Trick Of The Week 9/05-16/05/04

[kateykateykatey]

Using the "if one learns, the other will" philosophy, I tried to click and treat Lil when she groaned before I put her collar and lead on for a walk. Trouble is, after 1 C&T, she was dead quiet, trying to be good as gold so she'd get more treats. I tried dangling the collar in front of her, doing all sorts of things to get her excited so she'd make the same noise again, but she wouldn't have a bar of it.

The only times Scrimp barks is when he wants to come in (an annoying, attention seeking bark we try to ignore) and when there's cats fighting over the fence. I attempted to C&T one of those two (can't recall which) but it was through the glass back door, and highly ineffective. IIRC I was faced with a similar scenario: confused looking dog trying to be exceptionally well behaved cos there's treats on offer.

Any suggestions? I was looking at shaping any kind of grunt or groan, but the trouble is getting them to make one. Maybe I just need to be *really* patient??

[Sam&Saki]

I have the same problem - I'd really like to teach Saki to bark on command but how to do this when she just never barks?

She's seriously barked maybe 6 or 8 times in her life. I like the 'rewarding any groan or noise' idea of building up to a bark, but she never makes any other noise either!

Any tips or do I just need to give up? :D

[saxons mum]

Saxon will talk when i say to him "What do you say".

[Heatherlabrador]

In case it helps anyone, my puppy learned this one day when she was really revved up, I asked her to sit and she was totally "fizzing" if you know what I mean! Then I just made her wait there and meanwhile really kept MY energy up, and stared into her eyes! It worked and I now have a very reliable "speak" at the age of 17 weeks!