# How to unlearn behaviour



## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Help please I need to teach my dog to unlearn something!!!

The only time Charlie barks is when he is chasing / playing with the cat. This annoys my husband who has been telling him Shhhh while holding his finger to his lips. So now to Charlie this means "Bark":frusty:

I want to teach him to bark on the command "Bark" and then from there I think it will be easier to teach him "Quiet". However the only way I can get him to bark while he is paying me attention is to say Shhh with finger to my lips so of course this just reinforces the wrong command.

How can I go backwards in order to go forwards?


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruthiec said:


> Help please I need to teach my dog to unlearn something!!!
> 
> The only time Charlie barks is when he is chasing / playing with the cat. This annoys my husband who has been telling him Shhhh while holding his finger to his lips. So now to Charlie this means "Bark":frusty:
> 
> ...


Use your new cue word for bark, maybe "speak!" and then use the "Shhhh" noise right after. If you are consistent, he should start to anticipate that "Speak" is always followed by the other. Once he is anticipating, hold off a little longer on the "Shhh", and eventually don't use it at all. It may also help to continue to use the finger to lips gesture during the transition. Many dogs cue better off hand signals than they do off verbal ones.


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

Great advice Karen. We taught Tim to "speak" and then started with "shhh" with the finger in front of the mouth cue. It did take him a while, but he gets it now. Charlie is young and bursting to learn so I'm sure he'll get it in no time. We're at the point now that I only have to put my finger in front of my mouth and he'll quiet down even if he doesn't want to and then he'll give me a quiet grumble.  Now today is a different story, the fence guys are here so I just put Tim in the kitchen to quiet him down instead of incessantly telling him to be quiet.


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

Thanks Karen and Jenny for your responses.

I tried Karen's advice this morning and he's already getting it. Initially the finger on the lips and word "Bark" got him going (mostly only one bark which is what I want at this stage). Once he realised that this was about barking I changed the hand signal and he still responded most of the time. I'll try again tonight and see how quickly he picks up on the new signals again.

I've decided to use the word "Bark" because "Speak" is too much like "Seek" which he already knows.

I'm now trying to figure out a hand signal which goes with "Quiet". It would be natural to use the finger on the lips but of course this will probably still mean bark to him so I have to find something else.

Thanks again for the great advice.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Ruthiec said:


> Thanks Karen and Jenny for your responses.
> 
> I tried Karen's advice this morning and he's already getting it. Initially the finger on the lips and word "Bark" got him going (mostly only one bark which is what I want at this stage). Once he realised that this was about barking I changed the hand signal and he still responded most of the time. I'll try again tonight and see how quickly he picks up on the new signals again.
> 
> ...


Yes, it makes absolutely NO difference what words and hand signals you choose as long as they are consistent and easy for you to remember. ...And I agree, "seek" and "speak" are probably a little too close to be reliably differentiated.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Would "Quiet" and putting a finger to your ear work for you?


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## Ruthiec (Jun 18, 2013)

That's a great suggestion, thanks Karen


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## Regina (Mar 9, 2013)

krandall said:


> Would "Quiet" and putting a finger to your ear work for you?


Karen that is an amazing suggestion, I am putting that one on my list in my notebook!


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## sprorchid (Mar 30, 2010)

Karen,
how are you supposed to teach 'quiet' from a blank slate? given you have a non-barker.

edit: barks rarely, but when he does it's LOUD.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

sprorchid said:


> Karen,
> how are you supposed to teach 'quiet' from a blank slate? given you have a non-barker.
> 
> edit: barks rarely, but when he does it's LOUD.


You have to put the bark on cue first, and then do the quiet. I guess with a dog who barks very little, you'd pretty much have to just keep cookies in your pocket all the time, plus a clicker if you use that as a marker. (otherwise, your marker "word" is always available ) REMEMBERING to catch it every time he barked would be the hardest part for me. :laugh:

Also, though, when he does bark, does he have a good reason? When Kodi was younger, he did a lot of demand barking. Now, he usually only barks if he has a pretty good reason. So I don't really have much call for telling him to stop. Even without having formally put "quiet" on cue with him, he stops the alarm barking at the door as soon as I answer the door and tell him it's OK. I don't mind at all that he tells us someone's at the door.


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