Stop barking?

[Emoore]

How do you teach a dog to stop barking once he's started? I'm talking about when they're barking at someone in the yard or at the door. We want them to bark, but then at some point we want them to shut up. I know the standard advice is to teach them to bark on command and then it's easy to get them to stop, but all my dogs have barked on command, but that doesn't mean they were easy to stop.

[onyx'girl]

I just say 'ok, no bark'-but that doesn't always stop Kacie. She barks when my 18 yr old son comes down the stairs!
My sons friends tell her to quiet when they come in(kids are coming and going all the time, they can never sneak in or out here!)She does quiet when told, unless she doesn't know the person.

[Emoore]

The problem is that Rocky is barking from fear/nerves/anxiety/whatever you want to call it. I really don't want Kopper to learn that when somebody comes to the door or walks in the yard, we bark uncontrollably and don't shut up, but I'm afraid that's what he'll learn from Rocky's nervous/anxious barking.

[onyx'girl]

Kacie and Onyx are way more reactive than Karlo. He does not bark when they do...different thresholds and temperaments. He does bark now and then but not nilly willy like they do and when I say quiet, he obeys, because of his biddability.
Hopefully Kopper will show the same as Karlo!

[krystyne73]

I would pick the worst barker and correct them, the others will follow. I started this at home because all 4 dogs were barking at the window when people rang the bell or running outside to bark at the fence. My trainer said to "claim the spot" and tell them No or leave it or some trigger word. It took about 2 wks and my dogs have mellowed out a lot. It's actually crazy quiet now, very nice.

[doggiedad]

i taught my dog "quiet" and "no barking".
my dog stops barking on either command.

[Rott-n-GSDs]

Can you redirect with a treat and another command? Give them a "stop barking" command (whatever word you choose), show the treat, and ask for a sit. Give the treat when the dog complies. Repeat as necessary.

[FG167]

I use "enough" and when I said it very firmly, he would pause and look to me and I would mark and reward...caught on pretty quickly.

[Stosh]

When Stosh is inside, he's allowed 2 barks to alert us that someone's coming in the drive, then he has to stop- I also used 'enough'. He soon learned to whisper bark after 2 loud ones, it's really cute.

[cassadee7]

This is a good question. Saber likes to bark at her 'friend' (neighbor dog) out the window. It's a friendly bark but omg she barks the whole time he is in his yard unless I stop her. I started out using "leave it" because she knows that already (click & treat when she comes away from the window) but I think I am going to also teach "quiet".

If your dogs knows the "place" command you might try that when they bark. However that would only work at home or when you have the "place" with you.