Our 8 year old collie has always been a bit of a barker when excited but she seems to be getting worse and it's starting to take any pleasure out of doing any exercise with her.
She has quite a high pitched bark which is not pleasant to listen to and will bark on and off for most of the walk, more so if it's windy, if she sees birds, runners, bikes etc or just because. I assume it may be a mixture of excitement and fear but I am at a loss as to know what to do. If I'm on my own I just stop walking until she stops and then we carry on but we could stop and start like that for the entire walk, the barking doesn't seem to recede. And I can't keep stopping if I'm running or walking with friends.
She is also going deaf so giving any voice or sound command isn't effective though she does recall to an arm signal (provided she is facing the right direction).
I mostly think I probably just have to accept the barking at this age now but just wondered if anybody had any suggestions to make me less grumpy on walks (and everybody in earshot). In desperate moments I wonder about a citronella collar but I don't really want to go down an aversive route and am well aware that this might just make her more fearful.
She is such a lovely sweet natured dog in every other way,it's a shame a lot of our walks and runs are spoilt by the barking (like today).