Making Speak Crisp

A showpiece bark is a clean single delivered on the word alone. Two habits get you there:

• Reward only tidy barks. If your dog fires off a string, stay quiet, wait for the pause, and ask again. You're paying for crispness, not volume.
• Shrink the cue. Trade big arm-waving triggers for a small, calm hand signal or just the spoken word, so it works on a stage where you can't bounce a toy.

Test it cold: ask once, in a new room, with no setup. That's the real bar.