Any tips to stop the barking?

[LilyWasThere]

My 5 year old poodle's barking is getting worse.

It used to just be when someone walked up the drive but now she barks at everything. We had a behaviourist come who thought that she's maybe got scared by something, had barked and it had stopped / gone and she linked the barking with the threat ending. I've tried distracting her with treats but now she just looks for them instead.

I don't think she's looking for my attention as she's not looking at me when she's barking. She's well walked and has lots of stimulation.

Any ideas would be gratefully received!

Have you tried calling her when barking - when she comes over, give her an other command like sit / down/ roll over/ shake hands... than give her the treat. So the treat is for other behaviour not the barking.
An other useful took is to teach her to "speak"= encourage the barking once she has masters this teach her to stop barking/ be quiet. Make sure you use voice and hand signals initially, and drop the voice once she has learned it. (Should take about 1week...)
Now, if she barkes, call her name and give signal for quiet. By not using your own voice, you take away any excitement / anger / worry that might be a subconscious signal to her, that there is something scary out there worth barking at!

Try reactive dogs uk group on Facebook. Lots of info on there

Some dogs bark....a lot. Barking produces feel good hormones and it is fun for the dog.

What you need to work on is an alternative behaviour than barking.
You will need to do some detective work to find the triggers - if she is barking at everything she would be barking 24/7.

I would start by keeping her in one room with you and not giving her the run of the house. So if she is in the kitchen what does she bark at. Is it birds outside, is it any noise, is it what you are doing. It is not essential to know why she barks but it helps for you to control it and to desensitise the dog.

Initially though what I would do is givea treat the second the dog barks say nothing drop the treat on the floor where she can see and hear it fall.

The chain will be dog is aware of situation and barks treat appears.

I can already hear you thinking that you will be rewarding the bark you are NOT rewarding the bark you are associating what makes the dog bark with a treat. Soon the dog will be aware of the situation that makes them bark and then will instantly turn for the treat. Make this a really high quality treat - it could be a toy if the dog prefers a toy.

What will happen is the dog will hear the noise, and turn to you for a treat/toy rather than bark.

This will not happen over night and will take time and consistency from you to make changes but it will work. Again though a good reason to keep barking to a minimum during this period by keeping in a location where there is less need to bark or react

It is hard to give detailed advice over the internet and in Rl I would be looking at the environment and be able to give more detailed fine tuned advice that would be easier for you to manage