BARKING!!!!!

[Queenofthedrivensnow]

Please share all your bark reducing wisdom before I lose my mind. Ddog is a cocker and loves barking. The worst bit is he barks like mad at the start and end of the walk. Only if we walk from the house if I take him in the car he's fine. It's pretty much the 20 metre perimeter of the house as he's very excited

The dog gets excited because he is predicting what's next - e.g. walking from the house is a good indicator that a great walk is coming up.

You could break the link: get ready for a walk as normal, walk the dog two steps outside the front door then turn around and walk back in the house. Take his lead off and carry on with your day. Do this enough times and the dog will never know if a walk is coming or not. You can then vary the distance so that you fake a walk for more than a couple of steps.

It's also possible he thinks that the walk happens BECAUSE he barks (dogs are strange).

You could teach him that the walk ends as soon as he barks: do as above but only turn around when he barks. e.g. set off for a walk, take one step, dog barks, turn around and come back in the house. No need to shout or be angry, just let the consequence be the teacher.

It could be because he doesn't understand you want him to shut up. To teach him "quiet" you first have to teach him "speak". Whenever he barks say "speak" in a bright voice and shove a treat in him mouth. before long you should be able to say "speak" and he will bark on cue. Then teach him the times between barks are "quiet".

• say speak
• dog barks
• wait for a gap between barks
• say quiet and shove a treat in his mouth

Before long him will have learned that speak means to bark and quiet means not to and you can use that on a walk.

Miss thank you that's a lot to try. Think I will go with the cycle breaking first :-)