# How to teach the "Speak" command?



## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

Our trainer has been working with Baxter to learn this command. However...Baxter won't. It's like he can't figure out what's being asked of him. He's tried the "knocking on the wall" trick to trigger him barking, but Baxter just looks at the wall he's knocking on with the expression of, "I know it's you. Been there, done that...not worth barking at." Same when he sets up a scenario of someone coming through the door...just to trigger him to bark so he knows what he's asking, if that makes any sense at all.

Are there any tips/tricks that you all know of to work on this command? 

I feel bad. I watch him with the trainer, just sitting there with a look that makes it seem as though he's trying REALLY hard to figure it out, but just can't make sense of what's being asked of him. For a dog that will bark at anything...he refuses to bark on command.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

LoL, the best way to get my dog to stop barking is to say "speak" and do the hand motion of speaking. I have been having the same problem with teaching the speak command so I can understand your frustration.

I have tried another tactic the other day but only got to try once because my husband was not being enthusiastic about helping me. I had him hold her back on the leash with her agitation collar on while I kept my distance with her favorite treat in hand ready to reward her as soon as she started barking.

I think if I can get my husband to be more enthusiastic and try it again it just may work.


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

I'll have to try that and see how it goes! Unfortunately, he really doesn't bark for treats or toys either, just gets really excited and tense, ready to pounce at the first chance.

He only seems to bark at people/dogs/noises coming from outside HIS house. My parents' house? The other dogs can be going nuts and he just chills and couldn't care less. The car or our house is a totally different story. He's a quirky little beast.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Are there ever times when he gets excited for treats or food or when you or your partner comes home and he gets vocal at all? Doesn't have to actually ARF!, just make any noises?


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## ponyfarm (Apr 11, 2010)

Wait until he actually barks at something, then give him a treat, "yes". Then, tell him quiet...unless you want more than one "speak". Then, once you know what makes him speak, you can start adding a command, hand or voice to it, and a treat.


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## pfitzpa1 (Apr 26, 2011)

I sat in front of my dog with a holding a treat between her and me and I just barked at her while teasing her with the treat. I would say "speak" Woof Woof Woof Woof pause and repeat. After about 5 times she barked at me and I rewarded immediately, then carried on from there. I did exactly the same when changing from "speak" to the German version "Gib laut" and she picked it up immediately. She initially would only bark once, but using the same technique I was able to persuade her to bark multiple times.

Video here


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

Thank you for the tips! Yes, the ultimate goal is to teach him "speak" so we can then teach him "out"...

I'll try holding the treat and barking at him. I tried it once, and his expression was so bewildered that I couldn't keep it up, I kept laughing.

He literally NEVER barks when he gets excited about food or people. He'll bark when he hears Sam's car...but then when he realizes who it is, he sits right in front of the door and "sweeps" it with his tail. But no noise. No noise for food or treats. No noise when we ask him if he wants to go for a ride, or go to "grandma's house"...nothin'. He'll get excited, wiggle around, wag his tail, jump...but nothing vocal.

I'll also try rewarding him when he barks, but he usually goes from absolute silence to barking like a madman and won't knock it off. 

Keep the tips comin'! I'll try them all until I find something that flips the switch in that goofy brain of his!


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## mwiacek10 (Nov 8, 2010)

Just wondering, why "speak" before "out". I'm working on "out" now with Gunny and our new trainer. I think I've confused him because over the past two years "out" ment go outside.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I think that some dogs are more inclined to bark than others. My last two German Shepherds would hardly ever bark. Neither did their mother. My current German Shepherd adores the sound of his own voice and gladly barks whether prompted to or not.


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## Kac46047 (Sep 5, 2011)

My pup contintly watches the window and wait for people to knock or ring the door bell. Both send him into a barking frenzy. I could use my actuall doorbell to get him to bark because he would just run to the door and get really excited. So I downloaded a door bell app and took him into a different room and shut the door. The app made him bark then i rewarded with a hannd motion and speak. We have only been working at it for a couple of days but I think he's geting it! I only need to use the app once before he knows the handsignal for the rest of the time I ask him to speak


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

My dog was real easy. She always barks at the window, when she sees someone, or when someone comes to the door. While she was barking, I would say, "Who is it?" In a very excited voice. Before long, I could just look at her and say, "Who is it?" And she would start barking. The only reward she ever got was, "Good Girl!" When I want her to stop, I say, "Enough." I always want her to bark at the door on command, in the event it is a solicitor or someone sketchy. Works every time. Of course, you can use Speak, instead of Who is it? I like the idea of someone outside hearing me ask the dog who it is, just before she goes ballistic. LOL!


