How do I get my puppy be more vocal?

[XTNa]

You have to find something that makes him bark.

I tried for weeks trying to teach Caney to "speak" with no success. Then one day we were playing with the air can (a can of compressed air used for cleaning electronics; she loves to "fight" with it ) and every time I sprayed her with air, she barked. Then it occurred to me that I could say "speak" at the same time that I sprayed the air, and she would bark. After doing that for a few minutes, I then told her "speak" without any help from the air... and she barked!

Neat, an air can! I'll try that! It'll give my throat some time to recover from all that barking!

 

[Kayden]

Teaching the bark

This was a combination of learned behavior. People would comment to teach the bark, but nobody actually stated how. Here is what we did to teach her, but be prepared for her to pull at your heart strings...

Our little one would sit at the door, but would not make any noise. We had to teach her to bark. She didn't even know how! Poor thing. We found we had to get her excited first, as she needed to build up to get a bark out. We accomplished this by getting her excited with her kibble, and lock it in her crate. We told her to bark. When she finally barked, we opened the crate instantly. We had to do this several times and with treats, favorite toys, etc. I will tell you the first couple of times might end in fruitility. She would not bark, only cry, and eventually cried herself to sleep. It was hard to watch, but kept with it and on the third day she got it! Lightbulb moment.

We then moved on to the door. She watched us toss treats, toys, pieces of kibble, out the door. We closed the door and told her to bark. As soon as she barked, we opened the door. It took awhile, and she had to be excited. Good luck!

 

[LILYLARUE]

I think you just have to try anything you can find. All the suggestions here are great ones and certainly would get my Lily barking in no time. But some dogs just dont bark. My Buster wont bark much. He's a rescue and I think he was punished in the past for random barking. Took me about 4 mos to teach him to speak. Now I ask, and he gives the quietest bark. Good enough for me. Not gonna scare off a cat, but he does it.

Use the bell method right away. Keep trying to get him to bark and have treats on hand to immediately reward one, even if an accidental one. Try all the other methods people suggest here. Keep trying, don't give up. Some dogs will watch you for weeks and not seem to understand then all of a sudden they do it perfectly. I have a pit that just refuses to learn. Or seems to until one day she just "gets it". Just be patient and persistant.

If all else fails.......maybe he just don't have anything to say. LOL

 

[sfeliz]

Thank you so much

Wow what great ideas, I am loving this site more and more each day.

I did however try a few tricks and he mostly stared at me with his head side ways, more likely asking " What the H*** are you doing lady"

However I will try the air can trick, instead of the air can I will use the vacumm as he is at war with the vacumm and keeps barking at it while I use it.
Will let you guys know how that goes.

Wish me luck,

 

[JNGuinness]

i was beginning to think my dog was broken... we've had him for a week and i've heard him bark once while he was playing with my wife and it seemed like the sound coming out of him scared himself.

is this common among boxers?

I have been having the same problems with him not letting me know he wants to go out. I have just been watching him eat and then following him and letting him outside about 20 minutes after he's done. I'd rather not have to monitor him so much so i was looking for something that would help.

I'll try some of these suggestions, thank you.