Yodeling
-
I'd say praise anything that even resembles a yodel or seems to be a happy noise.
Ruby took a while to get going when I first got her (she was 2 when I got her)…I'd say it was at least a month before she yodeled for me (and I never heard her do it at the breeder). Now, she'll sing if she feels up for it...if I say, "how about a song", she'll sing 90% of the time if she has one in her. Whenever she sings I respond, "good song Ru".
Brando will bark occasionally once or twice in a row and otherwise is practically silent...he's been with us 4 months, he's 3 years old. However, yesterday when I got home, my brother had both Ruby and Brando on leash outside. When I got out of the car, Brando let out a huge howl (wasn't quite a yodel, but it was definitely a happy sound) and did it over and over...shocked the heck out of all of us :D and he got a lot of praise for it!
I'm thinking because Ru sings and gets extra praise for it and Brando sees how happy we are when she does it, he's starting to try it. I'm hopeful eventually it will be a yodel from him too. So my thoughts are praise, praise, praise.
-
Anything you reward will increase in frequency. That said, my 10 1/2 year old doesn't yodel. He has yodel twice in his entire life. My girls yodel all the time, we praise and reward and my husband even made a big deal about making sure Rally would yodel when she was pregnant and nursing to encourage the pups to be yodelers. All that talking has never inspired Nicky to join in. Rally's daughter, Heart, is equally quiet. She grew up with very yodel-y sibling but she just never has.
-
We've been yodeling to Jack and he looks at us like we are crazy. Now we just praise the heck out of him when he makes any happy noises.
Apparently, yesterday a neighborhood kid walked through the back yard while Jack and DH were outside, just through the side of it, to get a ball, and Jack barked at him.
So, we have a dog that is supposed to be barkless, who won't yodel, but barks at people every once in a great while.
-
So funny. I try to get Dallas to yodel as well but he's fairly quiet. I always praise when he makes any type of noise. I wish he'd start singing! Haha.
-
-
I know!! All mine ever does is make a crying noise (usually when he is excited) but lately he has started to bark a bit.
But I'm not sure I want Kip to make anymore noise ^_^
-
Booger didn't yodel or baroo for almost a year. We tried playing youtube videos of other basenjis, harps, pianos, flutes, etc, but he never paid much attention to those. Then we started playing the "meme" game, which is the most annoying thing ever. You just say "mememememe" over and over in the highest pitch voice you possibly can & then get higher. Eventually we might get a noise out of him. Any and all noise was rewarded with "Good speak!!" and treats.
Then we brought Lola home, and she yodels all the time. When we wake up, when we come home, whenever we're not paying enough attention, etc. When she gets riled up, Booger will start making noise, too, so again, lots of "Good speak!" and treats. Booger has now caught on that the way to get attention when they are both trying to get it is to baroo. So now we sometimes purposely lavish her with attention until he gives us a good baroo & then he gets lots of praise.
Now we can get Booger to make noise by saying "Speak", but the noise varies from a grumble to a baroo depending on his mood.
So to start, try making lots of different annoying repetitive noises at him. That's how we got Booger started. And lots of treats for any and all noise. You can work up to a full baroo later. -