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## RocketDog (Sep 25, 2011)

You might also try some youtube video's of barking dogs. My pup barked a couple of times when I played one, so I put one on, said "SPEAK!" when they started, then clicked and treated. After a couple of times, I just had to woof at him. He picked it up pretty fast. 

The funniest part was he was still young, (4 months) so when we'd ask him, he's start snapping his teeth like he _was_ issuing a bark but no sound would come out. He'd keep doing it until he "got it to work", LOL. It was like he didn't quite know how to make it work on command.


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

Haha, some of your experiences are hilarious! I'll try the youtube videos. He's so dog reactive right now that sometimes even seeing a VIDEO of a dog (or a dog on TV) is enough to set him off. He's getting better, though.

Having a video of a barking dog would probably get him going with barking, so I'll give that a shot!

I dont' mind him barking when he hears people at the door - in fact, I prefer it since I'm usually home by myself with the dog since Sam travels all the time. I just want him to know when enough is enough! He already scares the delivery guys, pizza people, and postman half to death when they hear him on the other side of the door.


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

Ok I am laughing because I felt like I was the only one. I was in Search and Rescue (SAR) with my boy Titan, now 2 years old. When he was about 1 year.. a little more.. we started SAR. When we got to the point where he needed to "speak" to alert me that he found someone it was the most painful thing to watch and teach. With every other trick and command it took a matter of a day even hours sometimes and he was good to go, but barking.. oh no.. not a chance. Only if someone was at the door or walking by HIS house. He NEVER barked. I tried EVERYTHING!!!! I mean down to barking at him myself and nothing.. just puzzled looks from him. It was so frustrating because honestly what good is a SAR dog if when he finds someone you don't know where he is at... um not so good, haha. 

What ultimately worked for him was toys. Titan is SO incredibly toy driven he will do virtually anything for one. So I took him out every single day for a week and would tease him the entire 10-15 minutes with his toy but never gave it to him until he made some sort of noise.. whimper, whine, cry, ANYTHING that required vocal chords. then after a while he got frustrated and wouldn't even do that. I ended taking him out one day, getting him all riled up threw the toy maybe twice so that he was just getting into it.. then I just held it over my heart (our command for "speak") While repeating "speak" and he just sat there.. and I'm not kidding.. a solid 30 minutes went by and he just stared intently... I finally made a movement to throw it and got him excited but didn't do anything.. he got so mad at me for teasing him he just let out this huge bark... it was SO exciting.. and I praised him so much.. it clicked right then and there.. then anytime I didn't give him his toy he barked his brains out.. but hey at least he's barking now.. beggers can't be choosers right? I did teach him "Shh" (with finger over my lips) so now he's much better and doesn't bark like a nut when he wants something.

Sorry for the long post but I just had to share my experience. Keep trying things.. find something that he is bonkers for and tease him with it. At some point he will get frustrated and bark.. just be sure as soon as he barks you say the command and praise him. Good luck, let us know how it goes!!!


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

Haha, I'm so glad I'm not the only out there with a dog who picks up on tricks incredibly fast, but REFUSES to bark. I got him to do it once or twice today! I took advantage of his "on edge" mood earlier after he saw someone walking past the house and went bonkers. I kept asking him who was there, and would give the hand signal for speak (same one you mentioned) and would say, "Good speak!!!!" every time he'd bark. He was looking at me like I was nuts. Then I made him bark before I'd give him his dinner. He looked ready to kill me...but he DID it. I don't think it's quite clicked yet, though. I'll keep workin' on him! Our poor trainer is going nuts not being able to get him to do this, so maybe I'll make him happy by getting it through to Baxter what's being asked of him.


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## BlackJack (Jun 23, 2011)

I had to bark at Molly about 30 times to get her do it. I tried using a Youtube video of barking, agitating her, and nothing except me looking like a fool barking at my own dog would work.

Its not something I have started to work with Immo yet. Its on the list in the next few months, but right now focusing on leash work and laying the foundations for heeling.


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

You guys are starting to convince me that our dogs are just determined to see just how dumb they can make us look before they'll relent to "speak." 

I got him to do it one more time...we'll see how we progress with this!


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i use to have my dog sit in front of me. then i would get
on my knees and bark while looking at him
and then say "speak". my dog went from
a whimper to bark when asked to speak.
whenever he made a sound i treated
and praised him.


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## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

evybear15 said:


> You guys are starting to convince me that our dogs are just determined to see just how dumb they can make us look before they'll relent to "speak."
> 
> I got him to do it one more time...we'll see how we progress with this!


