How to deal with barking?

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Ok, Vallis is a barker. When we first got him he would bark right at you for you to pet him, but we have been ignoring him and it has stopped for the most part because it doesn't get him any attention.

How do we get him to stop barking at everything outside and inside when he hears a noise?? Eric works from home 3 days a week doing tech support (he takes calls) so he can't have a lot of background noise and we don't want to have to crate Vallis while he works. I have thought about squirting him lightly with water, but I don't want to have to do that until I hear other suggestions first. Is there better way to get him to stop barking every time he hears something (more pleasant for him anyway)? Thanks!

[lvpets2002]

Boy howdy if we can get some good advise on this one Hey count me in...
My Brandy is the barker & I spend lots of time at the back door at night & 1-2 am with her barking & telling her to hush up & dont wake the neighbors.. I bought one of those collars & never put it on her.. I cant stand having to shock her all the time..

[LoudLou]

Louie is a barker, too. That's why he is called LOUD Louie. He is the Informer, The Doorbell (Unreliable, as many times we have answered the door for Casper the Friendly Ghost - ) We've been through school, videos, books, etc...
We've learned to embrace the barking ... We work from home also. We do remind him that he does not have to inform us of everything, we realize he thinks it is his job... we try and find him other things to do when he gets too Barky.

[critter crazy]

Duke barks at anything out of place!! he even has been known to bark at the moon if it sneaks up on him!! he he he!!(true story!) he has also woke his self up by barking in his dreams!! such a dufous!! oh well we have just learned to deal with it!! but if he would bark all day long non stop!! well that would be a different story!! besides he dosent bark he bays and howls!!!

[jennawing]

Squirting him with water is one way- though that would likely be one more thing to bark at. Spray bottle doesn't work n my dogs- they catch it in their mouth- think it is a game. Teach him to speak on command would be a better idea. Once he knows the command to speak, you can get him to understand 'no speak'- or, as our Natalie knows the command- 'mime dog' and she changes her bark to a whisper. This was the only thing that helped us. When I talked to the vet about it- he wanted to do surgery on her vocal chords. I definitely wasn't keen on going that route.

[critter crazy]

Squirting him with water is one way- though that would likely be one more thing to bark at. Spray bottle doesn't work n my dogs- they catch it in their mouth- think it is a game. Teach him to speak on command would be a better idea. Once he knows the command to speak, you can get him to understand 'no speak'- or, as our Natalie knows the command- 'mime dog' and she changes her bark to a whisper. This was the only thing that helped us. When I talked to the vet about it- he wanted to do surgery on her vocal chords. I definitely wasn't keen on going that route.

so how does one go about teaching a dog to speak??? we got rotti from a rescue who already knew the command, and we have been trying to teach duke to speak. but to no avail!!

[Kosy]

Try this:
Get a handful of yummy treats and have them in your pocket. Get a can of some sort and put 10-20 pennies inside. Get ready. When your dog barks, shake the can immediately. That should startle him enough and get his attention. Then tell him to sit, and when he does, give him a treat immediately. Be consistent. Eventually you should be able to tell him to sit--or down, if you prefer--after the first warning bark.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

so how does one go about teaching a dog to speak??? we got rotti from a rescue who already knew the command, and we have been trying to teach duke to speak. but to no avail!!

Marta knows how to speak. Find something that makes them bark, and give a treat everytime he barks after you "speak," he will probably pick it up pretty quickly!

[Rachel]

This really is a hard nut to crack, but some dogs do learn the *no bark* command. I would get a couple good dog training books from the library and look up the techniques which are recommended. If all else fails, you could get one of those collars which allows a free bark and then gives off a warning and a mild correction. One of our friends uses it for his little dog who we sometimes care for when they are on vacation. Rita doesn't mind wearing the collar and it really does work. I don't like the idea of it because it has these two prong things that seem to poke into the front of the neck, but like I said, Rita doesn't seem to mind it.

[Pembroke_Corgi]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I think the hardest thing is going to be consistency (for me), since I don't really mind when he's barking too much, I just don't want him barking when Eric is at work.

Louie is a barker, too. That's why he is called LOUD Louie. He is the Informer, The Doorbell (Unreliable, as many times we have answered the door for Casper the Friendly Ghost - ) We've been through school, videos, books, etc...
We've learned to embrace the barking ... We work from home also. We do remind him that he does not have to inform us of everything, we realize he thinks it is his job... we try and find him other things to do when he gets too Barky.

Louie sounds very helpful, being your doorbell and all. I know corgis are somewhat known for barking, but Marta has never had much of a problem- (Vallis is another story...) she only barks at things she finds unusual (people loitering suspiciously, and dogs that are being aggressive. we call her a police dog).

[BitsyNaceyDog]

We've had luck with both the coins in a jar and with a squirt of water. The jar works great when they're all barking. The water bottle works better when it's only one of them barking. We keep both handy. Mine rarely bark when they're inside. When they're outside they often bark at specific things (ie: a motorcycle, diesel trucks).

[Karen]

For a long time I worked in an office with a Sheltie. He was a barker, and not consistently trained by his humans, so the problem persisted. If I was on the phone with someone when he was being particularly barky, I'd say, "Excuse me a second, please" and hush him, then come back to the phone. Or I'd say to the person "Don't mind the noise, that's just the office dog," and 6 times out of ten the person would say "You get to have a dog at the office? You're so lucky," and the other 4 of the ten would say "No problem."