I was concerned about anxiety and if I should be doing something (more) to reassure him. He isn't agressive, but he does posture - his hackles go up a bit and he barks. It isn't non-stop and I can get him to stop with a command (although at times he will bark again shortly after stopping).

Well John,

If your dog stops on command, that is a good thing. If he persists, command him again. Distract him by moving him from where he is to another place. Refocus him on some thing else, preferably you.

If he refocuses on you, his hackles should go down. He should be confident in you as leader. If you act as if there is no big deal going on, he'll get the message.

I don't know what your stop barking command is but I often will just do this little sequence "hey" pause "enough" pause "come" and when the dog comes I pet it or scratch it or offer some little gesture of approval with a 'good boy' or 'good girl' or 'good dog' or some thing that verbally signals my approval for the dog's coming to me.

My objective is to have the dog refocus on me when it hears my voice. I certainly don't mean with anxiety or fearfully but with a recognition that good stuff comes with my voice, and that it doesn't have to worry about whatever it was barking at.

I try to remove what ever is getting the dog's attention by redirecting the dog to me, briefly, and let it know there is nothing to worry about.

If your dog starts to bark again, just a quick 'hey' pause to let the dog focus on you, and then 'come.' When it comes, a bit of praise. If it tries to return to the behavior you don't want, redirect the dog. Take away the focus of his behavior and replace it with a focus you approve of.

Sooner or later, with consistency and patience, the dog will stop and come to you and do some thing else. It doesn't have to be a complicated redirection ritual. It should be matter of fact. Hey. Enough. Come. Good dog. No big deal.

I really believe anxiety in a dog is in some measure a function of leadership. If you are calm, matter of fact, and comfortable in your relationship with your dog, the dog will feel your confidence. That is not to say there aren't times when corrections are appropriate but corrections should be many fewer than positive reinforcements.

The old saw about calling the dog and your blood pressure rising with every ignored call, and finally the dog comes on the sixteenth time when you are frustrated, and you must be profuse in your praise of the dog because tomorrow it might come on the fifteenth, and so forth. Call the dog and correct it for not coming sooner and it will surely be reluctant to see you in a happy way.

It doesn't seem to me that your dog has any anxiety or certainly no serious anxiety that training and consistency won't overcome.

Did I mention I type fast and that that ability unfortunately contributes to long, uninteresting, and uninformative pontification? This post is confirmation.

I'm kind of in the same boat with the original poster, excpet I know that my two are just alerting. No anxiety. Assuming I'm not hijacking the thread, how do you get them to understand the command to stop when its enough? In my situation one or both are usually crated because marco is only 7 1/2 monthhs old so they're not allowed to interact much yet. One will alert then the other chimes in.

I don't mind barking but my Cody once he begins he carries it through his whole day. Over barking. what I have done is to teach the dogs to speak or bark. then when they are between barks I reward them. (when they stop barking a little) you heave to jump right in to catch the silence between the barks. I reward "enough" and put my finger to my mouth. As soon as they are quite they get a treat. It takes time, but is worth it. My dogs (3) can really set each other off. So I try and nip barking in the bud. I go and look at what they are barking at, then ask for quite "enough". It has worked well. Sometimes Cody runs to the door and barks and then runs to me and sits and looks up for a treat. That is tuff.
Training is a blast. Sharon

I agree with Sharon. Packs do have a way of getting each other riled up.

With my three, the two northern boys aren't really barkers. They make noise when they need/want to but I wouldn't call it barking. My shepherd, on the other hand, has such a blaring rumble to his voice, it's always commanded our attention immediately.

Right from day one, I've always had a vested interest (his rehab/training purposes) in what he's alerting/reacting to, so identifying the source of that barking has always been and still is a priority for me.

Depending on the target of that barking is dependent on how we deal with each situation.

I love his alert these day, (3 years later) it's rarely for anything completely frivolous.

However, we also have an older guest dog here who is also quite sharp when it comes to anything disturbing the peace. His bark can tend to set the shepherd off but it's kind cute in that the shepherd often seem to be barking at the guest.

A quick "Oh, it’s just Chucky, thank you", shut's him down. A lot of people use the command enough or quiet. My command is "Thank you", usually followed by "let's go take a look". He's really loud so I want him quiet as soon as possible.

Our guest will be leaving in a couple of weeks and then I'll miss his alerting woof, woof at every leaf blowing down the road but we'll also be back to a quieter household.

And Mike, I so hear you about an "off tune" member in a siren howl fest. Most of our neighbors have dogs and enjoy the short lived, siren initiated choirs as much as I do so it truly is pure enjoyment, no social pressure to shut it down here.

This is where the two northern guys rule. And for the first year my shepherd would just kind of look at them with the cocked head, trying to figure out the racket they were making.

Now he tries, emphasis on the "tries", to join in. And OMG, is he bad. Out of sink, off key, a loud rumble in amongst the harmonious melody, he just doesn't get it.

I don't have the heart to shut him down. Maybe he'll get better.

Kory,

In my ramblings, I probably should have noted I don't train the dog to not bark. I try to train to basic commands I can universally apply. 'No' is the first command I train. And 'enough' and my frustration command 'hey' to get their attention so I can employ commands.

I don't command with the idea of commanding them to stop barking. I command them to, in the first instance, refocus their attention to me. If that is accomplished I can redirect the dogs as I think appropriate.

The 'no' command seems to be an undervalued and underused command, and yet it is the command that should be universally understood by the dogs to cease what they are doing and refocus on the human in charge.

I own up to the reality that my mutts are quite less likely to respond to a behavior check by a stranger than a family member and that does not trouble me all that much.

So, the dog starts to go toward the road and "NO!" The dog starts to get into an off limits chair and "NO!" The dog goes to the window and barks at stuff outside and "NO!" after a few barks.

Eventually "NO!" gets slurred to 'enough' or 'HEY' or some other refocusing word that makes you happy. But the tone of your voice should suggest to the dog that it is to stop what it is doing.

My commands are not requests, when all is said and done. The dogs have an ear for my voice and the tone a command is delivered with. Abrupt, terse commands are no nonsense will be tolerated deliveries. More rolling commands are delivered with more of collaboration in mind. Wheedling commands are the goo goo kinds that are reserved for pets in the moment. But underlying all is the given that my commands can go from idling to full speed in a heartbeat.

So a no is a no is a no. It isn't a no for thirty seconds or a minute. A no means no more and I mean it. And I deliver it with a demeanor and tone that is not a negotiation, nor is there a bluff in my intention.

Mostly a quiet no or hey or enough does the trick. And the dogs are anything but cowering pansies.

Mike, I hope I'm not taking this in different direction than the OP wanted. I do exactly what you're doing which usually redirects either whatever they're doing. But it doesn't redirect them from the alert barking. On the other hand I'm trying to do schutzhund with the puppy so maybe I don't want to stop that just yet.

I wouldn't want the puppy to stop. Everything in the context of your training objectives.

I loved Mike's explanation of the "no". That is exactly the reason I don't use "no" in marker training. I've always known how valuable "no" was and don't want to compromise such a valuable tool, so I chose "uh uh" when I learned that I needed to add a negative IB to my marker work. At first, it took some work to remember not to say "no", but the end result is a beautiful picture.