Question about training method

[GlassOnion]

Ok so all the dogs I've ever trained (all two of them) I've only taught them the basics. Sit, stay, heel, fetch, drop, get it, lay down, and...that's about it. Nothing special.

So I was at the park the other day and was talking to a lady there who had an awesome shepherd. It could do an incredible amount of tricks and she told me to wiggle my finger up and down so I did and the dog barked at me. I thought that was cool as I've never been able to teach my dog to 'speak'. So I asked her how she did it and she said that one day the dog barked and she wiggled her finger and that's how she taught him. That's where I lost her and I didn't think to ask her right there as I thought I understood it at that moment but, thinking back, how did she get the dog to associate that particular motion with the action after he's already done it? Wouldn't that be like expecting the dog to remember that digging through the trash is bad after the fact?

[corgipower]

gotta do it pretty much while the dog is barking or immediately after. ideally it would be while he is barking.

(same goes for the trash example. gotta catch the dog in the act).

i taught mine to sneeze on command cuz he has allergies, and i took him out one day in the fall and when he had a sneeze attack, i started saying "good sneeze". eventually he associated the word "sneeze" with the act.

it's the same concept as any behavior shaping.

[IliamnasQuest]

Most of the training we do is pretty much getting a dog to do a behavior and then pairing a cue or command with it. I taught my dogs to bark when I made a "claw" hand at them .. *L* .. it was handy if I wanted them to bark at someone but not give much of a signal.

First of all you have to find a way to get your dog to bark. Maybe your dog will bark if you knock on the desk. So knock on the desk, and when your dog barks make the signal at him and then praise and reward. Do it over and over.

I like to get the behavior going and then later add in a cue or command, but sometimes it works to do it all at once. When you're capturing something like a bark, I do usually add in the cue immediately so the dog isn't just barking at everything.

Some dogs are really hard to train to bark - my black chow rarely barks, and I've never been able to get it on cue. Both of the other chows bark on command, as does the older shepherd. But Dora mainly just grunts and the barking is rare, and getting her to do it when I want her to was very difficult. So we just didn't learn that one!

Melanie and the gang in Alaska

[ToscasMom]

I accidentally taught Tosca how to "tell me" she wants something. I have a routine with her for her biscuit. I tell her to get on her blanket and sit, then I go get her biscuit while she watches and we do a few more things. Well one time she barked so I said oh you are telling me? So said Ok, Tell Me, so she barked again. I rewarded her with the biscuit immediately. Now I can get her to Tell Me whenever she wants something if I ask her to. Total accident. Like Llama says, you seize a moment and stick a cue in.

I can say Tell Me from anywhere and Tosca will bark.