My general purpose preemptive noise is a growly sort of eeehhh!
It nearly always stops them from whatever it is they are about to do.
Then there is YOTE NO!! and YOTE BAD DOG!!!

 Quote: jennifer lee

My general purpose preemptive noise is a growly sort of eeehhh!

Yes, the fewer background syllables the better, IMHO. Otherwise we turn into that trumpet noise on Charlie Brown that is "adult speak."

I talk to my dogs all the time, but actual commands are not sentences. They are at most two words.

I figure to them it probably sounds a lot like a warning growl, and its certainly not something to be confused with normal speech.

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

I figure to them it probably sounds a lot like a warning growl, and its certainly not something to be confused with normal speech.

Sounds like?
Hell! It IS a warning growl!

If I raise my voice to Hambone while is wanting to lunge or do something I don't want him to do...mostly take off after something, it drives him even higher. I have to keep a quiet, even voice, and keep it simple. MOST of the time he looks at me as if to say...well, alright, I won't do it...

Yell, and off he goes to wreek havoc.

If I know what the dog is thinking and give a counter command, I wouldn't consider that preemptive at all. After all I know the dog is thinking about the squirrel, she just hasn't physically acted on it yet. But I know and the dog knows exactly what is being 'talked about', leave the damn squirrel alone.

If I preempt a situation that I know is going to be an issue, the dog has no idea that a squirrel is ahead and the leave it command means nothing to the dog. But I may preempt the whole scene with a formal heel command and for the dog it's just another fun thing to do, it's of no consequence to the dog she doesn't know about the squirrel.......yet.

Yes, I see what you mean. So when I hear the skate boards but the dog has not quite focused on them, my doggy pushups plan preempts what would become his evil barky plan.

But my "UH!" when the dog has already seen the diversion and HAS his own plan and is headed for the fence is different.

Makes sense to me. Pre-emptive is strike before they know it- offensive move on my part - and not after they know it -- defensive move on my part. Correct?

Enre to the op question,
Until you can relate to the dog what no bark means, it has no relevance for the dog at all. It means squat.
After you get the dog to understand that it means silence, it still means nothing to the dog if it isn't either thinking about or actively engaged in barking.
Okay, you see a friend coming up the drive, your dog is happily on the floor gnawing on a kong. You can't preempt the barking by commanding no bark, the dog will just look at you thinking what in the world are you talking about. It has no relevence, he's thinking about the peanut butter in the kong. He's not thinking about barking at the kong!
You can preempt the situation by commanding the dog goes to his place, the dog thinks oh okay picks up his kong and goes to his mat where he of course knows he is to be quiet. Right?

If on the other hand you allow the situation to progress to the point where your friend gets to the door, then the dog hears them, he jumps up runs to the door.....now the command no bark can have some meaning for him, he's actively thinking about barking. You're interupting a behavior already underway.

Remember, dogs live in the moment.

It definitly is a behaviour he's thinking about doing because I hear the neighbours dogs at the same time as he does. So it's not like I know they are going to bark and I try to tell him not to. He's heard them and is thinking about joining in.
So good to know it isn't confusing to him.

On the discussion about what the commands are, I guess I was using the 'no bark' command because that's all I was thinking about stopping. But thinking about it now I probably want to stop the whole behaviour of paying attention to the barking dogs.
So an all encompassing 'no' or 'ahhh' would probably be even more effective than just telling him not to bark.

On that note how many of you say your dog's name before giving a command or talking to them or whatever? Sometimes I've been in the middle of a conversation with my husband and had to give the dog a command, but it's like he doesn't realize I've spoken to him. So I've starting saying "Max.....<insert command>" so he knows I mean him and not my husband.

Am I now creating a dog that will only listen if I say his name first?