Teach Your Dog To Sing
How To Bring Out the Pavoratti in Your Pooch Everyone likes to sing, even the family dog. Your four-footed friend might not be the world’s next great tenor, but with a little coaching and training, they can provide you and your family with some warm memories as they "sing-bark" to classics like Happy Birthday. Teaching your dog to "sing" with you isn’t as difficult as you might think. As descendants of wolves, who often communicate with one another by howling, our canine friends have a tendency to respond to us when we sing, according to dog trainer Bash Dibra. "Your dog regards you as part of his pack," Dibra told Pet Supplies "Plus", "so when he hears you sing, he’s going to want to say something back to you." Dibra, who has worked with the pets of many celebrities, has seen dogs harmonize with some famous human singers. "I trained Carly Simon’s French Poodle, and this dog would start howling whenever Carly sang" he said. "Frank Sinatra also had a dog (a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) who would bark along whenever the ‘Chairman of the Board’ sang." You should begin your dog’s vocal training by singing to your pet, advises Dibra. "Many dogs will respond by giving you a long howl-like bark if you really stretch out a note," he explained. "For instance, if you sing, ‘Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, jingle all the WA-A-A-Y!’ There’s a good chance your dog will bellow when you stretch out the word ‘way.’ Then he’ll bark again when you sing, ‘Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open SLEIGGGH!’ Of course when your dog does this, you should reward him with praise, and an occasional treat." As you and your dog continue to practice, you can gradually stop stretching out the key words in a song. Soon, your dog will know to howl at the appropriate points in the song, without you exaggerating the words. "Once you and your dog master this trick, it will look and sound really cute," said Dibra, "because it will appear that your dog’s bellows are part of the song." If your dog doesn’t respond to your singing, Dibra suggests you try this 5-step formula to train him to bark along with your favorite songs: Begin by teaching your dog to bark on cue. Do something that you know will make your dog bark, such as knock on the front door, blow a whistle, or squeeze a squeaky toy. When your dog responds to this action by barking, say the word "bark," or some other phrase. At the same time you’re doing this, you can give your dog a hand signal that you want him to associate with barking. After awhile, your dog will associate the word cue and hand signal with the act of barking. When this happens, begin giving your dog the word cue and hand signal for barking, then praise him when he responds. Now teach your dog to stop barking with the verbal command "stop" and an open hand signal. Once your dog learns to bark on cue, you’ll want him to transfer this knowledge to your holiday song. When you sing the song, or play it on a piano (or CD player), issue the bark command when you reach the designated point in the composition. Always remember to praise your dog when he barks on cue. Soon your dog will learn to bark at the appropriate parts of the song without your barking cues. At this point you can control how many times your dog barks by giving him the "stop barking" command. This will allow you to train your dog to bark once at some parts, and twice at others. According to Dibra, after your dog learns to "sing" along to one song, it will be easier to teach him others. "I think that most dogs naturally like singing," he said. "Plus, if your dog sees that you’re enjoying his singing performance, it’s going to give him an incentive to do more. Nothing is more important to your dog than making you happy."   |