Teaching obi to bark on command

[Deftone1fan16]

Hello all,
I am currently starting to teach Obi to bark on command. I've landed on the command word (guard) and the proceed with the hand signal (making my hand into a fist). Curious as to how other people taught this command. I've read some articles on this process. So far Obi just tilts his head and looks at me in a confused way lol. It's still early with the training but I've found that I always get some good tips on here. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ddski5]

Okay, so you have to find some kind of stimulus that makes obi bark. Then match your command “guard” with a treat everytime he barks at the stimulus. Over a period of time doing this, he will match the command and bark.

That’s what I did with my first one…he would bark at horses on tv. So I would put on You Tube and just play horses during our training. This worked well with teaching mine the command to “speak” and he did it well on command. I even went a little further and taught him to speak with eye contact followed with a head nod. That right there would wow my friends, all I had to do was look at him and nod my head upwards quickly and he would start barking.

My second Doberman- I tried and tried but could not find anything to illicit a bark. She does not react to animals on tv. I try to tease her with food or toys, keep away with a tug rope, etc….nothing would illicit a bark- so I never taught her how to speak. The only thing that will make her bark is if a stranger comes into the yard. That is so spontaneous and it was just hard to plan a training session for that. I guess I could have asked a friend to mill around in the yard acting weird….

 

[Oh Little Oji]

It sounds like you are trying to get Obi to bark in response to something suspicious or a perceived threat or the like.

This is different from teaching a dog to bark on command (what most call the "speak" command, which in the dog's mind, has nothing to do with guarding). Well actually, some dogs automatically link the two, My Oji was one.

For a pure speak command, offer something your Dobe really wants. Utter your chosen command word. Be patient. Get your Dobe excited. The first time he or she makes a sound with their voice, immediately reward and praise, saying "Good speak!!!"

For a guarding response, key in on your Dobe's natural watchdog tendencies. Your job will be easy, as Dobermans are nigh on second to none in this department. With each Dobe I've had, it wasn't long before I could just breathe a certain way and they'd go on alert. You should promote their reactions of suspicion. Link it consistently to your command word and hand signal. Soon, you can give your guarding command and your Dobe will snap to response like a tightly coiled spring. Just be careful. If you promote this too much in public, and you don't have a strong base of obedience and your Dobe does not look to you as leader, you may have a liability at leash's end.

This brings me to the silent command. The good news is the speak command is a fundamental help in teaching the silent command. This involves having zero tolerance for even a tiny woof or a little harumph. You must be willing to go to them and issue a correction, even when it's inconvenient for you.

I have found giving the silent command causes my Dobe to stand down. They defer to me and give control of the situation over to me. This is even effective in preventing your Dobe from lashing out at other dogs.

 

[MyBuddy]

. I even went a little further and taught him to speak with eye contact followed with a head nod. That right there would wow my friends,

No doubt! It wowed me! That's pretty cool!

 

[MyBuddy]

Annie's not a big barker but she's growled from the get-go! She was just a pup of only 3 months old when she let out a low growl at someone coming up the back stairs. I was shocked but I thought, well! Maybe she'll be a great watchdog! Since then (she's 8 months) she has alerted at things outside. Sometimes doing enough barking where I have to silence her. But for me I'd almost like to teach the command to growl. I think that's more menacing! She almost scares me!

 

[Ddski5]

Me using horses on tv was an easy mark for training but it also became a problem. I facilitated and gave the green light to bark at animals on tv, so thenceforth, asshat would go into a jacked up mentality barking when he saw animals on tv.

I think the best thing is to try an illicit it from play, tug, teasing with food or toy. If you can catch him in the act and treat/translate it to your command word- like @MyBuddy just described.

 

[Ravenbird]

As mentioned already, some dogs - even raised in the same household - do not have the same drive. Barking is an inborn trait but can be trained. Also as already mentioned if you want a menacing defense bark that's totally different than "speak", but if you see someone lurking in your yard and you want your dog to bark just to let them know a big dog is in the house, then "speak" would work.

For guarding type bark Demand-barking is what you would teach first. You want Obi to demand that you give him something you are withholding, like a favorite tug. Make it obvious you have what he wants, hide it behind your back, show him then hide it again if he makes a move at it. In other words tease him. If he makes ANY sound, a whine or little boof, give it to him and play. Rinse and repeat. To get a stronger demand you can use a harness (never tie by the collar) and tie back to a tree and stand just out of reach to frustrate him. Once he starts barking for it, build it up by standing still and making him bark multiple times for it before engaging. Then start backing up (now he's "pushing" you AND barking at you) This builds his confidence to bark more boldly. Again, if your dog is not a natural defense barker it will take more work, some, as mentioned above will do so naturally but not on command. Most easily shaped as a puppy, if your dog is older and isn't a barker it will be harder to teach, but not impossible. If it comes easily to him be careful as you will then be saddled with teaching him NOT to bark.

