Zaire Speak

Speak = bark

For the past several months, we've been working on the Speak command.When I say Speak, the goal is for Zaire to let out a bark. As a puppy, Zaire wasn't much of a barker, so I never had the opportunity to teach the Speak command. The only thing that would make Zaire bark was the use of the blow dryer after her monthly bath.

I contemplated using the blow dryer to engaged Zaire in speaking. However she needs to be comfortable with being dried by a blow dryer that I didn't want to encourage the barking.

Some people teach their puppies to Speak by putting the food bowl in the pups crate and shutting the door. When a pup is food motivated, they bark, you treat them, and say good Speak. This technique has worked for another puppy raiser in our class.

I attempted to do this because Zaire is very food motivated... Zaire walked up to the crate, looked at the food, looked back at me, looked at the food, looked back at me, and then came and sat next to me on the floor. I waited a couple of minutes and when she didn't bark, I opened the crate, put her food bowl back in it's normal place and released her to eat. Attempt #1 = Fail

The next day, I tried it again. Attempt #2 = Fail.

Zaire loves her food, but she wasn't willing to bark for it.

Another puppy raiser in class suggested using the vacuum. He got his pup to bark at the vacuum when he was vacuuming the house.

I took the vacuum out and started vacuuming the house. Zaire still wouldn't bark. She thought the vacuum was a monster and would run up to it, quickly run away like it was going to chase her, and then run back to it. The vacuum gave her the zoomies, but no bark. Attempt # 3 = Fail

In class one night, Patrick, our trainer suggested getting the pup really excited and tease them by using a high valued treat. It worked! Attempt #4 = Successful (but not by me, Patrick gets the credit.) Patrick and Pete (another puppy raiser) were able to get Zaire to bark 3 times. I was amazed!

Seeing her bark in class, gave me hope that she would eventually learn the Speak command. We went home and tried practicing what I learned in class. I had zero success! Papa Jake on the other hand, was able to get Zaire excited enough to let out a bark. Whenever I tried, Zaire wouldn't bark. That's when I decided to pull out the blow dryer. I had been hesitant in previous weeks, but I was determined to get a speak out of her.

I took the blow dryer out of the bathroom and immediately Zaire started to bark. I brought it in the kitchen and gave her a treat every time she barked. After I gave her a treat I said "good speak". After a minute or two, I put the blow dryer away, as I didn't want to continue using the blow dryer, as we are still trying to be comfortable with the blow dryer.

A few weeks later I went on vacation for a week and left Zaire with a wonderful family in Windsor. I received an email during my vacation saying how well Zaire was doing. The only problem was that she was jumping while she was speaking. First, I was surprised that she was speaking, because she had never barked when given the Speak command. And secondly, we had not been practicing in the weeks leading up to my vacation.

When I came home from vacation, sure enough she would let out a bark with a slight jump on the Speak command. It made me wonder where she learned to jump and speak at the same time. It then dawned on me that whenever my boyfriend would get her to speak, he was getting her excited and she would be jumping up and down. So she learned the Speak meant a bark and a jump.

I quickly corrected her jump and only treated her Speak when all four legs stayed on the ground. She is one smart puppy. In one week, she's already perfected the correct way to Speak. I'm impressed!

Since she's new to the Speak command, the first bark that comes out of her mouth is usually a silent one, or a quiet woof. It's the cutest thing. One day last week we were at the chiropractors office and I told Zaire to Speak. She let out a quiet woof and the girls complemented her on using her library voice.

I'm very proud to say that Zaire knows Speak!