One of the biggest problems people face with their dogs is unwanted barking. I stress to my clients that interrupting or preventing repetitive barking is half the battle. Managing out of control barking might include limiting access to the window or the door unless you are supervising. However, if you want to actually reduce your dog's noisy outbursts, you are going to have to take it one step further and try to expose him or her to its triggers in a controlled way and work on a few desensitization methods. I have made these into games I play almost daily with my dogs. It is not easy and takes patience and time. Remember TRAINING = CONSISTENCY over TIME! There are no quick fixes!
The doorbell game: Twice a day I put Holly and Miko on a place (their beds) stick my hand outside the front door and hit the doorbell. It sends Holly and Miko into a fit. I interrupt, asking them to be quiet, "QUIET" when they are I say "YES" and treat, calmly saying "good quiet"...then ask them to go back to their place..."YES" and treat calmly saying "good place". I've been doing it five to ten times in a row, until they don't react. If the doorbell goes off unexpectedly and I don't have time to prevent the "barkathon" , they go in the back room. They don't get to come out until they are calm. My goal is to have them go to their place when the doorbell chimes, so that they will do this when company comes. Today for the first time, I hit the doorbell and they both just looked at me...like where's the treat?
The mailman game: It is a bit challenging, requiring a very bad and special treat (chewy milk bones). I found that even Miko can't resist these. I see the mailman coming around noon'ish every day. When he is in view, I call the dogs to the window and say "hey guys IT'S THE MAIL MAN!" In my most fun voice. Then I click and treat them (regular treats) until he gets to the yard. When I see it is getting too tense...I pull out the chewy milkbones. (they can't bark with their mouths full) I up the rewards as he approaches the box. Today we got by with three barks instead of a steady stream of twenty! My dogs are convinced the only reason the mailman has never successfully broken into the house is because they are barking and scaring him away. If I punish them for this I am punishing them for doing their job. It is much better and eventually more effective to teach them that when the mailman comes they get lots of treats!
Knock...knock: (easier than the doorbell game) I used this while the tenants were moving there stuff out for an entire week! The dogs were going wild at every bump they heard. So, I started knocking on all the wood surfaces in the house. They'd bark and come running. I'd ask for a sit or a lay down and click and treat. It worked! Within a few hours of repeating this, they could handle the noises and were able to quiet down quickly if they did get startled.
As I mentioned before, TRAINING = CONSISTENCY over TIME, so if you just let your dog bark, you are essentially teaching it to bark. If you don't have the time to desensitize your dog to household noises, then at least interrupt the behaviour or make it impossible for the dog to develop out of control barking behaviour.
Here is a link for stop barking tips: you might have to cut and paste.
http://www.thedogtrainingsecret.com/DogBarking/dogbarkingvideo
