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Teaching your dog to bark on command
Many complaints are heard nowadays about noisy dogs that nuisance bark. Many local councils have huge penalties for the owners of noisy dogs.
However, there are times when you may want your dog to bark—as a trick to show your friends, or when a threatening stranger enters your property, or even for television or movie work. Some movie makers require a dog that will bark reliably whenever required for a particular scene. And the only way to predict that a dog will bark when required is to train it to bark on command.
If you train your dog to bark, this does not mean that it will become a nuisance barker. Dogs learn by association, and so a trained dog will normally bark only in situations it has learnt to associate with the need to bark, rather than just barking all the time. If, after you have trained your dog to bark, it does bark excessively, reprimand it each time it barks without first being commanded to do so.
Most dogs will bark at some time in their lives, and some dogs are more vocal than others. There are certain breeds, too, that bark more than others. Some of the more yappy breeds are the collie, the Australian cattle dog, the Chihuahua, the various terriers, and the sheepdogs.
Of course, if you own a basenji, it won't bark, but it may howl. Basenjis don't bark at all, and nor do some of the wild dog species, because barking in the wild would betray the dog's presence and position to prey and to other hunters like itself.
• The method
To teach your dog to bark on command, you will need to start by finding something that usually makes it bark. Alternatively, you could try holding some food up and exciting the dog with your voice. Or you could tie the dog up and remain a little way off while running around or bouncing a ball. If you have no success with any of these, try anything else that could possibly get your dog to bark!
As soon as the dog starts barking, or even whimpering— that is, each time your dog utters a sound—say "Bark," or "Speak." Practice regularly, and keep saying the word every time the dog barks. Eventually it will respond by barking when it hears the command word.
Some dogs will take longer to learn this than others. Puppies usually catch on very quickly, and are easy to excite and get barking. In general, you should be able to teach your dog to bark on command in anywhere from four to 12 weeks, provided that you are training it regularly each day.