Dog barking at visitors and at cafes

[IcklePickle8]

We have a lovely 5 year old lab. Very chilled at home and when out and about however we do have an issue with barking. My son is autistic and is absolutely besotted with her, he also likes to visit cafes and take her along which is where the problem occurs because as soon as we sit she starts to bark intermittently and very loudly. I’ve tried taking a blanket and treats for her to settle on/distract her but it doesn’t help. She will also just stand and bark when we have a visitor. Not particularly at them but in a stressed kind of way. Strangely if we have lots of visitors she hardly bothers at all beyond the initial bark to tell us they are here. It’s getting worse over time and she’s just unbelievable loud. Any ideas?

Do you ever give her a command not to? You can just rely on treats/blanket for her not to bark.
A firm “No” or “Stop”, or whatever word you choose to use whenever you don’t want her to do something, should also stop her barking.
If it doesn’t work then you need to not take her to the cafes with you until you can see someone who can properly train her not to bark.

Tbh, every time my lab has a new issue (well, twice it’s happened) I call the local dog trainer and it sorts the issue out In just one session, Usually it’s something super simple that’s going on.

I encountered two very noisy dogs outside a supermarket the other day (not in the very hot weather). They were tied up and were barking and whining loudly and incessantly. As I walked past I said 'Quiet!' in a firm confident voice. They stopped instantly (much to the amusement of other customers). This anecdote leads me to believe that it should be possible to train dogs not to bark. Personally I would avoid a cafe with a barking dog and owners apparently unable to stop it.

I have stopped dogs from barking by stamping my foot once and growling.

Give it a try if you wish, it may help.

Not everyone is happy to do this in public but its not out of character for me hahaha!😁

Have you taught a "settle" and a "quiet" command at home?

If not, that's where you need to start. Begin in a quiet room with no distractions, then increase the distractions and temptations, then try it in the garden, in the park etc. until it's ingrained enough to be used in a really busy, tempting environment like the pub or a café.

We took ours from day one which really helped but unless you have a time machine that's not much use to you now

Hi,

The solution depends on the reason why she's barking, from the description of loud intermittent barking it sounded like attention seeking (in which case teaching a "quiet" as some people recommended could work, as well as not giving her any attention for the barking, even eye-contact) but then you said she seems stressed, in which case you need to work out the underlying stressor and do some desensitising and counter-conditioning work to help reduce her stress levels about the situation which will of course reduce her barky reaction to the situation)

I highly recommend seeing a trainer or behaviourist that can come to your home and see the barking for themselves and can then go for a walk to a cafe to see exactly what's going on. They will then be able to advise you on how to go about reducing the barking.
Good trainers can be found here
and behaviourists here or here

Best of luck