Barking at neighbour

[Thewheelsfelloffthebus]

Ddog is a nice natured dog ... but ... he keeps barking at my neighbour when she is say out in her garden or if he sees her at an upstairs window.

I assume it’s part a territorial thing (get out of my garden) and also part that he is the type of dog to bark at someone to get them to stroke him (not an agreesice bark - more for attention)

How can I train him to stop?

[mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork]

Mine has started doing this more since lockdown. If she thinks anyone is coming to my front door (I live in a cul-de-sac of small blocks of flats with large communal lawns in front), she will bark and go and wait at the top of the stairs, expecting me to go downstairs and open the door (even if she recognises the person as a neighbour). I have decided that if I put a stop to it entirely, she would then not bark if she saw a dodgy person (also, it is sometimes useful to have a heads up that a delivery is arriving, etc, if I am not near the window). However, she does stop if I say, "Good girl, thank you, it's all right, that's enough" in a firm tone and show that I am in charge of the situation and don't need her any more, thanks. Now I need to learn how to stop the parrot calling out when he sees a prospective visitor through the window. He's a bit more tricky to train.

[Mrsjayy]

My dog barks at various people and not bothered about others I always ask him what is it he will stop once I've checked out the danger and he is happy jobs done, you might need to acknowledge your dog he is alerting you and he might stop.

[Thewheelsfelloffthebus]

@Mrsjayy I’ve tried that - i just look crazy - I sort of look at whatever he is barking at and say “it’s all ok”.

[LuluBellaBlue]

I was taught distraction and it seems to be working with our youngster really well, not so much with the older dog (8 years).

so when they bark, if you can get in between them and the fence / whatever they're barking at or if their recall is good, call them, ask them to do a task (ie sit / down) then reward. You don't want them to think they're being rewarded for barking!
Failing that, again, in between, tell off (simple 'no') and remove them to inside.

[Mrsjayy]

Yeah if all else fails. Just say no and send him in or away

[longtompot]

Oddly you have to teach your dog to speak in order to teach them to be quiet. I've sort of tried with mine, but we didn't get very far.