Do you let your dog bark?

I don't let her by choice. I wish Aisha had an "off" switch I could just flick to get her to stop barking/ growling. She is super determined little girl though, is going to take alot of work! 

I have two dogs one barks horrifically at the door worse still she loves being sprayed with water, i bought a bark collar that uses sound, this worked once and then she ignored it. keeping her away from the door makes her worse. Reprimands bounce of her in this situation. I should mention she is freindly to everyone she meets.

 The only thing that works well is to exersize her first thing. This doesnt completly stop her barking but makes it far less severe. Stamping of the foot on the floor also stops her. And so my advice would be to exercise your dog early and if need be for longer, as your dog is prone to barking in the car try making it a regular event to put him in the car for a few minutes without going anywhere, get him good in this situation first, then on very short drives (maybe pull out and then back straight back in) just to get him used to the car stimulation.

She's not much of a barker.  But, when she does bark I handle it depending on what type of bark it is.  And, if she's getting out of hand with it I put a stop to it.  I have neighbors across the street that all their dogs do is sit in the bay window all day barking at whatever is going on.  At night, I can hear them, anytime we are in our drive-way they start up.  It's just silly, they really need something to do.  I would never tolerate that kind of foolish barking at nothing.

Tootsie barks when she hears something weird, alert barking. She barks about 5x and I say thank you and she stops, usually. She barks like crazy when I am playing ball with another dog. She talks a lot, which I don't mind. 

I must say I like it when they bark while running agility. 

Charlie will bark if another dog walks in front of the house or if someone comes to the door.  We are working on it since it is pretty intrusive and he can't settle himself down.  It doesn't matter if he is tired or not.  He has woken up from a dead sleep to bark.  He doesn't do it in the middle of the night since he sleeps in the bedroom and can't hear, but he's started really early in the morning and that's not good.  We don't just let him bark though since we live in a duplex, we have neighbors upstairs and I don't want them to complain.

They bark if someone comes to the door, or walks past the door, but they'll either stop on their own or when I tell them, "Thank you, that's enough."  Outside....they're quiet so long as *nothing* is going on anywhere w/in 2 yards to either side of us (They've finally gotten used to ignoring the people going in and out of the church up the street and the dogs that are in the yard at the vets)  But if either of the neighbors have their dogs out, mine go crazy, so I bring them back inside.  Like Callie, they don't go outside if I'm doing something where I wouldn't be able to go get them if they started barking.  We've had animal control come b/c of barking complaint (the person didn't even know if *was* our dogs who were barking, they actually wrote down 3 houses after they found out that all of us had dogs).  The officer said it's a 10 minute rule, so I make sure our dogs are not outside barking for any length of time.  It seems like that rule is only enforced if someone complains tho, b/c the people across the street let their dogs bark all night.

We also live in the country on a lane only to our house..  Shadow used to only bark when someone came down the lane to alert us.  He also used to bark when someone went up the lane to the neighbor on the hill, lol, to alert us.  We used to joke with the neighbor about our "shared" watch dog.   Which was fine with the neighbor because we watch out for each others property.  He would also bark if the neighbors cows got out where they were not supposed to be and if we let him out of the fence he would put them up. 

Rocky however is a different story.  He found his voice a few days after we brought him home.  He only barked at us, when he wanted attention.  As he is getting older he is getting better about barking when someone comes up the lane and just the last few days he has been very watchful over the neighbors cattle.   There are lots of new babies in the pasture.  One got out yesterday and he barked to let us know.   I have tried to discourage him from barking when he wants in the house (it was really bad at first)  now I dont let him in until he stops barking and then I will let him in and give him praise so that is also getting better.   I am sure we must have had to do the same with Shadow, I just dont remember.  I am hoping he will soon get the idea that barking is only allowed when we need to be alerted.  Oddly enough when all the other country dogs start barking and howling it doesnt seem to concern him at all.  I wonder if that goes back to his time in the foster home where there were lots of dogs.

jode88

Maggie is a barker!  She's a guard dog...that's what she does best. 

Absolutely!

The job of  Pyr is TO bark...Pyr's that do not would be failures as LGD's. Walk a bit...bark....walk a bit more...bark, all around the perimeter "I am here, I am here, do not approach!", esp at night I hear.

TM's and other LGD's also display this "perimeter barking" behavior. In fact it was this very thing that took both TM's (tho I dearly, dearly love them) and Pyr's both off my list of Large Breeds when I was looking for one.

Very important and interesting I think, to know why some breeds bark. Good that you already know!

Bailey isn't a barker at all.  One of our friends' dogs is huge and when they play together Bailey barks at her heels trying to keep up, or wanting her to go faster... it's actually pretty cute.  I wouldn't encourage her to bark on command just because its not a behavior I'd want to encourage.  I wouldn't mind if she barked when someone came to the door, but maybe in time she will.

Heidi's job will be to protect the property (naturally deter), so I don't like to stop her from barking.  We live in a semi-rural neighborhood on a 1.5 acre lot, completely fenced in.  So, I do not discourage her from running to the fenceline to bark at people. 

I have, however apologized to neighbors walking by with their dogs (when Im outside and a witness to her behavior).  I tell them that due to burglaries, we have Heidi as our guard.  Everyone completely understands and really doesn't have a problem.  Some of us have had conversations about it being good distraction training for the walking dogs.    And, as time goes by, the same neighbors with their same dogs come by, she will run up to the fence, but not viciously bark.  She will run the fence with them as they go by.  Great exercise. 

What I usually do (if its not obvious what she is barking at) is investigate...I'll say "what is it?" and look out into the yard.  She seems to enjoy that, knowing I'm interested.  Having that acknowledgement I think helps her fear (?) and to get over whatever it is.  We have a lot of critters out here, and she is still young, so she does bark at lots of stuff.  But, its funny, after I acknowledge her, I'll say "thank you", OK, thats enough" and most of the time she will quiet down.

Another thing that works for us if she continues for what I may think is a long time, is I'll say "hush" and when/if she actually does, I'll praise her with a "good hush."  If she starts over again, I'll say No Heidi, hush.  Then again praise with a "good hush".  Honestly, if it works, great, if not there is something out there like a raccoon, possom, who knows what.

The older dog, Buddy only barks if there is a real reason.  So, I will no doubt listen and investigate when he gets started.

I tell the nephew to stop when he immediately tells our dogs to be quiet at their very first bark.  The dogs are protectors - two of the three were bred to guard things.  This is an instinct I appreciate.

I have no issue with them barking, and I usually allow it to a point.  Then our word is "ENOUGH" (thank you Carole Lea Benjamin).  Jada has caught on, but Achilles is such a primitive dog that the only time he eventually will stop is when BF demands it.  He just KNOWS the "threat" is still out there!!  MUST KEEP BARKING!! 

The girls are more responsive to any/all obedience training anyway.

My three don't bark outside, unless the to neighbor dogs who like to fencefight and shriek at my three are out. (barking back is an automatic trip inside for mine though) They don't bark at neighbors or neighborhood sounds though. They bark if someone's at the door, but aren't allowed to carry on about it. And Ginger barks if she gets excited when we come home..it's a bark as she runs through the house like her rear is on fire thing, and she stops when she gets lovins and we all make our 'just home' trip outside

CoBuHe, I check too if they are having a fit, they seem to calm down after I check, LOL