Luc actually has the manliest bark in the house, but he also - I'm sure he would scare most people, but I can see that his barking is either goofy or unsure. His unsure body language is pretty obvious, IMO, and besides - he's just not the dog for this. He's my big sucky goof.... (and ps, spent my yoga session sitting next to me, licking my feet and farting. Beautiful Luc, beautiful....)

I have wondered about with Teagan's background....I don't want to do anything wandering into protection territory with her, but - there is some personal stuff that knowing that Teagan could alert bark on command would be a huge relief to me. But maybe that's selfish and would undo all my other work with her. I do not want to undo our work.

Teagan's 'I want to KILL' bark is pretty intimidating, and her body language is forward and ready and willing to engage, so I can see her doing this command well.

I'm not sure why she's so silent outside of food prep and frustrated attacks (damn windows!)....I figure there are 2 possibilities - either whoever corrected her before corrected the warning signs of aggression, not the aggression, or, she's smart enough to know silent makes for a more effective attack. And knowing her happiness in aggression and having watched to try to go after dogs and acting pretty normal until the optimum attack time and distance and then going 'without warning' (I do know there is no such thing as 'without warning'), I suspect it's that she's smart enough to go for effectiveness.

Maybe b/c she only barks once she's been thwarted in an attack - does that affect issues with marking the bark?

What about tying her to a fence and teasing her with a food bowl? Praise the yip but don't reward or mark - if she makes a louder bark then mark it.

Tanith, I will try that. Thanks!

The food bowl or maybe a favourite toy (I was thinking I could bring out one of the small animals....I'm KIDDING! Kidding!) and see if I can get her to bark, and then coax a deeper bark from an excited one.

That way it's unrelated to the undesirable behaviour too.

She's always muzzled outside, but I could do it inside. I have a hitching ring on one of the walls (is that weird?)

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

She's always muzzled outside, but I could do it inside. I have a hitching ring on one of the walls (is that weird?)

Ummm, I think you need to elaborate on that one...
(or we could all speculate! )

I usually use a toy but if she usually vocalises with the food bowl - you're half way there.

Indoors is ok if you have understanding neighbours.

I'll try both and see what results I get. Yay!

Well, they'd probably be a lot happier with her doing that inside than out. I get along with both neighbours but I can just see the one lady - she's older and likes to spend time in the garden. Our fence is chain link and I'm sure doing that outside would freak her out.

Lynne, hey hey hey, mind out of the gutter! Teagan had an accident once in front of the washroom, and then went through a period of going to the washroom there :errrrr: so she wasn't allowed free-reign of the house. I use to put her on a long line on the hitching ring and she could wander through the den, living room and part of the hall but it kept her out of trouble and helped reset proper toilet behaviour.

 Quote: Jennifer Mullen

Teagan had an accident once in front of the washroom, and then went through a period of going to the washroom there :errrrr: so she wasn't allowed free-reign of the house. I use to put her on a long line on the hitching ring and she could wander through the den, living room and part of the hall but it kept her out of trouble and helped reset proper toilet behaviour.

That ring had a lot more potential. I'll stick with Lynne's version...

An accident once, went through a period,,,,,all past tense. But the ring remains. Hey, when exactly is Neb barking at Toby?

Oh wait wait wait wait!!!!!!!!!!! You guys....

Ok, sorry I took so long to reply to this.........just finished a long trip and I'm disorganized as all get out.

Now, building frustration to bring on a bark ( with an instant reward of a lot of verbal praise when said bark occurs ) is pretty much the Holy Grail for training the bark. However, you don't always get the type of bark you desire ( such as the "yip" that poor Jennifer is describing ).

Classically in PPD training, to get a bark that has the potential to drive away a potential attacker, you'd train in defense. And it's simple if you have the right set-up:
A defense evoking decoy ( harder to find than you'd imagine at first )
A neutral location ( although the home yard of the dog may be used for dogs with less defensive drive )
The handler attached to the leash with the dog in a harness or comfortable agitation collar on.

So to start the training, the handler and dog meander in the area. Let the dog get use to the local distractions and then the decoy will enter the area but maintain a significant distance from the dog/handler team. The decoy will act as "suspicious" as possible with rapid, darting behavior in an attempt to at least draw the dog's attention. The decoy should remain at distance but continue the odd behavior.
If the dog makes any type of bark at this time the dog is verbally praised and the decoy retreats ( and this requires a decoy that is giving an Academy Award performance, it *really* requires great decoy work for this to be successful ).

Alright, that's step one, absorb this and let's get any questions/comments out of the way before we continue.