is in the barking. They enjoy it. My smaller dog does another thing. He's kind of a snarky butt. Growling is just part of his vocabulary. We whisper, "What did you say?" And he growls.


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

I am so enjoying the silence with my current dog. It will probably not last but I love it. He will bark to alert at the door and at the gate, can’t avoid that.

And he sometimes howls along with fire truck sirens. When I heard it at first I had no idea what that sound was, I thought he was hurt or something lol


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## GSD07 (Feb 23, 2007)

My previous dog was a barker so it was so easy to capture and teach Speak. I taught Speak so I could teach No Speak. Both worked very well, with voice and hand signals.


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## Baileyshuman (Apr 26, 2021)

We ended up teaching “quiet” before we taught “speak”, so he’s got a better quiet than he does a speak. I did two things mostly. Tying his leash up to a rail in the garden and playing with a football right out of his reach while saying speak, and then kicking it to him when he barked. Or barking at him. Barking at him works best 😅


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

Honey Maid said:


> Crud, my problem is how to teach him to SHUT UP! HaHaHa


Bahahah, Charlie has a "quiet" command for when I really want him to shush, but it's rarely used since he barely ever barks


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

WNGD said:


> I'd think twice about teaching a GSD that he gets treats for barking personally. So many other great things to teach beyond "tricks" with no purpose


Very true, I was worried about encouraging him to bark all the time but a lot of the replies say afterwards it was easier to teach "quiet"


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

Baileyshuman said:


> We ended up teaching “quiet” before we taught “speak”, so he’s got a better quiet than he does a speak. I did two things mostly. Tying his leash up to a rail in the garden and playing with a football right out of his reach while saying speak, and then kicking it to him when he barked. Or barking at him. Barking at him works best 😅


Ah I might have to try it, maybe play with another dog since Charlie refuses to bark AT me at all, I think another dog would definitely build frustration lol


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

Stevenzachsmom said:


> I use, "Who is it?" My dogs go ballistic over those words. It scares the crap out of anyone who comes to the door. Then, I say, "Enough! Good girl/boy, enough!" The reward is in the barking. They enjoy it. My smaller dog does another thing. He's kind of a snarky butt. Growling is just part of his vocabulary. We whisper, "What did you say?" And he growls.


I got a good laugh out of imagining that last part bahahah 
Charlie doesn't bark but he does get very alert and jumpy when I go "psssssst"


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## peachygeorgia (Oct 5, 2021)

Thanks for all the suggestions! I'll try some frustration work, although he's a relatively calm dog so I might have to pull out the big guns, like another dog lol


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

I used frustration to teach both Gib Laut and for Whisper / "tell me a secret" I found that over the years my dogs picked both up well but it took my gal-dog some time to learn how to modulate her volume.


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## NadDog24 (May 14, 2020)

Nadja doesn’t technically know “speak” but if we’re in the house and say “BooRoo, who’s there?” In a suspicious sounding voice she’ll take off barking for the door, or if she’s being lazy, just sit there on the couch barking. The only other time she really barks is during protection work.


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