PLEASE help me stop excessive barking

[ktnl83]

I have an 18 month old dog who has always been pretty vocal. over the last few months it has gotten worse and I'm feeling very low and like a failure. we've now had a letter from the council warning us to reduce the barking and neighbours have complained.

Just to give you an idea of our usual routine...

wake up (as soon as I move in bed to get up the barking starts, but he's quiet in the night).
get ready (still barking)
put lead and harness on (stops barking)
finish getting ready
walk for 1 hour including a run in the park
home
as soon as lead and harness off starts barking again but usually tired and panting so barking between pants / drinking water
i sit in the garden with him and put his breakfast out and he stops barking while it defrost he lays down and relaxes.
my partner goes to work and as soon as he seems him with his coat and shoes on barking starts again.
once he's gone I sit on the sofa and he lays down and sleeps.
he's usually fine when I'm sitting or laying down. when I get up or walk around, go to the toilet, anything he gets up and barks. when I say bark I don't mean continuous but watching me like bark-pause-bark-bark-bark-pause bark-pause

I've taken to sitting as much as possible so he can relax but I feel trapped like I can't do anything as I don't want to disturb him and start him barking.

when he barks I distract him with games in the garden, fetch, tug, small training sessions. but he still barks even when waiting for me to throw the ball etc, and when the games finished and he's worn out he still barks.

partner comes home from work - more barking and jumping. I take him on another walk about an hour. comes home tired. barks.

again sitting and relaxing in the evening and he's fine. has his dinner same time as us. getting ready for bed starts barking.

if we're ever both out in the day he's fine. he eats his Kong, has a drink, sleeps. we have a camera set up as I was worried he'd be worse when we're not in but he is quiet.

another thing is when we talk to each other he often barks and when we stop talking and give him attention he's quiet.

I should probably mention unless he is asleep he is always alert, aroused, excited. he's never just calm unless he's asleep.

he's my third dog and I've trained the others easily. I feel like it's my fault but not sure how. he is trained to do commands such as sit, stay, lay down, paw etc but he takes a lot longer to learn than any other dogs I've owned or helped train.

I give him treats when he's quiet but when I stop he barks.

I've tried ignoring it but it goes on, and on and now we've had complaints I can't try that anymore.

I try giving treats when my partner comes in to stop the barking / jumping but when I think he's calm and stop hell start then even if it's been 20 minutes since oh came in

I've tried giving him treats when laying down and relaxed to encourage it.

I've watched a million videos and read a million articles. and im just feeling desperate.

[Brechfa]

I just watched Victoria on Its Me Or the Dog and what she did was say "Quiet" very firmly and at the same time did a sort of both hands held in front of her and then separate (like a fan shape) Lots of praise when the dog was quiet and can't remember if she gave a treat. I did this with my vocal whippet and it worked first time!!!! Didn't need a treat and only have to use hand signal if she's excited. The dogs on TV were really noisy in the car so she covered up the windows and placed a curtain separating them in the back. They were quiet because they couldn't see anything. Then she opened up the curtain but closed it the minute the started barking. They eventually gave up barking so she praised them and gave them a treat. This was from the current series being shown on the Pick Channel.

[Lisky]

It sounds like your dog has developed a sense of "if I bark, I eventually get my own way". You are not a failure in any way, just some dogs take more work than others do. And some dogs become very smart as to how to get their own way. I am so sorry you're having such a difficult time and have been served a notice, I can only imagine this is increasing your anxiety which in turn may well be rubbing off onto your dog, causing even more unwanted behaviour.

It is a difficult one, because you're obviously under pressure and on a time scale by the sounds of it. The trouble is, if your dog barks and stops when it's time for a walk and you keep doing that, he's going to keep doing that because in his mind he eventually receives a reward. In short, barking gets attention. One way you might be able to try is when the lead comes out and if he's barking before it's on, make him work for a walk. For instance make him do tricks, and if he starts barking again, ignore him the best you can. He has learned that you live your life around him. You could also try an abrupt noise (not shouting), something "AH!" or "OUW" when he is barking. Sometimes this helps bring attention back to you, but it isn't a reward either. If he responds to this by not barking, you could try giving a treat, giving contact etc. The minute barking starts again, make an abrupt noise. There are metal discs available to throw on the ground, but personally I'm not a big fan.

When you think about it, if he's not barking when you're not there it goes to show he knows what he is doing when you are around. The trick here, though I know it must be awful under such pressure, is to make him unlearn barking gets attention. It's not an easy process. But you're not a failure, it is simply every dog has their own personality.

I wish you every success.