This will still not teach him to bark a person on command, as it's a game he plays with you and has nothing to do with wanting to drive away an intruder, especially if you have a social dog who is not highly suspicious of strangers. If you want him to bark on command at "someone out there", that's going to take a helper to play the part in agitating him into barking with you behind him holding his leash.

And no matter how it turns out, spending time teaching your dog something new is fun and rewarding for both of you!

 

[Oh Little Oji]

If you want him to bark on command at "someone out there", that's going to take a helper to play the part in agitating him into barking with you behind him holding his leash.

And that is certainly a good way to do things, especially to train the dog to aim its bark / defensiveness at a certain person.

It doesn't take another person / helper to get your dog to bark suspiciously / defensively though. You can get them to do it when they hear a noise in the distance.

I will always remember my first experiences with a Doberman. My girlfriend and her mom lived together alone with a male Dobe named Tobin. One night, she said to me check this out, and cracked open the front door and said "Watch!" Tobin let out the biggest lowest bark that echoed through the street. Being inexperienced with Dobes and close up contact with large guardian type dogs I was very affected by that.

 

[MyBuddy]

It doesn't take another person / helper to get your dog to bark suspiciously / defensively though. You can get them to do it when they hear a noise in the distance.

Yes, I was going to say one of the ways I do it, is to react whenever they bark out the window. First off, there is a real curiosity for me when my dogs are barking out the window. I want to see what they're barking at. Friend or foe?

If it's nothing but say, a bird, I would calm them by saying it's okay, settle down. If it's a person, especially someone I don't know, I would allow them to continue barking. Maybe even encouraging it by my keyword of, "Watch 'em!"

I don't necessarily want them barking at every little thing out the window. But showing them that I will get up to investigate if they are barking, I believe shows them that they are correct in barking (alerting). They got my attention. My reaction to what they're barking at is the end result.

There was a favorite video of mine that someone posted a long time ago. She taught her dog to bark and whisper on command. How cool is that? And it was adorable!

I couldn't find the one I was thinking of but did find this one.

 

[Cferg]

@Ravenbird is correct. Your dog barking for a piece of cheese is a different bark than a frustration bark or defensive bark. Different emotions in the dog. You’re looking to capture the emotion.

 

[Deftone1fan16]

Okay, so you have to find some kind of stimulus that makes obi bark. Then match your command “guard” with a treat everytime he barks at the stimulus. Over a period of time doing this, he will match the command and bark.

That’s what I did with my first one…he would bark at horses on tv. So I would put on You Tube and just play horses during our training. This worked well with teaching mine the command to “speak” and he did it well on command. I even went a little further and taught him to speak with eye contact followed with a head nod. That right there would wow my friends, all I had to do was look at him and nod my head upwards quickly and he would start barking.

My second Doberman- I tried and tried but could not find anything to illicit a bark. She does not react to animals on tv. I try to tease her with food or toys, keep away with a tug rope, etc….nothing would illicit a bark- so I never taught her how to speak. The only thing that will make her bark is if a stranger comes into the yard. That is so spontaneous and it was just hard to plan a training session for that. I guess I could have asked a friend to mill around in the yard acting weird….

This is exactly what I'm trying. But Obi is like your second doberman lol. He's a pretty calm dog, no barking until someone passes by our house or comes to the door. I've been trying to jump on the training as soon as he barks at people passing by. The most I've gotten out of him was a little woof lol... we're still early on the training tho

 

[Deftone1fan16]

It sounds like you are trying to get Obi to bark in response to something suspicious or a perceived threat or the like.

This is different from teaching a dog to bark on command (what most call the "speak" command, which in the dog's mind, has nothing to do with guarding). Well actually, some dogs automatically link the two, My Oji was one.

For a pure speak command, offer something your Dobe really wants. Utter your chosen command word. Be patient. Get your Dobe excited. The first time he or she makes a sound with their voice, immediately reward and praise, saying "Good speak!!!"

