Dog's barking is driving me insane!

[MissTweed]

We have two dogs..... Both working cockers (working as in the breed like kate & Williams *we got ours first!!) one is 5, the other is 3.

The 5 year old one is driving me mad with barking. She barks (really loudly) whenever anyone walk passed our house (our house is a cottage which is situated close to the pavement so people walk passed all the time) she barks at birds in the garden etc etc. it seems to be every 10 minutes!!!

We are expecting a baby in October and don't want the dog waking baby up with the barking. I'm not sure if her barking has got worse lately (maybe more people walking in this weather??) or if I'm just less tolerant because I'm pregnant?

Any tips to stop the barking?

I'm thinking of getting a water spray can and spray her face every time she barks?

We have a very nervous dog. She is also territorial so would bark constantly if we let her! We have trained her to be quiet by teaching her to 'speak' or bark on command. Then when we say quiet she stops.
There is a video on u tube by kikopup which shows you how to do it.

Please don't spray water in her face Miss Tweed. It's cruel and you'll possibly end up making her fearful.

What Imsosorryalan said is a very good way of controlling barking and is usually very successful.

I also live on a road where people are passing all the time and have a very barky dog. I trained her to stop by simply telling 'that's enough' and treating her when she stopped. She got it pretty quickly when she realised something tasty was involved.

Lots of patience and treats is the way to go.

One of my dogs barks at anything going past. Both my kids are used to it and it has never woken them up. Can't suggests a way to stop it but don't worry about it waking your baby, he or she will think it is normal!!!