Excessive excitement barking?

[Somanyquestionsss]

My small breed dog seems to have quite a low threshold for excitement and certain things trigger him to descend into a fit of excitement barking that goes on and on and on. Sometimes it's accompanied by jumping up and mouthing.

I wondered if it was anxiety but I asked the vet and she said he is just a very excitable young (1.5 years) dog.

He barks when it's time for walks and continues up the street.
He barks if there's a gate in the way on a walk.
He barks when we get up and leave a cafe/restaurant (and he's been quiet the whole time).
He barks on walks when there's somewhere in particular he really wants to go.
He barks when leaving the car for walks.
He barks if we stop when on a walk eg. To cross a road, to tie a shoelace.

Basically anything to do with walks or having to wait or a change of surroundings.

Yesterday we were walking to the woods and as soon as we were on the road that leads there, he barked the entire length of it and didn't stop until we were there. I tried to stop, wait for quiet, praise the quiet and then continue, but the barking just continued every single time I took a step forward and other people were watching and it was so embarrassing.

To be clear, it's not 'just' a bark, it's a loud, continued, frenzied bark that has gone on for a good 20 minutes at times. Once he starts, its very hard to distract him.

I really can't bear the barking and it's making me despair and want to re-home him as it's all so stressful. I have tried lots of tips off the internet/books/trainers such as distraction, not giving him what he wants, calming techniques, teaching him to wait etc.

Has anyone else has something similar with their dog? Any tips?

God, that sounds hard. Mine is similar but not quite that bad! What breed is he?

Things I'm trying with mine right now that seem to work - click the trigger/look at that game. Is he clicker trained? It sounds like it's hard to spot a single trigger though for your boy, as it sounds like frustration as much as anything.
Impulse control games - we play it's your choice and mousey mousey - IYC is where you hold a treat in your fist and they only get the treat when they stop pawing at you. Mousey mousey is where you put a treat on the floor and they only get it when they wait for it - you flick it across the floor. Might be fun to teach him those as he has to sit quietly to get the treato.

Things I'm going to try - teaching him to wiggle on cue so I can try to get him to wiggle rather than bark out of excitement when greeting people; teaching him 'bark' as a cue when he says a little woof, and rewarding him, then 'quiet' straight afterwards, and rewarding. Don't know if any of this will work!

It sounds like poor impulse control and a lack of training to me.

What training have you done with him at home to try and control his impulses? Is he good at things like wait, stay, quiet?

When you take him out for a walk, are you very calm beforehand? Some owners say things like 'ooh shall we go walkies, walkies dog?!' in a high pitched voice. Bad idea because you hype the dog up.