Can a dog be taught to bark when someone comes to the door?

[yukiko11]

Dogs don't bark unless they have something to say. He has only been in YOUR HOUSE for a week. It isn't his home yet. When he becomes part of your family, he will let you know when something is wrong, but it may not be with a bark.
All of the dogs I have had have been raised from puppyhood. I actually had to train them to recognize the difference between someone on their property and someone on the neighbor's property. It took many months of getting up several times at night to silence them, but they all learned the lesson. In 35 years of raising St Bernards, I never had even one problem with any kind of theft or threat.

[Positiveone]

We have a Wheaton Terrier male. For the first few months he never barked at all! Doorbell, if people were on my property, but at about the 4th,5th month on his own he changed. Now he barks at the doorbell, barks if someone is on my property, barks at odd noises at night. I like it! Give it time, your dog will start on his/her own.

Originally Posted by SunInHair

Our new dog, lab/pitbull, from the shelter has been with us 1 week and still hasn't barked. He doesn't bark to go out and doesn't bark to alert us that someone's at the door. He has a voice because he howls when he thinks he's alone. Can a dog be trained to bark once so when know when someone is approaching the house?

[Blondie621]

He will bark eventually. He is not in his comfort zone yet! Everything is new to him and he might have fear of doing all things dogs do....bark! Give him time to make all the adjustments he needs to as far as feeling comfortable in his new home!
Some dogs are great watchdogs others are quiet. Be thankful you have a quiet one for now.