Dog barks at everything, please help?

[Endler32]

The weather is getting warmer and we have the back door open but the b**tard dog keeps barking at the neighbours in their garden and any noise he can. The neighbours have small children and the dog sounds quite scary, I don't want him scaring the children. Also when people knock the door he goes crazy, barks very loudly and jumps up at the stair gate, the post man is petrified of him as are any delivery drivers.

I have tried putting him on a lead and not opening the door until he is quite but it makes no difference, he still barks .

I know I have posted about this before ( and his other problems ) but this is really getting to me as half my family won't visit, we can't have small children come over as he scares them before they even get in the door. I don't think it's fear or him being vicious, he's as soft as they come and just gets excited.

Any advice please?

get a water spray bottle and give him a blast when he barks, saying a firm NO at the same time. you'll soon be able to forget the spray as he'll react to the word no

Or - remove the reward. Shut him in another room away from the rewarding excitement. When he barks in the garden remove him immediately. Dogs associate reward and its removal with the immediate action so you have to be quick. It's very annoying and exhausting having a barky dog and equally annoying trying to keep on top of it but you have to be consistent. The consistency is the key! He has to have the reward removed every time he does it. Might take a while but you'll get out what you put in. Apologies if you've tried this already, in which case a behaviourist might be able to suggest a more particular solution.

I've always wanted to try this video for our dog but his cues for barking are quite inconsistent, sometimes he barks a lot and and sometimes he doesn't bother so it's difficult to know what will really set him off. If you have a consistent cue (like a knock at the door) then this might be worth a try?

Thank you, we have tried several things, when dh is home it is much easier as one of us can calm him down when the other opens the door, when I'm on my own I have to wrestle him so I can shut the living room door so he's not lunging over the stair gate barking his head off. We have tried water in the past but he loves it . It's a very quick reaction as soon as the door knocks, sometimes before the knock if he hears the person walking up to the door. I have looked at the bark collars that make a noise when the dog barks ( not the shock collars ) but I don't think he will hear it as his barking is so loud.

What about practising with Dh and kids? Get them to keep knocking at the font door, let him have a daft bark and totally ignore hin and don't answer the door. When he finally stops barking, however long that might take, and is quiet, open the door and reward him for being quiet. Usually when you're tying to teach sit or stay or quiet, you keep repeating the behaviour you want and reward accordingly. Bit tricky with waiting for other people to knock at the door so I would try practising first.