I know the theory behind this and about teaching your dog to speak on command but my staffy rarely barks and when she does it's in the middle of the night at things like a flock of geese overhead.  I can't recall the last time I heard her bark during daylight hours and she never acknowledges people with a bark and never has done so I'm a bit stumped at how to get her to make a noise during the day to build on.
When she barks during the night (inevitably waking me up) I usually say speak and praise her but I am really struggling to replicate this during the day.  She has always been really canny and doesn't bother about people coming into the house as I have had a number of tradespeople unknown to her entering the house and often when I am not there and she treats them all as long lost friends - and would presumably do the same with a burglar. 
I recently moved to a new area and there is a huge amount of break-ins at the moment which is really stressing me out as I am concerned that she will come to harm if someone breaks in and steals her or harms her or she gets loose.  Is there any way to fast track her progress and have her barking when anybody approaches the door?  I'm not looking for a ned-style guard dog but just want her to be a bit of a deterrant to prevent her being harmed.  Thanks

your lucky cheekychow
I have all on getting my daft hound to be quiet during the day, gets quite deafening at times :D

Snap Jane- I have that problem too! :rolleyes:  Trust me CheekyChow- leave her as she is and invest in an alarm instead :-D

Stacey x   

Hi CC :)

I've never had a problem getting my two to bark at strangers at the door or noises outside, but then that is probably because I'm fairly antisocial and like to hermitise myself away from the world as much as possible and they've become like their grumpy mistress :P

But, I have taught them to bark on command as well. :rolleyes:

I always use treats. I get them sitting and making eye contact, have the treat in my hand but just out of reach and then use the word "speak" or whatever word is appropriate. They picked it up quite quickly with several practices. I keep using the word and treating . Now they bark when they hear the word and occasionally get a treat for it.

Don't know if this will help and there will probably be others who have better ideas ;) A lot I would imagine depends on the dog/breed and what will entice her to do it. :)

I never thought my staffies were much of a guard dog - like you said they would not bark & they great every stranger as if they love them more than life itself!!

When we had a break in it was a different matter - she shot down the stairs & I heard a bit of snarling etc but thought she was fighting with the cat (as she does!)

It was not untill I noticed the open back door & the blood on the floor the next morning that I realised what a good guard they are

tennostaff, theres no way my little lump would do that, she's too much of a wuss.  the standing joke in my house now is that the only way she would put up a fight is if someone was trying to steal the radiator beside her bed coz theres no way she'd part with her heat source but apart from that it's the long lost friend routine.
I had an attempt this afternoon in the garden trying to incite her to bark with a brush handle and saying speak whenever she managed a bark.  we got a couple of squeaks, a handful of woofs and loads of smiles from her and when I 'asked' her to speak when she was lying at the top of the stairs later she came tanking down the stairs to find the brush handle.  wrong message picked up :rolleyes:
I'll try again tomorrow with a different implement in a different room and see if I can elicit a few woofs from her and gradually move her closer to the door.  My other option is to stage a break-in using someone she doesn't know but thats a bit risky incase she still doesn't woof but bites or worse than that, she gets a fright and is traumatised coz she's a sensitive wee soul.

hi cheekychow, i have 4 staffies, 2 male and 2 females the only one that barks at the door is the oldest male, the others only bark when i have a treat for them, i ask them to say please and they woof!