Haha! I have to agree with you.. Titan also won't roll over. And no matter how long I try to teach it.. he refuses.. no matter what I do.. even tried rolling myself.. I'm sure that exactly what he wanted me to do and probably got a kick out of it. Lol. 

As for the barking.. he seems to have kind of made a connection. I know that GSD don't generally bark unless something/someone is bothering them so that's likely why it takes so fricken long! Just keep at it!! Took mine about a month before it was a smooth "speak" or hand motion followed by a bark.


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## Kittilicious (Sep 25, 2011)

doggiedad said:


> i use to have my dog sit in front of me. then i would get
> on my knees and bark while looking at him
> and then say "speak". my dog went from
> a whimper to bark when asked to speak.
> ...


Thats about what I did, too.


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## evybear15 (Mar 28, 2011)

I tried barking at him from my hands and knees (I'm so glad the neighbors can't see me). He didn't know what I was doing, so he kept going through all of his other tricks to figure out what I wanted. In the end, he accidentally clubbed me in the face by doing "wave" instead of "speak."

So far, taking advantage of him being on edge from someone being at the door, or playing youtube videos of other dogs seems to be the best route for him.

I honestly have a hard time not laughing when watching his expressions as I try to get him to figure it out. He looks SO puzzled as to why I'm being so ridiculous and barking at him. He'll look confused, tilt his head to the side, and hesitantly do a different trick as though to be like, "Uhm...okay...you're being kind of weird, Mom. I don't really know what you want...Uhh...this? Should I do this? No. Uhmm..how about this?"

We'll get there! In the meantime, it makes for a good laugh.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

Kac46047 said:


> My pup contintly watches the window and wait for people to knock or ring the door bell. Both send him into a barking frenzy. I could use my actuall doorbell to get him to bark because he would just run to the door and get really excited. So I downloaded a door bell app and took him into a different room and shut the door. The app made him bark then i rewarded with a hannd motion and speak. We have only been working at it for a couple of days but I think he's geting it! I only need to use the app once before he knows the handsignal for the rest of the time I ask him to speak


I am going to try that method.

Yesterday I played youtube videos of dogs barking and if she would occasionally bark with the video I would treat her, but she still has not gotten it.

We also tried the doorbell thing and treated her, and just when I think she got it, nope.

Maybe if I can do it more consistently with the doorbell app and quickly treat she will get it.

I thought my girl was smart, until trying to teach this command. I have tried so many methods already.


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

Finally Finally Finally my girl got the speak command. The decoy at Shutzhund held the treats in his hand and kept saying speak while I held her back on the agitation collar. 

She did do quite a bit of air biting too, but I worked with her again this morning with her in a sit while telling her to speak and she is finally getting the hang of it. She did some airbites today too, but I don't reward her for those, only mouth motion with sounds.


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## Superscout (Jan 23, 2012)

Have been trying to teach this speak command to Scout...he just usually looks at me like, "duh". He will sit, lay down, shake or whatever but never speak. Nothing like a doorbell triggers his bark, just the neighbors or a cat or something when out back.

I have had my 10yr old daughter sit next to him and tell her to speak then give her a reward--he watches but i am sure he is just laughing inside...


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

I taught Kira how to speak on command.

Here's how I did it:

You can do this 2 ways:

I put her in a position to bark. I know that a knock on the door would generate a bark from her. Of course, I would either have someone knock, or do it myself, then just as she was about to bark, I would say "speak", and the first sound would have a treat stuffed in her mouth and praise.

I enforced it by chance:

Kira would always sit near the kitchen sink, and give a little bark when she wants water. I would see her make her way to the sink, and just as she was about to alert me, I would say "speak", and give her the water immediately.

Now she speaks on command.

FWIW...... I'm not too sure I like that command. Since teaching her this, she's become a PIA. If I'm eating a snack, she'll stare at me. I see this from the corner of my eye. If I as much as glance in her direction, I'll get her little speak bark. It's her form of begging.


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## robk (Jun 16, 2011)

I think some dogs are more genetically inclined to be good barkers than others. I have had dogs that would rarely bark. When I think back about it, One reason I picked them out because thier mother did not bark at me when I came to visit. (I know, this is a terrible way to pick out a litter). My current dog is a very hard barker. When I visit his breeder her dogs never stop barking. She has to put no bark collars on them so we can chat!


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## holland (Jan 11, 2009)

It took me longer to teach my dog that likes to bark to speak-maybe because she was older-don't know-after that its fun to teach whisper


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## Stella's Mom (Mar 8, 2011)

Stella "finally" learned the speak command after working with the decoy. I held her back and he would hold the treat in his hand and use the hand gesture to speak and say speak.

