General Q about Barking!!

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For little ones, ignore unwanted behavior and praise or otherwise reinforce wanted behavior.

So if puppy is barking or whining, she gets no attention.

When she is not barking (doing what you want her to do), that's a great time to pay attention to her.

And if she is barking and you want her to stop, don't coddle, scold, or pay any attention to her whatsoever, even though it is tempting! At this stage in the game she is learning what gets your attention, period.

If you are consistent in ignoring this unwanted behavior, it will go away quickly. Dogs do what works.

If you find (like most puppy owners) that you are having some barking fits, especially at night,and are so worried about your neighbors that you are thinking of NOT ignoring the puppy when she is crying...

...then a smart strategy is to bake some cookies or something and go to the neighbors and explain the problem. Explain that it's not going to last and that you do care about their rest and quiet. Do whatever it takes to give you the strength to ignore the dog when she barks at first, so that you never create a problem.

Here's my two cents:

First off don't teach "Speak."  Don't reward barking behaviors at all.  Barks get ignored.  If you teach "speak," then your dog learns "I get a reward when I bark."  Not a good thing if you want your dog(s) to stay quiet.  Also remember that the more exercise your dog gets the less likely this dog will be to self-soothe by barking.  Keep it within reason depending on the age of the pup though.

My first question is...why is the Pom coming to you so early?  Toy breeds shouldn't be leaving the litter until 12-16 weeks of age.
 
The only way to condition her NOT to bark, is reward her for being quiet.  Poms are a spitz type breed, and toy breeds tend to be yappy, so you'll have to be on her from day 1 that excessive barking is not acceptable.
 
I personally disagree with the "Don't teach speak" thing.  Any smart dog will know when it is appropriate to bark and when it isn't if it is taught as a trick.  Strauss does just fine with it   But it all comes down to personal preference.
 
The Pomeranian is one of the more vocal toy breeds in my experience, so keep on her from the moment she gets there about barking, and things should be fine

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely keep it all in mind. I get my baby tommorow! I'm so excited.

  
I personally disagree with the "Don't teach speak" thing.  Any smart dog will know when it is appropriate to bark and when it isn't if it is taught as a trick.  Strauss does just fine with it   But it all comes down to personal preference.

Xeph:  The "yappy" breeds or other dogs that are "in love" with their voices (especially hounds) are not working breeds and most of them couldn't care less whether YOU think it's appropriate or not; they've been bred for a long time to operate independently of their human, and to make decisions and solve problems by themselves.

I don't recommend this in reality, but if you took Strauss to the top of a cliff and put him in a Sit Stay and then told him to jump and I did the same with Xerxes: which one of them is more likely to jump off the cliff?  The working dog is, of course.  The hound will look at you and ask you "what's in it for me?"

Teach a hound to "speak" on command and you'll end up with a very very loquacious hound, don't teach speak and your hound will only be tiny bit yappy.