How do I stop my puppy from barking at EVERYTHING?

[Totototoro]

He's 6 months old.

Its only in the house /garden. If we are out on walks he doesn't bark at all.

But if he's sat in the living room and someone takes a bin out he barks.
If some kids run past laughing he barks.
If he is lay in our bed at night and one of our kids starts moving around in a creaky bed he barks.
If he hears a bird outside he barks.

It's really getting stressful.

Especially at night. I'm just asleep and he wakes me up as every little noise has him barking.

How do I stop it?

At six months old he may well be going through a secondary fear phase in which anything outside the totally normal might be extra scary for him.

I found the best way was to act totally nonchalant, not look up or round, nothing. Not react in any way to the noise. If Battendog also tried to get up and run to the noise I would encourage him back to me to lie down. Over time he settled back down and got used to the noises again. Took a few months.

However, he is a springer and they are not especially barky. A more vocal breed may be trickier.

With our JRT (who is older and barked at the door) I simply gave her a treat every single time the doorbell rang. After many repitions she started to look for the treat rather than bark. She is still a barker in the house to other noises, though. However, she is a JRT and barking is just a part of who they are.

He's a crossbreed. Pug and shihzu.

He doesn't seem scared. He reminds me more of an old man squaring up to everyone he sees

I’ve learned over a year that:
It’s not fear or boredom or lack of exercise. He just HAS to bark at every noise.
Nothing stops him. I’ve tried every single thing suggested and wasted money on a useless trainer.
Physically restraining him is the only way he can go outside even for a wee.
Shouting at him doesn’t work but nor does rewards when he stops.
Sorry but I don’t believe there is any way of stopping it.

Don’t shout it makes it worse but you can say no when they bark once and walk towards them. If he’s outside I will tell him he must come indoors.

If it is fear I will give comfort but it sounds like territorial and I will often just say a clear ‘no’ and move them away from the barking source or into his bed

This is my dog in the middle of the night. He is 6. I am never going to be able to stop it completely but I get up every time and say ‘no’ and put him to bed. Sometimes I am very tired of some local cats decide to have a 2am scrap

He does give me some warning he is about to do it, his body language changes and he will make a kind of growling noise and be very alert. So I can sometimes distract him before it happens

Yes he does that. He goes really alert, ears pricked looking around and does a sort of 'bbbrufff' sound before he barks.

I don't mind so much in the day but being woken up with him barking next to my head at 3am scares the shit out of me.

At least he would be good if a burglar came!

Look I am not advocating this because I am possibly an idiot but the way I stop my dog doing this in the night is usually to let him do it once and try to call him back and see if he will settle down but any additional times I will put him in bed right next to me and fall asleep with my hand on his paw. I’m an idiot and he’s a prince because usually he’s snoring in 30 seconds and sleeps most of the night!

I tried white brown and pink noise it gave me weird dreams

I wouldn’t know if a burglar came though, or it was just a moth. Because he would do the same thing!

Teaching them a strong recall is really the key for barking because if they will come back to you when you ask they will usually stop barking. 8/10 I can get mine back after one bark

Ha! Try 8 of the buggers doing choir practice at 3am! Thankfully it only lasts a couple of minutes and I either get the giggles or join in

Pookie that made me laugh

Burglar or moth?
Intruder or cat outside?
Emergency or dog barking in distance?