Communicating OR Barking?

[Sessa]

I'm hoping I can present this in such a way as to spark a lively discussion!!
(pun intended! LOL!) and, I'm hoping everyone will chime in with their experiences and tolerance levels regarding barking---keeping in mind, that this is certainly a VERY subjective topic with no right or wrong answers. ;)

Here we go:

When is barking communicating?
and, vice versa,
When is barking just barking?

Or...put in another way,

When is it OKAY for your doodle to bark?
and vice versa,
When is NOT OKAY for your doodle to bark?
____________________________________

I'll go first:

Barking is something that I believe is worked on EVERY day, just like the basic building blocks of training, such as sit, down, stay, etc....

Barking is a major form of communication that I would not want to stifle in my dog,
although, training limitations of the when, why, and how much is very necessary.

I recognize that I have a doodle that is particularly vocal--by nature...thus, I've had to work hard on training with her because in the big picture of things, I would never want to "mute" her.

For example, I like the fact that my doodle alerts me to things/occurrences that I may otherwise miss or those things that she is more finely attuned to---i.e. hearing something, smelling something, alerting me of something, etc...
I also like the fact that I can recognize that my dog has MANY different types of barks--play barks, fear barks, excited barks, cooing growls, and so on....

HOWEVER, yes big HOWEVER,
I do not tolerate being barked AT (no way, no where, by no dog--I turn my back and walk away every time),
I do not tolerate barking coupled with escalating energy levels (this moves them further away from paying attention to ME!),
I do not tolerate barking AT other people (most of the time ;) ),
I do not tolerate unbridled barking in the backyard or at the fence line (one, at most, two barks, to acknowledge someone on the other side of the fence is fine but no more than that!).

Because I have limitations, I have had to really focus on the "bark" on command versus "quiet" and "hushhhhh" (with a finger over my lips)....it is possible to distinguish between these two, it just takes time and patience..I have not had to as of yet, nor do I plan on in the future, resort to remote collars...
..
..did I mention that I work on this every day?!?!!!!! LOL! ;) ;)

THANKS to those, in advance, who decide to share!

[Sue & Willy Babe]

Wilson barks a little and growls especially when he see's a neighbor who has not been home for awhile, he lets me know, I investigate, and tell him who it is, and thanks, ( I know that sounds silly but it works) He woofs when he hears his friends, like the other night he was outside around 8:45p.m. and he woofs twice, we took him in only because we didn't see anything, next 3 minutes his friend Maisy, came into our backyard, he was letting us know she had left her house.
He will bark in the morning just to let his friends know and neighbors lol that he is outside, We get him in and I do use the quite 'Good Boy" when he is when he Barks I say good Bark, he doesnt' bark alot and when the doorbell rings he doesn't bark he is just exicted, so we have him sit stay.

He does talk with the dog two houses down and its a I outside can you play bark. Their is a lot of different type of barks. But it is not annoying where we need a collar on him.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Barking - That first bark can knock your socks right off and temporarily stop your breathing. Roo is a barker, Tigger not so much, probably not at all if Roo did not bark like chicken little saying " the sky is falling, the sky is falling" to scare off every leaf, dove or anything else that dares to enter his sight line. To me it is the major problem with doodles. But then Siberians are rarely barkers at all, only the occasional ones and we were always lucky and got the silent ones. I taught them to speak and sing ( howl), but they just don't bark. I will freely admit that if it were not for the remote e-collar on Roo, I would be crazy. He is 20 months and just having the collar on allows me to interrupt his frenzy that includes, barking, running, jumping and otherwise being intolerable. Only the e- collar reminds him that sit means sit even if we are being invaded by a covey of hostile doves - or heaven forbid a postal worker!

Tigger has never needed an e-collar, but he is much mellower, lower drive or just lazier - take your pick. The only time Tigger really barks is while Roo is playing pool fetch. While Roo is in the water, Tigger runs laps around the pool, barking and then tries to pull Roo out by his ear as Roo goes up the steps. I really can't decide if Tigger thinks he is life guarding or what. I have put a no bark e-collar on Tigger, but it is a borrowed old one and I don't think it works. I would be happy for suggestions about Tigger pool barking. I do play with him on the steps of the pool and treat him to swim, he's just not that into swinmming or fetch for that matter. I am not bothered at all by other dogs barking, in fact I never noticed it until we got Roo and he tries to answer them all. I really hate my own dogs to bark though.