365 Days of Dog Training Day 2

So yesterday you all got to meet Miss Lulu.  Today we got right to work (sorry I didn't get a chance to blog until this morning) on proofing her speak and shush.

Lulu is a Sheltie / Border Collie Mix but she has the mouth of a Sheltie and Shelties love one thing more than anything - to talk.  She loves to bark about her day, bark about the neighbors, bark about what the cats are doing, bark about what the other dogs are doing.  If her feet are moving then she is usually barking and honestly it drives me nuts!

Shortly after she came to live with us I talk her to speak on command (which she usually does with no effort whatsoever but not when on camera - ah the fun of working with live animals in real time!).  The reason to teach a barking dog to speak on command is so you can teach them to be quiet on command.  Sounds odd right?

Think about it this way - your dog is super excited about something and barking uncontrollably - this is not a teachable moment.  They are just way to worked up to focus and learn something new.  The better way is to teach them when it is appropriate to bark and when it is appropriate to stop barking.

So she definitely knows how to bark but it is the when to bark and how long to shush that we need to work on.  First one on one, then with our other dogs, then outside one on one and finally outside with our other dogs to proof this behavior.

Eventually I would like to teach her to bark only when someone approaches the house but we will see how that turns out!