Barking when given commands

[Ritz459]

Chloe barks whenever I tell her to sit or down. I don't think this is a dominance thing, as she barks while she is complying, but more of a, "Mommy's barking so I'll bark too! It's fun to bark!" kind of thing.

However, I could be wrong. Here is an example: My little sister, six year old Melanie, told Chloe to sit today at the vet's office. Chloe sat down, but barked too. When she barks, she isn't trying to make herself bigger or stare me down or anything....I just think she genuinely loves to bark.
I tell her to down and she pops to the floor imeadiately, but barks as if her bark is what gives her the force to fly to the floor.

I wouldn't have such a big problem with it, but I personally don't like it when I'm training her and everytime I give her a command she barks - her bark is so shrill my head is hurting by the time I'm done with her.
We did puppy pushups in puppy class...when it was Chloe's turn, she did them, but she was constantly barking...and it echoed around the store and I think everybody was wincing by the end of it. LOL

I think part of it is my fault. I incorporate training in with play - in this case, fetch. Chloe gets extreamly excited durning play sessions and vocalizes while she plays - barking, growling, etc. She would bring the toy back, I'd take it, and then I'd tell her to sit. She would do so, but because she was so worked up she'd bark as well. Then I'd throw the toy. As she doesn't bark when I tell her to shake or stay, I think she thinks that part of the "sit" and "down" commands are to bark.

How would I go about teaching her to sit and down without barking? Am I going to have to completey reteach her? I've tried only rewarding her when she sits/downs without barking, but this seems to confuse her. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, I don't know.

If I did have to reteach her the commands, would reteaching her "sit" and "down" be too confusing, or should I use a different command?

[Doglover1988]

isn't she an aussie mix? We had some of those on the flyball team and they barked all the time while they were training. I think it can sometimes just be an aussie trait.

[britishbandit]

PJ does that as well, when I ask him to roll over (his version is "belly rub"). LOL But I really don't mind it and have never tried to teach him that I don't need a bark with the command. He's just a very vocal dog, and makes all kinds of weird noises when he does things, not necessarily barking though.

Some dogs just bark a lot, ever seen dog sporting competitions, even agility where certain dogs will bark almost the entire time? They do their stuff, and the barking doesn't affect what they're trying to do, and I really think a lot of it just has to do with the fun and excitement of it. Funny enough, it usually is the herding breeds and terriers I've seen do it most.

Does Chloe know the command "speak"? If not, I'd teach her the command, and you could always try and use "no speak" when she does it when you don't actually want her to. Just an idea, but it might work.

[k9hullio_sam]

Mandi knows the command speak, and if she is really excited she just starts doing all of her tricks trying to get my attention LOL, speaking being one of those. She doesn't do it all the time, just when she is really really hyper

[Rivsky]

I agree with BB - teach her a specific speak command - that way if she does something and barks without being asked to she gets no reward. Whereas if you say sit then speak she does get a reward. I'm sure it'll take her no time to figure out what she's got to do!!

[SpringerLover]

Bailey will bark her fool head off if she's excited about something. The best way to stop it I've found is turning my back. Sounds simple but it worked wonders.

When playing fetch sometimes I don't mind a few barks, but when she does her insane chain of barking I'll turn my back and walk away and play with her toy myself. The LOOK on her face is priceless and she really tones it down the rest of the day. If she's being sassy at agility (which I don't mind, hey, I LOVE it when she's ON and ready but SHE can't work when she's barking her fool head off sometimes) again, I turn my back on her and she goes "oh man, I'd better focus or I won't get to play at all" and she's good then.

So, I'd try turning your back before giving a verbal correction. Dogs really react to body pressure and nonverbal cues well.

The goal is to make the fun stop when she barks.

[Ritz459]

Yep, Chloe is an Aussie/Collie mix. So I've got two barky dogs combined in one. LOL

I don't mind her barking in play and such, but I guess I'm just used to "serious" workers when it comes to obedience, namely Blackie. When he turns into his obedience working mode he is dead set on the goal. That and the fact her bark drives me up the wall.

Turning my back to her sounds like a great idea and is something I didn't think of. She responds very well to body language; that is mainly how I've taught her general good behavior. I often don't even have to say anything, just move my body, and she gets the drift.

I have never, however, taught a dog to speak before. I don't know how. And then considering Blackie and Rose aren't vocal (although Rose will "arrooo" at me when she is happy) they don't have much incintive to bark. How would I go about teaching her to speak? She'd love it.

[Rivsky]

Since Chloe is a natural barker it should be super easy for you to teach her speak Ritz.

You just need to anticipate when she's actually going to bark and give her the command speak and a hand signal before she does it and click and treat when she does. She'll soon pick up that when you do that particular signal it means speak.

Once she knows speak well you can then add a quiet command afterwards and click and reward that - that way she knows she's only to speak when you ask - maybe you can even build her up to speaking the same number of hand signals you give her - a bit like counting.