Terrier has found her voice! Help

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Maggie has found her bark :)

It's mainly in play but is getting very grating already...today she was playing with a adult lab and a puppy lab. Adult lab had one of Maggie's toys all were wagging tails and having lots of fun and adult lab wouldn't give Maggie her toy back and she barked and barked and barked, no one could hear themselves speak and it must have been very irritating for the neighbours!

We went out yesterday for a walk and she met lots of dogs but one was muzzled, I was stood still with Maggie and the couple stopped but kept their dog away, Maggie started going a bit mad because she wanted to say hello and then the man said I suppose we could try and bought his dog over a bit, thankfully his wife said err no our dog is not that trustworthy so man then pulled the dog back, Maggie then starting yapping and barking at dog so I said thanks bye and walked off.

I also took her to meet my friends two labradors, who came out of their house and both starting barking at Maggie, she of course started barking back at them which is fine. Once they had all said hello she stopped and they stopped.

She hasn't done it all the time, we also met two westies on our morning walk who saw Maggie and yapped hysterically at her and she didn't bark back at them. But she did see a bit of plastic bag floating about on the path the other day and got highly excited about it being still one minute and moving the next so started yapping at it - not particularly great for the people whose house she was outside!

Can I get her to stop and more importantly should I get her to stop? Barking is therapeutic for them I thought? She is 12 weeks tomorrow so do I leave it a few months or train her to stop now, I really don't want a yappy barking dog - it scares my daughter and her friends and I am sure will scare people or irritate them when we are out.

If she is playing just with me and daughter and is barking should we just stop playing and put the toy away but she has obviously not associated what we do in these situations to put them in other situations.

what sort of terrier is she? no helpful advice for you I'm afraid, just some sympathy. terriers do respond to noise and movement and are easily excited / aroused ime. they are v keen to communicate their feelings!nwe have a (lovely) bedlington but she can be bloomin' noisy when she chooses. usually we remove her from whatever has got her going and praise when she is calm / quiet. she will bark at other dogs to try and get them to play, bark at car alarms, if someone is sweeping with a broom, the hoover if the dcs are arguing etc etc. will watch your thread with interest to see if anyone has some good ideas.

Hi Queenie, she is a Parson Russell. She hasn't barked much today apart from when someone came to the door and it was my daughters friend - she knew it was a friend/child because said friend was singing and shouting through the letterbox as well as constantly opening the letterbox and then letting it slam when she saw Maggie barking and jumping up at the letterbox!!! irritating of the child not the dog!! I was upstairs with no clothes on having just got out of the shower and my daughter knows not to answer the door in case the dog legs it out and causes havoc in that state so this went on for a minute or two. I have worked out that it is excited barking that makes her constantly bark bark bark bark bark. She does a different bark if she is seeking attention, its very sweet.

Before today I have tried going out myself and letting the letterbox slam but of course she knows it's me and looks a bit bewildered. Also she is not usually in an area where she can react to the door and hasn't to date been bothered by anyone knocking if she is not in the hall. Have told the child not to do it in future and just one knock on the door is sufficient thank you. Will see what happens with that one - although I think the fright the child got when the door finally opened and she saw this "wild" (excited) dog will stop her doing it anyway :)

Also interested in how to stop it and more importantly if I should but will see if anyone comes up with a more experienced viewpoint!

Our border terrier is very LOUD when he gets going but luckily he usually only barks for a good reason. I think they're pretty quiet as breeds go. There was a little Jack Russel who was very yappy at his training class however. The trainer got her owner to get a plastic bottle and put some pebbles or something in it, to make like a shaker. So when she barked and shouldn't be, you shake the bottle at her to startle her with the noise. You don't tell them off as they just see it as you 'joining in'! Though have to admit, if the local cats set our little dog off in the night, my DH just tells him to shut up and it generally does the trick!