I have been working on developing my dog's (9 month old rott) prey drive. Recently we have started PPD training. However, I cannot get him to bark. I recently viewed Ed's First Steps of Defense DVD (I realize this is way ahead of where we are I just like to get a picture of where we are going). In this DVD he demonstrates Civil Defense, wherein the dogs nerves are tested and barking is a requirement. Any suggestions on how to get my dog to bark (when and how) would be very appreciated.

-Al

He's a young dog, work on OB and leave him to mature.

Starting PPD training at this age is silly and you can spend your training time with better things until he grows up.

Al,

What Will says sounds kinda matter of fact but in reality he is right. Some dogs are natural barkers, some dogs are observers, some dogs are just plain bite first ask questions later. This is a common concern amongst the majority of the new ppd trainers. If you have a decent trainer he will know how to bring the bark out of the dog. I did not start trainig for ppd until my dog was a year old and even then that was probably too early because I had some similar frustrations. In the end, it turned out alright. Just let him be a puppy and have fun. I'd be focusing on the trainer and what he thinks he should be doing with the pup at this point in time. Too much pressure and he could ruin your dog. Continue reading ppd posts from the past and you will gain a wealth of knowledge and lots of questions to ask your trainer. Good luck!

Something that might help the progress of moving into barking during civil work that is fun for the dog is if your dog is nuts for a certain toy (kong I find the best to work with) you could stand buy him and show him the kong , while giving a verbal que , "speak" or even the que you plan to use during civil work further down the line . Usually the dog will get very excited and when tempted long enough with the toy will bark out of frustration . When he does calmly toss him the toy on that first bark. If the dog gets too much for you to handle by yourself you can have someone else he knows and is comfortable with tempt him with the toy and reward him for barking .

Do this for several repetitions then gradually require more barks before you reward the dog . Once he's pretty solid on lots of barks start varying when the dog is rewarded , 1st bark , 4th bark , 6th , 2nd , etc. , etc. .

Then if you need this que when you move your dog into civil work when he's mature enough for it , you can use it .

Since you are already using a trainer and you are thinking of doing this , check with him or her first to make sure it won't interfere with your training .

With some really stubborn dogs that had a really high drive for a kong but just didn't want to bark and were on the verge of maturity we did this much like initial civil work . The handler is planted securely with the dog and a decoy is about 8-10' out with several kongs on strings behind the decoy's back . The decoy holds out one kong and frustrates the dog using alot of prey movement , once the dog barks is reward , take dog off the line , out kong , bring back to line and decoy does it again .

Initially the decoy may have to move around and move the kong to get the dog to bark but once that the dog gets solid on that , when brought to the line the decoy should be standing still and the dog , by barking , intiates the decoy into moving and eventually the decoy rewards him for a certain amount of barks . Timing is important . Dog should be rewarded on the bark no delay .

We've done with some really stubborn Police K9 candidates . They had everything else going for them they just wouldn't bark . Some it took a REALLY long time just to get one bark out of them but eventually they figured it out and moved on to be very good Police K9's with a solid alert .

Jim,
Thank you for adding your observations, it's good for the people that are new to protection work to see that even PSD's can have some problems ( that can be overcome ) during their training.