Starting to bark - tips to discourage excessive barking

[Leslie C.]

Hi. My 10 week old is starting to get a voice, while I want to her to communicate I do not want excessive barking.
Please share tips.
Thanks, Leslie

[Kyoko]

It only works at night when we are all sleeping, but, I taught her "Shhhhhh". Oposit of "Speak" I guess.
She gets quiet unless she really need to come out of her carte for potty.

[Holly Southall]

In training last week we talked about barking. The trainers said pretty much the same thing as you have mentioned. If your dog is warning barking (barking at cars, people, animals.....) To say "Quiet, or Thank You" Then click and treat when they stop barking.

If your dog is demand barking because they want something (which Angel likes to do) ignore it. Do not give them what they want until they are quiet.

I have found the clicker training is really good. When you are shaping a behavior like this it takes time, but the dog is also getting out energy by having to use their mind to figure out what you want.

[Kyoko]

This is exactly what I did to teach mine "Shhhhh".
My vet also spoke about the spray bottle ( Air spray bottle) for mouthing, but I did not use it.
Because I wanted to work with her more from the positive reinforcement ( Do something good and get something good ) rather than negative reinforcement ( get negative consequences to stop the negative behavior - stop negative behavior to avoid negative consequences)

[Kyoko]

:(
I would be heart broken if the puppy class teacher told me that....He/she could have said it in a nicer way....
I guess it was easier to teach mine the way I did it because she did not have excessive barking....

[Kate]

It probably could have been said in a nicer way, but it was true. She wimpered a lot even at 8-12 weeks, before she could actually bark. We love her anyway, even if she is "mouthy!" Though she's gotten better!