For a guarding response, key in on your Dobe's natural watchdog tendencies. Your job will be easy, as Dobermans are nigh on second to none in this department. With each Dobe I've had, it wasn't long before I could just breathe a certain way and they'd go on alert. You should promote their reactions of suspicion. Link it consistently to your command word and hand signal. Soon, you can give your guarding command and your Dobe will snap to response like a tightly coiled spring. Just be careful. If you promote this too much in public, and you don't have a strong base of obedience and your Dobe does not look to you as leader, you may have a liability at leash's end.

This brings me to the silent command. The good news is the speak command is a fundamental help in teaching the silent command. This involves having zero tolerance for even a tiny woof or a little harumph. You must be willing to go to them and issue a correction, even when it's inconvenient for you.

I have found giving the silent command causes my Dobe to stand down. They defer to me and give control of the situation over to me. This is even effective in preventing your Dobe from lashing out at other dogs.

 

[Deftone1fan16]

It sounds like you are trying to get Obi to bark in response to something suspicious or a perceived threat or the like.

This is different from teaching a dog to bark on command (what most call the "speak" command, which in the dog's mind, has nothing to do with guarding). Well actually, some dogs automatically link the two, My Oji was one.

For a pure speak command, offer something your Dobe really wants. Utter your chosen command word. Be patient. Get your Dobe excited. The first time he or she makes a sound with their voice, immediately reward and praise, saying "Good speak!!!"

For a guarding response, key in on your Dobe's natural watchdog tendencies. Your job will be easy, as Dobermans are nigh on second to none in this department. With each Dobe I've had, it wasn't long before I could just breathe a certain way and they'd go on alert. You should promote their reactions of suspicion. Link it consistently to your command word and hand signal. Soon, you can give your guarding command and your Dobe will snap to response like a tightly coiled spring. Just be careful. If you promote this too much in public, and you don't have a strong base of obedience and your Dobe does not look to you as leader, you may have a liability at leash's end.

This brings me to the silent command. The good news is the speak command is a fundamental help in teaching the silent command. This involves having zero tolerance for even a tiny woof or a little harumph. You must be willing to go to them and issue a correction, even when it's inconvenient for you.

I have found giving the silent command causes my Dobe to stand down. They defer to me and give control of the situation over to me. This is even effective in preventing your Dobe from lashing out at other dogs.

So Obi is not a barker until someone passes by our house or comes to the door. His bark is loud and menacing. What you mentioned is exactly why I'm trying to teach the command. Once he gets barking it takes a while for him to calm down. I will say "easy" then a hand signal (open palm forward ). He is mostly a miss on this command. So i figured i should teach the barking/ guard command and maybe he'll clue in on when to stop.
One of the reasons I love dobies is because of the intuition they have, like you mentioned. I also started to do alert mode with him. Out of nowhere I will just stand up or change my demeanor and say " Whats that" , and start looking around. Obi has actually caught on and is starting to go on alert mode and starts looking around and starts investigating. I take him to work with me to our grocery store. I spend some time training with him before we open.
Thank you for the reply !

 

[Deftone1fan16]

As mentioned already, some dogs - even raised in the same household - do not have the same drive. Barking is an inborn trait but can be trained. Also as already mentioned if you want a menacing defense bark that's totally different than "speak", but if you see someone lurking in your yard and you want your dog to bark just to let them know a big dog is in the house, then "speak" would work.

For guarding type bark Demand-barking is what you would teach first. You want Obi to demand that you give him something you are withholding, like a favorite tug. Make it obvious you have what he wants, hide it behind your back, show him then hide it again if he makes a move at it. In other words tease him. If he makes ANY sound, a whine or little boof, give it to him and play. Rinse and repeat. To get a stronger demand you can use a harness (never tie by the collar) and tie back to a tree and stand just out of reach to frustrate him. Once he starts barking for it, build it up by standing still and making him bark multiple times for it before engaging. Then start backing up (now he's "pushing" you AND barking at you) This builds his confidence to bark more boldly. Again, if your dog is not a natural defense barker it will take more work, some, as mentioned above will do so naturally but not on command. Most easily shaped as a puppy, if your dog is older and isn't a barker it will be harder to teach, but not impossible. If it comes easily to him be careful as you will then be saddled with teaching him NOT to bark.

This will still not teach him to bark a person on command, as it's a game he plays with you and has nothing to do with wanting to drive away an intruder, especially if you have a social dog who is not highly suspicious of strangers. If you want him to bark on command at "someone out there", that's going to take a helper to play the part in agitating him into barking with you behind him holding his leash.

And no matter how it turns out, spending time teaching your dog something new is fun and rewarding for both of you!

