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Want to teach dog to bark when it wants inside.
Regina Fong
Allons-y, AlonsoRegistered User regular
Allons-y, AlonsoRegistered User regular
Just like the title says.
My dog currently scratches/smacks at the back door with his paw when he's done being outside. In addition to being hard on the doors, it's not especially loud and unless you're in the room, you don't hear it.
We'd like him to bark when he wants to be let in. He is a fairly talkative dog, but mostly whines and huffing. He generally only barks when he is outside in his enclosure and he sees another dog or a cat or squirrel that he can't get to.
So H&A, I'm open to suggestions on how to teach my boy this trick.
My dog currently scratches/smacks at the back door with his paw when he's done being outside. In addition to being hard on the doors, it's not especially loud and unless you're in the room, you don't hear it.
We'd like him to bark when he wants to be let in. He is a fairly talkative dog, but mostly whines and huffing. He generally only barks when he is outside in his enclosure and he sees another dog or a cat or squirrel that he can't get to.
So H&A, I'm open to suggestions on how to teach my boy this trick.
Regina Fong on
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edit: For the string and bell trick, start by ringing a bell each time you let him out and let him in. Do this for awhile until he associates the action with the sound. Much like Pavlovs experiments. Then hang the bell from the door with string and "assist" your dog in pawing the bell each and every time you let him in and out. If you reinforce the desired behaviors eventually one day you will be sitting in the house wondering what the hell that ringing sound is until you realize...OH SHIT MY DOG'S A GENIUS!
Of course, your mileage may vary on how adaptive your dog is to learning commands, but this is the basic way to teach a dog anything. Pavlov's dog and all that.
He did bark at me one time when I was on this forum not paying attention to him. It was so random and startling that I didn't even think at the time to praise him to start ingraining the behavior. And he only did it that one time.
Oh well. We're gonna try this. My mom is upstairs as we speak with a handful of dog treats barking at the dog trying to get him to imitate her. Hilarious.
-edit-
Re the bell: Thought of that when I saw an informercial about a product like that a while back. It would save the doors, but I don't think it would be much more audible than his current "knocking" behavior. I think we'll try that if speech therapy fails, just to save the screen door if nothing else.
The bell thing might not work out too well.
We trained our dog to ring the bell.
He still doesn't quite do it. He still walks over to the door and starts eyeing everyone. Only, after standing there for a long time, when he reeeaally needs to go will he ring the bell.
And right before we let him out, when we walk up to the door, does he ring it.
So, it kinda works. Sorta. I think we did it wrong though. He's associated it with us opening the door more than 'hey I gotta go outside.'
Also, I'm just curious, how would you get your dog to 'speak' on command?
As mentioned above, hold the treat and issue the commands. If your dog is like most, it will eventually get frustrated and start trying to appease your commands. When he gets it right, reward. It may take many many attempts.
If you have access to another dog that knows the command, that can help, too. Our pup learned a lot of the same tricks our older dog knows by trying to mimic her. Speak was one of them.
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like others said, I'd make a location specific action instead... like the bell, or a button connected to a buzzer or something.
Depends on the dog really. With some dogs, all you have to do is look at them and say "speak" loudly and energetically and eventually they will pitch in with their own noises (WOOF!). Some dogs will just never bark unless they are very nervous or in an emergency situation.
Make sure not to let him out until he rings the bell, and if he isn't getting it, go back to ringing the bell manually for him every time you let him out. Ring the bell first, then open the door. Sequence is important.
We'd have to do that to two doors. Nah, that would be a pain in the ass. And there's the possibility that he might think we'd permanently banished him to the outside and just go lie down in the dirt, which would be heartbreaking.
That would be pretty sad
What about putting him out on a lead for awhile?
Make sure it doesn't reach the door.
The dogs we had as kids were all on leads, and they had NO problem barking to come back in
Once he has started barking, you can let him out without the lead.
Have him in the sit/stay position (if he knows how to stay and sit.) With him staying still, back up like five or six feet. Keep him steady, and then kind of dart back and forth from foot to foot, like you're playing. He should get excited and bark.
You have to time it, but make the command right before he barks. Like point up or make the "ok" sign with your fingers. Reward him immediately after he does it. And then keep doing it.
My dog will stay put forever, but once I start moving around he gets all excited and wants to come play with me. It's a tough trick to teach (sometimes.)
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