After a few rounds of air biting she put 2+2 together and she now speaks on command.

Now if we could just get her to be bit more quiet during other times of the day that would be great!


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

Sure you want this?


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## k_sep (Jun 21, 2011)

I tried to teach Luna "speak" by barking at her, but she just turned her cute little GSD head to the side. Then she thought I wanted to play, so she'd pounce on me, then I'd have to put her in a sit, stay again. That method never worked for me. My trainer suggested that I "frustrate her" into speaking and learning the command and I felt bad doing it to. She was about three and a half, maybe four months old when she learned the command. She wasn't big on barking at the time. Anyways, I'd either put her in her little pen, or get up on my bed which was too high for her to get on and tell her "speak". She'd either try to get out (or on the bed), but she she realize she couldn't, she'd get frustrate and bark. After about ten times or so, she associated the "speak" command with the barking and got it without having to frustrate her. Took a few days to fine tune, but ultimately worked out.


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## dotfrag (Feb 13, 2012)

One thing I noticed with Orson was that as the years went on, he barked less and less. I could still get him to bark but late in his life he just didn't want to bark anymore I guess.

I don't remember trying to teach him the "Speak" command but just like many dogs, he was extremely toy driven so... Uses toys and treats. Anything you teach them will take time, sometimes a lot, sometimes barely any at all.

Best of luck!


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## BlackJack (Jun 23, 2011)

Well finely got around to start teaching Immo to speak... Its been much harder than Molly was. I hope in the next few days he will finally get it.

Right now only way I can get a bark out of him is to fustrate him in his crate. I will see how that goes in the next day or so. Took Molly less than 15 minutes to learn it.


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## Skribbles (Jan 11, 2012)

I had no luck teaching this to Chloe previously. She'd sit there and look an me like I was an idiot. Yesterday see was barking at herself in the mirror so I grabbed some treats and a clicker and started saying speak after every bark then would click and treat. She caught on pretty quick and we were able to move away from the mirror and continue. I'll have to try again at lunch today to see if she remembers.


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## BlackJack (Jun 23, 2011)

Might try the mirror trick myself. I had luck agitating him in the crate to mark it, but he thinks he has to be in crate to do the command now. I watched walk into the crate just to bark and get the treat yesterday.


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## Superscout (Jan 23, 2012)

my Scout still will not pick up on the speak command. I am waiting for him to just say something like "your mama" one of these days....

I wish I had a bark trigger like a doorbell or something but he really ignores those type of things.


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## Debbieg (Jun 7, 2009)

I was able to teach Benny the speak command very easily in about 10 minutes. I got him all amped up playing which causes him to begin barking. At the first bark, I said "Yes" and gave him a treat. A seconds later he looked at me, as if I was crazy and barked again ( to initiate play) Again right after one bark, I said "yes" and gave him a treat. We repeated this scenario a few times and then I added the word "speak"


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## Skribbles (Jan 11, 2012)

Just a follow up... be careful what you wish for. Chloe loves speaking a little too much now. Time to learn the quiet command...


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## JoMichelle (Jan 20, 2012)

I want to, and have been trying to teach Winter (4 months) to speak, so that I can teach her to let me know when she wants to go out.

I'm having similar problems. She hardly ever barks, and when she does she's usually so on edge or so excited that she doesn't even notice what I am saying or doing. I've yet to find a trigger


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## Anthony8858 (Sep 18, 2011)

JoMichelle said:


> I want to, and have been trying to teach Winter (4 months) to speak, so that I can teach her to let me know when she wants to go out.
> 
> I'm having similar problems. She hardly ever barks, and when she does she's usually so on edge or so excited that she doesn't even notice what I am saying or doing. I've yet to find a trigger


Go get a hanging bell, and hang it on the door handle that leads to wherever your dog does potty. keep it at a height where she could easily reach it.

Every time you take your pup out to potty, take her paw, and touch the bell.

In not time, she'll be ringing at the bell to go out.


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## JoMichelle (Jan 20, 2012)

Thank you for the help  but I'm not keen on the idea of a bell. I know a lot of people do, but I would prefer my dog to bark and not have to rely on anything else.

Anyhow, we've got it  Found a trigger by accident, and now we're working on barking when she wants to go outside. I just hope she doesn't use to when she just feels like going out to play lol, I have a feeling she will!


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## 1337f0x (Feb 21, 2012)

Just for laughs I thought I would say speak before he barks (when i know he'll bark) then say good boy! and tried it again and again and again last night... he can almost do it on command now! LOL. this was just for laughs and it ended up working out well


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