Ok it sounds like Obi is a natural defense barker. The only time he barks is when people pass by our house or come to our door. He does sound loud and menacing. One of the reasons I'm trying to teach the bark / gaurd command is so he can also learn when to stop lol. Once he gets going it takes a while for him to stop. I've been trying to calm him down by saying "easy" with the hand signal (open palm forward) but he's mostly a miss on this command.

The other reason for teaching the bark/ guard command is because I take him to work with me. I own a small mom and pop grocery store and there are times when an intimidation factor is needed lol

 

[Deftone1fan16]

Yes, I was going to say one of the ways I do it, is to react whenever they bark out the window. First off, there is a real curiosity for me when my dogs are barking out the window. I want to see what they're barking at. Friend or foe?

If it's nothing but say, a bird, I would calm them by saying it's okay, settle down. If it's a person, especially someone I don't know, I would allow them to continue barking. Maybe even encouraging it by my keyword of, "Watch 'em!"

I don't necessarily want them barking at every little thing out the window. But showing them that I will get up to investigate if they are barking, I believe shows them that they are correct in barking (alerting). They got my attention. My reaction to what they're barking at is the end result.

There was a favorite video of mine that someone posted a long time ago. She taught her dog to bark and whisper on command. How cool is that? And it was adorable!

I couldn't find the one I was thinking of but did find this one.

Obi will bark at anything passing by our house. I'm trying to get him to recognize actual threats. He will bark at neighbors and kids passing by. I used Halloween as a perfect time to teach him not to bark at kids. Our first trick or treaters obi would get defensive and bark. I used his command to calm down then a treat when he did calm down even if he was on alert mode. After a few trick or treaters I asked some of the kids if they wanted to give Obi a treat. Once obi saw that kids give treats he became a big baby and was excited and playful with kids passing by ..... funny how well treats work for Obi lol

 

[Oh Little Oji]

Barking on command can be useful for other purposes.

Let's say my wife, kids are somewhere and I arrive and wish to let them know I'm there. A Doberbark does the job.

One of may favorite uses of the bark on command is when we are walking or running and there is someone ahead of us going more slowly and blocking the way. This happens to me frequently on the sidewalks or on one of the bridges we have around here. I have found it very frustrating to try to get folks' attention by vocalizing or even ringing the sharp sounding bell I have on our stroller. But a Doberbark? It instantly works! Other times, I just let my Dobe, who always walks ahead of me, just quietly slide himself up beside them.

 

[Ddski5]

This is exactly what I'm trying. But Obi is like your second doberman lol. He's a pretty calm dog, no barking until someone passes by our house or comes to the door. I've been trying to jump on the training as soon as he barks at people passing by. The most I've gotten out of him was a little woof lol... we're still early on the training tho

Haha… this is me. Reclined in lazy boy chair. All of sudden Freyja is growling, barking at the door. I jump up, grabbing my cup of treats and run to the door to work on the command and sync it to her heightened sense caused by the stimulus outside.

Yeah, sounds easy….until she stops barking and growling because her fearless leader is now here to control the situation.

Somehow, someway you have to be sitting there with the treats and catch it right before it happens. Call her attention to the situation, say the command and then treat right as she barks or growls. Once she links the situation, the command, the bark/growl all together then it will be easy to illicit and maintain.

The hard thing here is setting it up and communicating what you are asking him to do. I promise, if he knew what you wanted…he would do it.

 

[JanS]

and I arrive and wish to let them know I'm there. A Doberbark does the job.

I remember you doing that when we met in Cinci and it definitely got my attention to look. LOL

 

[Oh Little Oji]

I remember you doing that when we met in Cinci and it definitely got my attention to look. LOL

Oh yeah! I forgot I did that!

 

[Deftone1fan16]

Haha… this is me. Reclined in lazy boy chair. All of sudden Freyja is growling, barking at the door. I jump up, grabbing my cup of treats and run to the door to work on the command and sync it to her heightened sense caused by the stimulus outside.

Yeah, sounds easy….until she stops barking and growling because her fearless leader is now here to control the situation.

Somehow, someway you have to be sitting there with the treats and catch it right before it happens. Call her attention to the situation, say the command and then treat right as she barks or growls. Once she links the situation, the command, the bark/growl all together then it will be easy to illicit and maintain.

The hard thing here is setting it up and communicating what you are asking him to do. I promise, if he knew what you wanted…he would do it.

Lmao I know once I can get him to make the connection it's smooth sailing